Digital Video & Media to Enhance Literacy

Dennis Barry’s WoW ProjectED 5670 – Literacy & Technology

Back in the Day

• The days of wheeling this monstrosity from classroom to classroom are over

• Digital technology has created opportunities in classrooms that were once thought impossible

The New Digital Frontier

Why Digital Video?•Get students energized and engaged in hands-on learning experiences•The perfect medium for students who are auditory or visual learners•Taps into emotions which stimulate and enthrall students

Effectively Using Video•Research shows using digital video as an enhancement to a lesson is the most effective method

•Specific learning objectives should be determined, an instructional sequence should be developed and reinforcement activities planned

Back in the Day

• Huge component systems to complete even the most simple editing tasks

• Completely impractical in a classroom setting

• Expensive $$$

Not Just Watching… Creating!Improve the School-to-Home

Connection

• A third-grade teacher at Village School in Pacific Palisades, California, recorded his students explaining to their parents how to play a math game. Now their parents can play the same game at home. A music teacher at the school captures snippets of students to include in a video he sends to parents in lieu of a printed newsletter.

Produce PSAs, Skits, and more…• The broadcasting crew at

Benefield Elementary School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, records public-service announcements for the school’s live morning show. Sometimes they perform short skits that focus on vocabulary, wordplay, and idioms, says technology teacher Karen Hartung.

Not Just Watching… Creating!

Create Slide Shows• Mary Williams’s chemistry

students at St. Mary’s High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, use Animoto (www.animoto.com), a free site that produces video pieces from phones, video clips, and music, to make 90-second (or longer) slide shows about the elements in the periodic table.

Record Students• Becky Goerend, a sixth-grade

teacher at Earlham Elementary in Iowa, records student responses to their independent-reading assignments. “In the past they would write their thoughts in a notebook. Now they can share them verbally,” says Goerend. “It’s a simple thing, but technology motivates. I have a closet in my classroom that I use as the recording booth.”

Creating Digital Media Encourages:

• communication and collaboration

• Research and information fluency

• Critical thinking, problem-solving & decision-making

• Technology operations & concepts

Resources

Techlearning.com

Technology to Enhance Literacy & Learning: Preparing a Digital Generation

the Use of Digital Video and Media to Enhance Learning

University of Texas at Austin - the College of Education: Digital Media

Kathy Schrock Guide for Educators