Turning the Classroom Into a TV Production Studio

Turning the Classroom into a TV Production Studio

An Adventure in Digital Video: Undurba State School

Sel Kerans – ICTs for Learning Coordinator, Murrumba District

Dan Isele – Teacher, Undurba State School

Background

Undurba State School is located in the suburb of Murrumba Downs, southeast Queensland. It is a school of in the midst of a revolution, inspired by the journey of one teacher. The application of Movie Maker software to curriculum activities has been greatly enhanced by the trial of the Visual Communicator package, turning the school on its virtual head with excitement for the potential in learning. The results to date have been astounding and have raised the level of aspiration for teachers seeking ideas and applications for effective integration of ICTs in Learning.

Introduction

While video editing on the computer as part of the curriculum is not new, it has become a much more realistic proposition for teachers, with access to easy-to-use software, included with the operating systems of contemporary personal computers. Capture of video has also become quite simple and inexpensive as to make this activity possible in primary schools. Dan Isele at Undurba State School had been exploring the use of Movie Maker 2, to gain an understanding of the possibilities for learning – and in the way that new skills and understandings are developed by teachers looking to learn new things to challenge themselves as educators, time was spent outside of school hours trying out the software. What an investment in time this has turned out to be, with great rewards already and many more to come!

Independent exploration of the software resulted in the development of small movies to be used for examples for the students of Year 6 at Undurba. In a unit of work with an emphasis on critical literacy and advertising, students were challenged to study examples of contemporary advertising and ultimately produce advertisements of their own, based on school initiatives such as promoting the new school ‘wide brim’ hat. With a small number of new XP workstations in the school, the teacher had to do some modelling for students of the use of Movie Maker, and provide some structure for students to begin planning and scripting their advertisements. Students were also required to do their own market survey work, to understand audience and product appeal.

The excitement growing, students were eager to get to the production phase. A consistent factor in the whole experience since these early activities, has been how quickly students get through their other work – how much more focused and efficient they are in learning, so they may get to the video production work associated with the unit. Combining elements of recorded video, sound, music and their own elements in the form of transitions, the first activities formed a campaign for the adoption of the new school hat. That is just where this adventure begins…

Riding the Adventure

As many teachers have discovered in the numerous years that we have been using computers in education, when you really turn such a technology ‘key’ to unlock new possibilities in learning for students and growth in your own teaching practice, it is quite heady and can lead to a great roller-coaster of nervous excitement for what lies ahead. To experience this as a teacher at any stage of a career is to be reinvigorated with the energy and enthusiasm of a teacher fresh from university and ready to change the world!

Left: The opening screen of the school news and current affairs show - a first foray into using Movie Maker and Visual Communicator software, incorporating student-produced short segments of video interviews and advertisements.

The students went out to film with support from the school’s library staff and assistance was given to capture their segments of video to computer. As the new XP computers were not installed on the school network at that time, all captured work had to be burnt to CD so students could carry their work between computers. Since the success of this program, the school has fast-tracked the upgrade of their server, and network active equipment. The upgrade of all their workstations to be capable of running Windows XP also became a higher priority; so all classes could become involved.

The students ‘clipped up’ their raw video into useful segments for their productions, and captured extra audio where required. They produced short videos that would become the building blocks of a great new initiative in the school – the production of ‘Undurba News and Views’, a video news service. The production of interviews, reports and advertisements naturally flowed, shaped and changed as the teacher interpreted the use of the technology tools to support curriculum areas – resulting in mini-documentaries!

The presentation of the early work of students was inspiring for teachers, and the motivation to become involved was universal, hence the more rapid upgrade of the school’s computer facilities. The level of engagement with computers was to rise dramatically and teachers were prepared to begin jumping in to a much higher skill level with ICTs than they had formerly probably anticipated!

How timely, Undurba at this point was offered the opportunity to trial a new software package, Visual Communicator. There was price however - a matter of weeks to have something developed to present at the Ferny Grove State High School’s annual IT Expo, a landmark event on Queensland’s calendar. Dan and the students of year six responded quickly and effectively, using Visual Communicator to compile much of their work into a 14-minute production – Undurba News and Views Edition 1! This was broadcast across the school Intranet and ultimately saved onto CD and a compilation DVD to free up hard disk space – with this file alone taking up 120mb of space there are clear implications for management of disk quotas and hard drive partitions in schools if many classes are producing digital videos.

How impressive the results! What students could do with these software tools created a groundswell of excitement across Murrumba District, with teachers from other schools coming to visit Undurba. The students presented at other major events such as Murrumba’s Middle Schooling Conference, in 2003, where they developed a news report about the evening as it unfolded - and presented it to the participants as a conclusion to proceedings! This truly demonstrated their mastery and confidence in working with digital media. Their works continued to be shown at teacher network meetings and professional development events across Queensland - and at the time of writing, were being presented and discussed at Murrumba’s ICTs ‘Top Up’ event and the Technology KLA ‘Unpacking and Constructing’ days.

At right: A screen capture of the Visual Communicatoir software working window, show the features of video synchronised with teleprompter, transitions and effects on a scrolling timeline – simple and stunning results.

