iLife - Developing the creative curriculum

iLife -

Developing the Creative Curriculum

David Baugh

Contents

1. Introduction

2. What is iLife?

3. iLife and developing the creative curriculum

4. How can iLife be used in education?

5. Curriculum uses for iLife

6. Using iTunes

7. Using iPhoto

8 Using iMovie

9. Planning for creativity with iLife

1. Introduction

The world we live in today is dominated by a variety of digital media that is sometimes hard to escape from at work, shopping, travelling or even resting at home. We are surrounded by music, mobile phones, people texting messages, instant messaging, television screens, video games and many more. To many older people not brought up with this technology it can be a nuisance or a threat but to young people it is a natural environment. Indeed if we watch a young person at work in a non-school environment, say doing their homework. How are they doing it? They will be listening to MP3s downloaded onto their computers or personal MP3 player. Possibly texting someone or using instant messaging to check something their teacher had asked them to do. They might be sending each other digital images and small video clips on their phones or via email whilst watching television and doing some internet research for their home work. To many adults this way of study is unnatural and unworkable but for many young people it is they way they work best. Perhaps the whole matter needs to be put into context. In the early 20th Century it would have been unthinkable for anyone to do any proper work from home or for someone to carry on business on a train or in a car. Ways of working change all the time and so do methods study.

However in school pupils do not get to work in ways that uses digital media to its full potential. For most of the time they are sat down at desks working with paper and pen. Even when the computer is turned on it is used in a way that apes the way pupils might have been expected to work in an office of the 1990s. Why is it that the use of digital media in its different forms is not a mainstream teaching tool? It could be for a number of reasons: it is not valued in education, it is seen as peripheral to "real" culture" or the fact that is so much part of consumer popular culture that it is not worthy of real educational consideration. Perhaps this becomes more important when we consider learning in terms of creativity. Can pupils express themselves with the digital media that is available? Are these rich digital media being exploited in education in ways that can enhance creativity, that allows young people to use their imagination, produce works that has originality and brings value to their learning?

What is becoming clear is that young people today expect more from their learning experience, indeed when more teachers and lecturers are using multimedia to teach it would seen unfair not to allow pupils to use these tools themselves in their own learning.

The Digital Hub

With the consumer explosion of digital video, digital photography, digital media available on the Web, portable digital devices and computer music obstacles to using digital media in the classroom have been removed. When this is combined with an easy to use computer and software that fully integrates these media elements the opportunities offered by the media are very hard to ignore. This introduces the concept of a computer and its software as a digital hub for a range of sources of digital media that can be used themselves as tools for teaching and learning in the classroom.

The concept of a digital hub in the classroom is an easy to use computer and software harnessing the power of the media captured by different digital sources

Digital Cameras are a useful resource in on their own as teachers can use digital images in a range of work situations. At a simple level for example there is no reason why a series of pictures taken with a digital camera cannot be usefully used attached to a television or a data projector for viewing by a whole class or group to prompt discussion and as a prompt for further work. Another option for capturing digital still images is to use a digital microscope.

Video can usefully be delivered in the classroom with a digital video camera and a television or data projector. Many digital still cameras can now capture small clips of video with sound that can be use din a similar way or incorporated in to multimedia projects.

Portable digital audio players are a useful way of sharing audio stories, archive audio or music with a class as it does not have to be tethered to the computer. In addition a teacher can select exactly what music the pupils are to listen to with the use of play lists. The benefits of using this system compared to a tape or CD are obvious. A portable MP3 player like Apple's iPod can hold up to 672 hours of audio that can be listened to through a player attached to speakers for group work or as individuals and pairs through headphones. An additional option for products like this is that they can record audio for incorporation in projects.

Scanners are an underused resource in schools for digitising material that pupils have produced that can be used in combination with the media we have already considered.

However it is when the component parts of these media sources are then combined with the computer and multimedia software as the digital hub there is a real opportunity to make a significant difference to the way pupils can learn. Traditionally this is by using a range multimedia tools in schools that use either a slide or card metaphor to create projects.

