Digital Movies

In Reading Helen Hofferberg and Mariaane Handlers article on “Digital Video goes to school” i realised that the use of digital media is a powerful way to motivate students, energize teaching and link to community. We live in a visual world we see it in our homes we are immersed in television and it is through this visual medium that children learn a great deal. Therefore it is only natural that children should embrace video in their learning. Students find video motivational and more importantly they demonstrate higher order thinking skills when producing digital video clips.
Equipment and financial costs can no longer be an excuse for limiting student’s opportunities to expand, create big ideas. It is as simple as having video editing software and a camera. As teachers we need to remember that the chance to create and use video provides one more tool to expand the learning environment.
As children work in this medium they begin to realize the relationship pictures have to the message that they are trying to convey. In the process of creating this video children are practicing many skills, these include;
• The technical skills involved in making a video
• Visual Literacy
• The higher order thinking skills of analyzing and synthesizing.

Helping children become visually literate is a major concern in today’s society. We have taught them about reading and grammar now it is time to teach them about video.