So what does Visual Communicator software allow students to do with relative ease? Students essentially have the tools of a TV production studio in their hands, provided the school allocates a space (such as a withdrawal room) for specialist facilities, to take advantage of what the software can do. A recording and production area needs a storyboarding wall, some desk space, room for a computer and two monitors (one a cue screen/teleprompter which faces those in front of the camera), a camera tripod, lighting and a wall space to work against. Visual Communicator can, with ease, utilise ‘green screen’ technology, to present a virtual background to the students, who are in effect, standing before a blank, chroma-key green coloured wall.

Designer backdrops, music excerpts, transitions, pop-ups and overlay effects are included in a package that makes it easy to sequence segments of video in very impressive formats, in effect bringing a level of production equivalent to a TV studio. Add to this the virtual screen tools that may have students ‘virtually’ standing in front of any still image or video footage to present a report and the results are stunning! Now the applications? Try standing students, clothed in heavy winter gear, in a ‘virtual’ snowfield, to talk of Antarctica on a sunny Queensland day in thirty-two degrees! Try a mock up satellite linkup to a reporter at Parliament House! These have already been achieved by Year 6 at Undurba! Imagine the possibilities…

Above: The creation – an interview of a meteorologist in the ‘virtual’ snowfall and alongside, the reality – ‘green screen’ technology – the way it looks in the classroom with students acting out the scenario, demonstrating in this new media, what they have learned in science. It isn’t Hollywood, but how great is this for classrooms!


Of course, the dynamics of achieving so much does not end with the use of cameras, software and hardware. Students are also engaged in the invaluable experiences of social engagement - cooperation in small groups working toward a common purpose. Students, it seems, often choose their own roles at times like these – it becomes like a natural adoption of roles that suit. The rising level of maturity of the students as they take on the responsibilities of their roles may be surprising to the teacher, when they are engaged in their learning and taking control. Roles such as the ‘checker’ are even devised (this is the student who checks everything is okay – all plugs in, all settings correct, the viewfinder framing the screen correctly, etc) by the students and taken to with enthusiasm and talents unrealised previously, are revealed.

The scale of the project work is easily increased, as other classes take on producing small components of video (example at right) which will become part of a larger production. The experienced students become managers of the process, as well as producers – and gradually learn mire skills and take on more tasks formerly managed by the teacher. It should be noted that even thought the purchase of Visual Communicator software is not a small outlay, there only needs to be one copy in a primary school, installed ideally, on a higher powered computer to speed up the rendering process once the production is compiled in Visual Communicator. For the majority of the time, the students are using Movie Maker, the free software tool associated with Windows XP.

Where Now?

Without giving too much away, the goals are to continue the schools reporting in classes, while students will also explore other adaptations of the great tools at their fingertips for learning activities in their units of work. Historical productions are being considered, with a time machine theme. What potential there is also for science, from the world around us right down to the microscopic level! Perhaps we can soon say in jest, that today we ‘shrank the kids’!

Caveats

As with all exciting endeavours such as this which have the potential to reshape education in a school, there are things that must be considered. The time factor for a teacher to assist others to become skilled and confident is not easy to come by and despite enthusiasm, teacher burnout may occur! Careful strategic planning and time allowance needs to be factored in – it will not happen ‘magically’ across the school. Murrumba District Office is providing support to Undurba State School and strategies are being adopted to assist in consolidating the digital video activities in the school through empowering many teachers to engage confidently with cameras, software and hardware. Undurba will become one of the ‘Technology Focus Schools’ in the Murrumba district and open their doors for workshops and visits by teachers from other schools during 2004.

Rostering of computer and ‘studio’ time, a careful management process and tracking the use of resources is course all necessary in curriculum-related project work like this. Protocols and processes at a school level for conducting interviews in the school without disrupting routines is also crucial. Privacy and copyright issues also apply! It would not be pertinent to stream student videos from a web site, for example – for they have pop-ups which identify the students by name. Care with use of soundtrack music from other sources should also be taken, to avoid copyright breaches.

Conclusion

Visual Communicator software is now commercially available in Australia. Should some schools consider it an expensive proposition, it should be remembered that most of what is possible to be achieved in the curriculum is easily supported by the free Movie Maker software on XP workstations. All the excitement, the change, the project based learning, the engagement of students involved in groups, taking charge of their learning is all still possible!

The use of software and the TV studio tools may become quite common in schools in the near future, but we all must consider the school’s capabilities to implement any such activities comprehensively, both in terms of hardware and network capabilities and the investment required in human resources. Cameras need not be expensive for this kind of project work to happen – the main thing to consider is the ease with which the video is downloaded to computer.

Above: the first DVD which lives in the school library, available for borrowing – which compiles all the school ‘News and Views’ productions.

With the right approach to project work and engaging students in activity based learning, the rewards are great – truly reinvigorating for the teacher and motivational for students. Your classroom may never be the same again and you may find this a key you didn’t know you had been waiting to turn for some time!

Further Information

Serious Magic Web Site: http://www.seriousmagic.com/

Movie Maker Web Site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/default.asp

Acknowledgements

Thanks to David Green for his valuable support.