The need to incorporate technology into the classroom is becoming quite important and evident based on the needs of today’s learners who are growing up in an increasingly technology rich society. Media production may just be the solution to addressing this need. According to Garrison (1999), “Media production engages and excites; it leads to unexpected discoveries, increased self-awareness and esteem, sharpened critical thinking, analytical skills, group work skills, and ability to communicate ideas. Media production demands writing and rewriting, research, group effort, and clarity of thought.”
Since Windows Live Movie Maker is the video editing software available on school computers in my district, I decided to download it this week from explore.live.com and give it a try in order to learn more about how to navigate the software as well as to evaluate the product and skills involved for classroom use. My experience with media production is quite minimal. While I do know how to import video, music, and photo files into my computer, I have never edited or created a video before. Nor have I attempted to do so in the classroom with my students. So as I prepared for my first movie making experience, I was quite eager to put my skills, and Garrison’s strong words, to the test.
I decided to create a short video about my dog Hoyt and I embedded my finished product below. Overall, I found Windows Live Movie Maker incredibly easy to use. It features basic editing functions that are simple to use, but interesting enough to add some fun into your movies making you feel like an expert. Garrison’s words kicked in when I found myself analyzing and using critical thinking skills to trim parts of my video, foresee needed footage, ask for opinions, make decisions, and rethink my options. In the end, I felt a great sense of pride over what I created. One of the great aspects of media production is that is can be modified to any grade level and class subject.
This experience was immensely gratifying to me as a teacher because as I created my video, I could visualize my students just as engaged, challenged, motivated, and proud. Today’s learners have the need to find meaning and engagement in their learning and media production offers them just this. Windows Live Movie Maker is a great video editing software that is perfect for novice movie makers. Below is a podcast tutorial that I created about using the software and it offers some tips and insight on how to use some of the basic editing features.
Garrison, A. (1999,Winter). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/video-basics-and-production-projects-classroom#bio
Podcast Tutorial
Windows Live Movie Maker Tutorial by Sonya Castro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at explore.live.com.
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