Schools have traditionally used programs like HyperStudio to make multimedia projects. These programs use a card metaphor more akin to a web site to create a multimedia project that uses hyperlinks that link one card to another. These sorts of programs were particularly popular in schools because they did not require the skills or infrastructure that Web sites demanded.

Programs like PowerPoint handle multimedia by using a slide metaphor for creating projects. A project is a sequence of slides that can contain different media elements such as images, audio, video or text. This way of putting together projects is inherited from traditional overhead slides or photographic transparency slides as a way of presenting information in businesses. PowerPoint can handle media well but as it defaults to a sequential set of slides based on templates it has the potential in schools of creating projects that look similar to each other resulting in tedium or "PowerPointlessness".

However in most young pupils' lives the multimedia they see is more likely to be based on broadcast media such as the television or film. Therefore if we want to allow pupils to create multimedia that they can relate to perhaps we should be looking at integrating these media elements into projects that mimic what they see.

An ideal tool for combining these various elements has emerged in the shape of a digital video editor which, can combine audio, music, still images, video and text. Apple's iLife makes this even simpler by integrating access to the different media elements into one package.

It is now possible for schools to seriously consider the potential that these media present in developing literacy and in a broad range of subject areas from biology through geography to social studies.

The question asked by the skeptic or uniformed is why should we bother in an already crowded school timetable. The reasons for using a rich range of digital media in the classroom are compelling:

What strikes most people when they have been using digital media in education for a while is that you can do things with it that are impossible without. It is true multimedia that allows young people to create meaning with vibrant and modern media that was once the domain of the well heeled.
Using media in this way allows pupils to express their creativity with a real purpose.
The flexibility of the media allows the use of a wide range or input media to suit a number of learning styles and ages with the use of still images, moving images, sound, animation, music and text.
It is now an inexpensive medium to work with in schools. Twenty years ago it would have cost in the region of £20,000 to set up a multi media editing suit that nowadays costs as little as £1000.
When the pupils have been given the right guidance the results are stunning.
Time after time the message comes back from pupils that the creation of their own films is fun with high levels of motivation, commitment and on task behaviour being recorded.
A number of research studies have added to the growing evidence that the use of varied digital media does make a real difference to pupil learning. There are direct influences of pupil ability to write better and create better meaning, description and complex syntax.

It is easy to get started with digital media once the set up has been obtained but often the results can be disappointing for teacher and pupil alike due to a lack of some simple grounding in ways to get the best results. This book will look at educational applications for using Apple's iLife and give guidance about the complete process of media production in education from planning creative projects to capture, editing and sharing the end results.

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2. What is iLife?

Apple's iLife is an integrated collection of four applications for using digital media:

iTunes - for importing, digitising, organising and sharing audio files
iPhoto - for importing, organisation, simple editing and sharing of digital still images
iMovie - for editing Digital Video projects with the inclusion audio, music and still images
iDVD - for the creation of DVDs that include iMovie projects, iPhoto slideshows and audio

iTunes - Digital Audio

iTunes allows you to import audio files onto your computer easily from a number of sources. These files can be created on your computer with the help of third party programs for recording voice, music creation or the conversion of text to voice. These could be files downloaded from the Internet. iTunes can also take tracks from a CD and turn them into compressed MP3 files or better quality AAC files. Obviously you will have to check if you have permission to use these music files in school.

iTunes also allows you to sort your audio files out into any grouping you want called a playlist. This makes things much easier when you want to find the right music later on. A playlist can ensure that pupils are given access to the files that teachers want them to listen to. On a network teachers can give access for listening to an iTunes library on one computer to others.

There is also the possibility of transferring your audio files to an iPod MP3 player for listening away from the computer as an individual listening station or in a group. The additional possibility of being able to use an iPod a recording device gives pupils the opportunity to digitally record interviews, sounds or talks that can easily be integrated into iLife projects.

iPhoto - Digital Images

iPhoto allows the import of digital images from digital cameras and other digital sources such as scanners or the Internet. These images can then be organised into albums for easy access and export. The images can be exported to make Web pages, QuickTime movies and as files. iPhoto allows some editing functions such as cropping, one touch enhancement, red eye elimination, retouching, black and white, brightness and contrast.

