iMovie: Creating Personalized Videos (Part 2)

So, how was screencasting? Did you create some awesome videos to support your students' learning at school and at home? Way to go! You are an awesome teacher! Now, as I was saying in my last post, Screencastify is a great tool for quick, simple videos (especially how-tos for computer and iPad activities). However, if you want something with a little more WOW factor, iMovie may be a better tool for you.

With iMovie, you can create videos using text, pictures, videos, and audio. You can add fancy transitions, use artsy filters, change fonts, add background music, and more. Overall, iMovie is the ideal tool for creating high-quality video products. Because there are so many options of what you can do with iMovie, it is a little more complicated to use than Screencastify. But fear not! All you need to know is a few basics and you will be on your way to creating awesome personalized videos for your students! You can do it!


To Mac or Not To Mac?

When you use iMovie, you have two options: you can use iMovie for Mac (available on Mac computers) OR iMovie for iOS (available on iPad and iPhone). I have used both and like both programs but for different situations. Below is a comparison to help you decide which program best fits what you want to do with iMovie.

iMovie for Mac

(This is based on the iMovie available on my district laptop -- iMovie '11 Version 9.0.9 -- which is unfortunately outdated)

Pros:

•  Easy to type text quickly (using keyboard)
•  Can select "blank" background slides (useful when making text-only slides)

Cons:

• Not as many pre-made Project Themes to choose from
• Not as many Theme music soundtracks to choose from

iMovie for iOS

Pros:

• Lots of interesting pre-made Project Themes
• Lots of fun Theme music soundtracks
• Easy to add pictures/video taken directly with iPad

Cons:

• More tedious to add text (touchscreen keyboard)
• Not able to select blank background for text slides (although you can take a picture of a blank piece of paper and use that as a workaround)

So, based on what you are looking to do, you can choose whether you prefer to work with iMovie on your computer or iPad/iPhone. It's up to you!


How Do I Use It? I'm Scared!

Now, let's talk about how to use iMovie. Don't be scared, you can do this. All you need to know are a few basics! Instead of writing an essay on what buttons to press and where to find them, I am going to make another screencast! (See, Screencastify is a great timesaver for how-to videos.)

Here is a rough overview on how to use iMovie on your Mac...

And here is a rough overview on how to use iMovie on your iPad/iPhone...

Go Forth and Make Awesome Videos

Now that you know some of iMovie's basics, you are ready to start tinkering with it and trying it out for yourself. Just like Screencastify, think of all the amazing videos you can create to support your students' language learning at home! I have used iMovie for Mac to make sight word videos and French book read-a-longs. I have uploaded these videos onto my YouTube Channel so that parents can access them at home and kids can continue practicing their French at home even if the only thing their parents can say is "Oui! Oui!" Here is an example of a sight word video:

I have also used iMovie for iOS on my iPad to make slideshows using pictures of my students, audio of my students speaking French, and French music files of songs we sing in class. Here is an example of what I have created using iMovie for iOS:

As for students using iMovie, the iMovie for iOS app is user-friendly enough where older elementary students could probably handle it. They could use it to make movie trailers that summarize a book they have read, record themselves acting out a scene in a play, take pictures of an insect or plant and then creating a video to depict it's life cycle... the options are endless!

However, I am still not convinced that younger students -- like my K students -- could handle it. The user interface may be too difficult to navigate for them (after all, it did take me a while to figure out). Also, there may be too many editing options where they might become confused and overwhelmed. I could definitely see myself using iMovie as a class to create something collectively (with myself ultimately doing most of the editing), but I do not think my students could make iMovies on their own. Let me know your thoughts on this subject: Can K-1 students handle making iMovie creations independently?

So, there you go! Hopefully this overview gave you some insight on what you can do with iMovie. I hope it helps you to make some awesome personalized videos for your kiddos!

Next week, I am going to show you how to take a curriculum and revamp it and integrate technology into it using the SAMR model. Stay tuned!