Video: Photostory and Youtube

Summary

             I have taken thousands of pictures but creating videos is something I’ve rarely done. This week, I learned how to turn collections of my favorite photos into informative or just downright fun videos by following a process using PowerPoint, Microsoft PhotoStory and Youtube. The main objective was to create a video in the style of Pecha Kucha 20X20; that is twenty photo slides, each twenty senconds in length with an accompanying voice over. The project I decided to create, as I learned more about using these tools and this website, was a virtual field trip to one of my favorite locations in Virginia, the Frontier Culture Museum.

The Frontier Culture Museum is a great place to visit to learn about the culture, customs, and lifestyles of certain African, English, Irish, and German persons before immigrating to America as well as the fusion of these characteristics into the early American way of life. Visiting the Frontier Culture Museum is a wonderful experience for a family outing or field trip. It is not like most museums however. The museum is not one big building full of dusty knick-knacks, no. The rarities are authentic, period houses strategically placed along a walking trail.

My video highlights the exhibits as well as the culture and history that can be discovered at the Frontier Culture Museum. The video serves as a virtual field trip and to entice viewers to take a trip to through the Shenandoah Valley and through time.

 

The Frontier Culture Museum, while very hospitable to school groups, providing additional activities for hands-on learning also provides educational materials on their website. For teachers, the website offers documents outlining student activities at the museum and the corresponding Virginia Standards of Learning. To read the museum's field trip guide, click here. To read the museum's field trip program discription, click here. To find ticket prices info (under $8 for school groups and under $11 for general admission) as well as registration info, click here.

 

What I Did

PowerPoint

I began my project in PowerPoint. I created a 20 slide presentation with an introductory slide and a concluding slide with photos I took at the Frontier Culture Museum in between. I chose the photos based on their quality, attractiveness, and educational context. As I arranged the slides, I thought about what information would augment each photo and the presentation as a whole. In order to use Microsoft PhotoStory for the next step, I had to convert the PowerPoint slides into JPEGs. This was easily done by choosing this file format in “Save As.”  

PhotoStory

I downloaded Microsoft PhotoStory for free and imported the PowerPoint file. From here, I was given the option to rearrange my photos, add zooming effects, transition effects, and most importantly, adjust the length each slide would be shown. While many options are provided, PhotoStory tries not to overwhelm by having its users work with their videos in manageable steps. Finally, I was able to create my voice over. It was ridiculous how nervous I was! But the good news was that each slide is recorded individually. So, if I messed up, I wouldn’t have to start back at the beginning. In order to be able to upload the video to YouTube, I saved my finished project as a .wmv file.

YouTube

            Having already signed into my Gmail account, I was able to go to YouTube and simply click, “Upload,” at the top of my screen in order to share my video. My video took a minute to upload during which time I titled by video, added a description, and added tags. My video and the information I included saved automatically.

What I Learned

            In the past, I have created both PowerPoint presentations and uploaded YouTube videos. However, this was my first time creating a PowerPoint with text limited to two slides and my first time using Microsoft PhotoStory. I am slowly becoming more confident limiting the amount of text I use in presentations. I’m glad since this encourages my students to practice deducing information from images. Additionally, I am becoming better at using my slides as jumping of points for lecture and discussion as opposed to being tempted to read off of them. Using PhotoStory has also helped me to practice focusing my “lectures” to the essential information in a timely fashion corresponding to the attention span of my students.

How I Would Use It

            Creating a video with PowerPoint and PhotoStory would be a cool addition or alternative to the traditional book or oral report. Students could be instructed to use only photos they or their families have taken, granted all families have a digital camera or extras are available from the classroom. This way, students are encouraged to make text to self or text to world connection during book reports and are better able to make connect to and engage with the other conventional subjects. I must note however, that I would not ask or encourage my elementary students to upload their videos to YouTube for privacy purposes.

Standards Reflection

            I believe that creating videos for and in the classroom best corresponds to standard 2 parts “a, b, and d,” of the ISTE-NETS-T’s standards.  Teachers can create videos to teach material using digital resources that promote learning and creativity. The creation of such involves the design of new learning experiences. In addition, when teachers encourage students to create videos regarding content based learning, they are encouraging them to include information and details derived by following their scholastic interests. The student is given the freedom necessary that allows him or her to practice managing their own learning. In the end The student will have created a product using technological resources that serves as evidence of learning which can be used by the teacher for either formative or summative assessment.