In iPhoto there is a Slideshow facility that will play a slideshow with music of your choice from itunes and allow slideshows to be played interactively. Is is a quick and easy way for pupils and teachers to share images imported into iPhoto.

Digital images can be captured with a wide range digital stills cameras. Most of these can automatically be recognised by iPhoto when a camera is attached, which then asks you if you want to import your pictures into the program. iPhoto also recognises most card readers or PCMCIA media card adapters. This makes loading your digital images onto your computer a really simple task. If you want to import images that have been scanned into your computer this is done through the File and Import menu.

iMovie - Digital Video (DV)

iMovie started life as a DV editing program which has now developed into a program that brings the elements of still images and audio from iTunes and iPhoto together with video into fully fledged multimedia projects.

The beauty of using a digital video editor to put these projects together is that it maintains the quality of the different media in digital format between the computer and different devices in the digital hub.

The digital transfer of video from camera to computer and back

Near broadcast quality of the project can be maintained throughout the process of filming, capture to computer, editing and exporting. If quality were measured on a scale of 1 to 10 with streaming Internet video at 1 and broadcast quality at 10 VHS would be graded as 3 and DV would be 9.7. Clips captured by digital cameras would be at 2 on this scale.

The relative quality of different video formats

The major advantage of editing projects in iMovie is that the material can be edited in a non-linear fashion. Images, video clips and audio can be put into a timeline in any order and rearranged, cut down in size, cropped and the speed altered.

A non-linear video editing window in iMovie.

iMovie allows easy but powerful editing of DV with the inclusion of digital images directly from the iPhoto image library and audio files from the iTunes library.

iDVD - DVD production

iDVD is possibly the simplest tool available for the production of DVDs. You can be up and running in minutes with iDVD even making DVDs straight from the other programs in the iLife. iDVD allows you to make DVDs that include your movie projects, still images and your audio files.

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3. iLife and developing the creative curriculum

When we think of creativity we automatically think that it is restricted to what are called the creative arts but with the emergence of easily accessible digital media and flexible software tools like iLife to manipulate these media it is becoming increasingly evident that anyone can be creative given the right guidance and opportunities.

One of the problems that we have is to understand what creativity is when it comes to education. In 1999, the DfEE published 'All our Futures', a report on the National Advisory Committee on Creativity, Culture and Education (NACCE). The report defined creativity in schools as:

Pupils thinking and behaving imaginatively where the imaginative activity has purpose
The process generates something that is original to the pupil(s)
That the outcome must be of value in relation to the original purpose

Using iLife pupils can achieve this as the tools are open ended enough to allow pupils to develop their own ideas without being forced into decisions driven by the computer.

The report resulted in the following statement being incorporated into the English National Curriculum 2000:

"By providing rich and varied contexts for pupils to acquire, develop and apply a broad range of knowledge, understanding and skills, the curriculum should enable pupils to think creatively and critically, to solve problems and to make a difference for the better. It should give them the opportunity to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of leadership to equip them for their future lives as workers and citizens."

iLife certainly allows pupils to have rich and varied contexts for their work that can be applied across the curriculum. The whole process of multimedia project creation with iLife is centred around pupils making decisions, making choices, critically looking at their work and striving to make it better.

It has been shown that pupils who work creatively and independently are:

more interested in discovering things for themselves
more highly motivated
more open to new ideas
more likely to have higher self esteem
keen to work with others to explore ideas
willing to work beyond lesson time when pursuing an idea or vision.

There is evidence that pupils who are engaged on projects that use multimedia reflect these characteristics too. These factors are hard to ignore in classrooms that are currently experiencing high levels of pupil dissatisfaction and alienation.

So how can iLife help develop a creative curriculum?

Questioning and challenging - By creating projects with iLife pupils will be able to explore ideas and subjects in a way that is hard to do in conventional ways. They will be able to challenge conventional ways of looking at subjects and question some of the ideas they encounter in their lives.

Making connections and seeing relationships - when pupils are planning and creating rich media projects they make links between ideas and messages. Some of this comes from their increased awareness of the way oral and visual messages are communicated in the media they experience in their everyday lives.
Envisaging what might be - An essential element of iLife project creation is the vision of an end product a team of pupils must have during the creative process.
Exploring ideas, keeping options open - Any team working on an iLife project needs to share and debate ideas and to keep its options open to take advantage of opportunities that arise during the process.
Reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes - One aspect that continually strikes teachers who work with pupils creating iLife projects is the high level of critical debate that pupils display during the process.

