Teaching & Teachnology: iMovie Thank you

We had to say goodbye to a tutor this week that is leaving shortly for the Peace Corps. I struggled to come up with a high quality thank you gift. Then, I noticed the answer was right in front of me: the iSight camera built into the laptops.

I had each student create a 10-30 second video using the iSight camera and iMovie that said thank you or good luck to our departing tutor. The students did a great job of recording.

With Moodle, I was able to create an assignment where they had to upload a file, their exported (.mov) iMovie file. If they kept it under 30 seconds, then it would upload. I took all the clips, put them into iMovie again and created the final video. I burned it and gave it to our tutor. Overall, it was an outstanding project.

Here's what I learned doing the project:
  • Students can write a script on piece of notebook paper turned sideways. They can put this over the screen and works like a teleprompter. They seem like they are looking at the camera but really reading what is in front of them.
  • Schedule more time at the end of the recording for exporting and uploading.
  • Quicktime X might be an easier solution than iMovie. It looks like a lower learning curve for the students so they can focus on the message rather than the software.
I'll miss our tutor, but I know that she has taken a slice of AVID with her!

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