Project Description:
In the Comox by the Sea project, groups of students in Tourism 11/12 (Semester I), Media 11/12 (Semester II), and Leadership 9/10 (Semester II) created a variety of films that highlighted various aspects of the Comox Valley and Highland Secondary. The overall goals of the project were to help students to:
- Develop skills to work collaboratively in groups to produce a team video
- Learn how to use GoPro cameras, Window Surface Pros, and Filmora software
- Showcase some of the main attractions/recreational activities in Comox to encourage youth to play in their own "backyard"
- Create an orientation video to help incoming Grade 8 students find their way around the school
In terms of the specific curricular outcomes, students were expected to:
- understand the role of tourism in the economy
- understand and apply the factors that influence tourism products and consumer choices
- apply marketing strategies using the 6 Ps: product, place, promotion, process, people, and price
- implement strategies for industry management and marketing through evolving technologies
- use technologies for communicating and interacting with diverse individuals and groups
- create artistic media collaboratively and as an individual using imagination, observation and inquiry
- intentionally select and combine media arts materials, technologies and processes to convey an idea
Students learned about marketing strategies, story boarding, filming techniques, importing/exporting and editing videos, as well as the skills needed to work collaboratively and trouble shoot. The groups learned how to use a variety of hardware and software in completing their videos including: GoPros, video cameras, Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, and Filmora.
The Process:
The process unfolded differently in the three different classes that were involved in this project. We received the hardware and software in December. At that point, I learned how to use the GoPros along with the Tourism students. This was mainly through experimentation, reading tips online, and consulting with students who have used GoPros in the past (we had a good number of these students in different classes who would pop by the library or class to support us). Students learned quite quickly and in January went out into the field to record their videos. They would come back to class after using the GoPros often with questions and tips which we would share as a class.
Prior to the arrival of the hardware and software, students learned tourism theory and how to apply it to their videos. They formed groups and brainstormed and researched project ideas. Students created storyboards for their videos and the Media teacher did a guest lecture on making videos and camera angles. As the teacher-librarian, I was involved in all aspects of the project including teaching specific lessons on digital footprints and citizenship, as well as copyright.
Because of the late arrival of the software in terms of the Semester I timeline, groups of students choose which software they were going to use for editing their videos including Filmora, iMovie, and Windows Movie Maker. In terms of Filmora, I learned how to use the software along with our district support teacher working through the different tutorials. For the groups who wanted to use Filmora, I worked with them by teaching them directly and by facilitating them as they ran through the tutorials. They commented on a lot of similarities between this program and iMovie:)
I was really surprised how much support the groups needed in terms of uploading their videos online (YouTube or Vimeo). It appears this generation is much more comfortable with social media tools such as Snapchat and Instagram so had to learn how to use these "old school" technologies:) They shared these videos on a class website they created for tourism in the Comox Valley (see the videos in the tourism section of the artifact page).
In terms of Media 11/12. most of the media students were familiar with MovieMaker, Adobe Premiere and iMovie, so those students needed very little introduction to the Filmora software. The teacher met with them and showed them how the tablets worked, opened the program, and went over some of the highlights.
They found Filmora intuitive for the most part, although some had a couple of glitches the teacher was unable to solve by searching online (a clip imported only 2 minutes when the clip was actually 4 minutes, and sometimes the program would freezing mid-edit). She was particularly pleased with the tablets and how easily they turned on and off, how quickly they booted up and how easy it was to use them. The Media teacher commented she wanted a class set of these! Filmora allowed her students to do more intricate and interesting editing while being easy to use.
The students first practiced how to use Filmora by editing an already existing video. They spliced and rearranged clips to create their own rendering of approximately 2 minutes. They also incorporated music of their choosing. This was a great way for the students to learn how to use Filmora (check out the horror movie clip under the Media section on the artifact page). After completing this, students then worked on their own creations which were quite engaging. They will be completing these later in June.
For the Leadership class, a group of students was keen to create an orientation video for incoming Grade 8s. They were a focused, motivated, and tech savvy group who didn't need any direct teaching. These three boys worked together to brainstorm ideas, create a storyboard, and learn how to use the GoPros. They needed minimal support in learning how to use Filmora to create a video - I was merely a facilitator when they weren't able to problem solve tech issues when they arose. I was really impressed with the level of independence this group exhibited (see the school tour video in the leadership section on the artifact page).