Where iLife allows the creative process to thrive other programs drive pupils down a particular route by the use of wizards or assistants. Some software is so configured that only one outcome is likely this might be attractive for educators that want pupils to appear occupied but it will do little for the fostering of creativity.

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4. How can iLife be used in education?

iLife can be used in a huge number of ways in school as it is it can use anything that can be digitised in classrooms. As it's use in schools increases there are more and more interesting ways of using it being found. As with so many technologies that come into school the first people to use it are teachers and then later pupils are given an opportunity to use the technology.

Teacher use of iLife:

Inspiration and stimulus - iLife is a great way of providing a stimulus for pupil work. This might be an audio files played to pupils such as a story, a speech or a piece of music. It could be a picture or collection of pictures in a slideshow to inspire a piece of work. It could be a clip of video edited or unedited that would become a starting point for a discussion.

Deliver content - There are a number of different options for iLife to deliver content. iLife is an ideal tool for delivering content for pupils as it can be embedded in Web pages for viewing or listening to at any time. Teachers can record field trips and investigations that are too expensive or dangerous to repeat and allow children to see them in school or at home. The ability to rewind video and freeze frame a portion for discussion should not be underrated. This use of iMovie is becoming more important as broadband consortia start looking for useful content for their networks. Teachers could also deliver content such as audio files or still images over a network of the Internet as a stimulus for work.

Using iLife to create and deliver content is an invaluable
resource for schools

Producing resources - iLife can be used to produce resources for teachers to use in class. iPhoto and iDVD can be used to make digital big books for the teaching of literacy. iTunes and iPod can be combined to reproduce audio notes and stories that teachers can use with pupils for reinforcement or as a stimulus for additional study.
Record important events - It is useful to record and publish important school events with iLife for parents and friends of the school unable to attend the event itself as well as being useful evidence for inspection. The publication can be via a number of different media: Web, DVD, CD or tape. This is often one of the first things a school thinks of and is actually quite a hard thing to do well as the events being recorded are often long and need to be filmed, recorded and edited with a fair amount of skill and planning.
Assessment/Evaluation - iLife is an extraordinarily good tool for assessing pupils at work to see the way they interact, collaborate and participate. It is also a useful way for the teacher to evaluate the effectiveness of their own or colleagues' lessons. Some teacher training organisations are now using iLife as a tool to help students on teaching practice to assess their own effectiveness and provide pointers for improvement. The recording could be with video and iMovie or via an iPod to record a lesson.

You can learn a lot about the way children work together by using DV, photographs and audio to observe classroom situations

Record good practice - iLife is an ideal way of disseminating good practice simply by filming, photographing and recording teaching taking place and annotating it with text or voice-overs. The recording has to de done carefully and unobtrusively to make sure a false environment is not being created. This finished product could then be published as a DVD to be used in staff INSET or on an official Web site such as an LEA Web site or professional forum.
The real potential of iLife comes to the fore when put in the hands of pupils. Their ideas and angle on a situation can be an inspirational and refreshing use of the media that iLife can handle when guided by supportive adults.

Pupil use of iLife:

Present information - Pupils can present information in a familiar format such as a documentary, advertisement or news report using the full range of multimedia elements to give impressive results. These types of projects could include still archive images, archive video, interviews and audio archive. This could be the presentation of the results from a field trip, investigation or research. These are probably the first genre types considered by pupils and teachers alike when using iLife. Perhaps this is due to their prevalence in the current viewing diet or due to the fact that little or no acting needs to take place.

Documentary style projects are a common starting point for schools using iLife.

Investigate - Pupils can use iLife to investigate any time or motion based event. this could be by using iMovie's ability to freeze-frame action, alter the speed of an event and record time accurately. iMovie records at 25 frames per second (in Europe) enabling pupils to accurately measure and record events visually that are very difficult without the technology. The use of this technique really helps the visualisation of a process for pupils with exciting results. Still images can be used to measure with time lapse photography.

