Sharing student movies on YouTube
Class: Years 7 and 8
Teacher: David Martin
School:Opunake High School
Technology Area: ICT and Materials Technology
Link: www.youtube.com/user/auck73
David challenged his Year 7/8 class to design and develop a movie using mechanised actors and props. Working in groups the students were asked to identify a theme and story line. David outlined to the class what was possible by showing a movie he had created over the holiday break.
David wanted to share student outcomes with other class members and with parents and the wider community, and felt that it was important to use a medium relevant to today's youth culture. The immensely popular online video site YouTube (Glossary) was an obvious choice.
David created his own YouTube account specifically for the upload of the student movies, and sent the links to parents so they could view their children's work. The students were excited by the chance to upload their work onto mainstream media with the potential for the world to view their project.
The students were given full creative control in filming, directing and edited their own movies. The idea of having their work open to public forum inspired them to produce movies to a professional standard. One group of students even wrote new lyrics to 'Old McDonald' for their movie about Harry Potter's retirement from the wizard community, with hilarious results.
David says using YouTube has brought important benefits. It greatly improved student engagement and desire to produce outcomes to the very best of their abilities, and was a great way to celebrate the student achievement. It also had the added benefit of actively involving parents in technology education, and helped to give them a better understanding of what goes on in the classroom.
Teacher comment
"The students love seeing their outcomes on the internet and that enthusiasm comes back into their work. The parents say that they love what they see. As a small community there's competitiveness between the primary schools and I used this to challenge students to best represent their school.
"One area of concern is some of the risqué content on YouTube despite the efforts of the site but this issue will occur anywhere on the web and educating students about this is necessary. An alternative is the site www.teachertube.com (Glossary), which I am considering using in the future."
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