Using iMovie to investigate physical phenomena is an exciting and fruitful use of the medium.

Express concepts - A common way of getting children to learn is to get them to explain something to someone else in the class or to a group. By children being able to express their understanding of concepts with iLife they can enhance their own learning as well as help others to learn. This type of activity is an immensely powerful learning tool for pupils as they have to think through a process fully before committing themselves to to an iLife project.
Evaluate work - One of the failings of education in general is the failure to allow pupils to evaluate work they have done. iLife is a great tool for pupils to look at their own work such as music, PE, drama or D&T and to evaluate their work and share it with others. there is also an element of celebration in this process as the performers or creators can show off their work on a big screen.

iLife is a great evaluation tool that can also be used to celebrate success

Perform - iLife allows pupils to perform poems, tell stories or portray plays in a contemporary medium producing stunning results by using formats, techniques and effects previously only available to professional film-makers and animators. The use of narrative genres requires some extra input into the teaching process if pupils are to get the best results. (See the section on Filming)
Create a portfolio - The ability for pupils to create a portable multimedia portfolio of their work is a great help in enhancing continuity and progression and as a builder of self-esteem. This can be done in a number of ways, such as filming pupils talking about their work, filming pupils doing an activity or by allowing pupils to film something they have made and talk about it.

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5. Curriculum uses for iLife

Literacy

Using iLife to tell a story is a favourite use in many classrooms and this can be adapted to telling stories for different audiences.
An adaptation of this theme could be to use an existing audio story and create imagery to help tell the story. This imagery could be moving images, still photographs or scanned drawn pictures.
Poetry works well with iLife as the imagery that multimedia provides can be matched to the words in a poem to add meaning and atmosphere. Music can be added to render additional atmosphere.
Pupils can use iLife to present reports of give instructions, which is a more creative and permanent record than traditional oral presentations.
iLife can be used to investigate different parts of language such as dialogue or narration.

The use of DV to tell a story is a well explored use.

Numeracy

One great way to use iLife in numeracy is to ask pupils to create an instruction movie that explains how to do something or a concept. Pupils could explain what a mean is or how to work out a percentage.
Pupils could use iLife to investigate the maths around them such as shapes, tessellations, angles or distance. This can be done with still images or moving images with added narration and titles.
An interesting possible use for iLife in numeracy is to ask pupils to look at an area like number and represent things like odd and even numbers with images. This would be an interesting use of still images in iMovie.

Science

Using iLife to report on scientific investigations the use of images and video to record change over time.
Using video to do the recording for a scientific investigation is a powerful tool especially when tools such as freeze frame and altering the speed of the film is used.
The use of a digital microscope in a scientific investigation is an exciting tool for pupils. Most digital microscopes can record video clips and stills that can then be included in reports on the area under investigation.
The use of time-lapse photography using a DV camera or Webcam brings a sense of professionalism to pupil projects. After all this is the sort of thing they see on documentaries on the television.

Geography

iLife can be used well to record field trips in geography. The project can record measurements or observations of features seen.
Pupils can use iLife to explore maps that have been downloaded or scanned (with permission). When the maps are combined with images and aerial photographs from the area with can be a powerful tool to enhance the understanding of place and scale.
Pupils can use DV footage taken by others in their exploration of geography. This could be imported from the television or VHS video material.

Using maps and aerial photographs in geography

History

An obvious use of iLife in history revolves around the use of archive footage or archive photographs.
History is also well served by the use or role-play and re-enacting stories from the past.

Archive film footage is a rich resource for history

PE has long been seen as a potential area for the use of iLife. PE teachers like the idea of videoing sport for analysis and coaching purposes. Many PE teachers use video in an uncomplicated fashion by relying on source footage.
Some software can be used to analyse sports video in two ways. Some software analyses games by putting markers in a video at relevant events. Other software is used to analyse motion to improve technique in sports.

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6. Using iTunes

iTunes is a great way of storing, organising and repurposing your audio files for use in iLife classroom projects. Once these audio files are in iTunes you can use them again in many different ways in iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD. There are a number of different ways of getting audio files into iTunes, all of them are straightforward and require little technical knowledge.

When an audio CD is inserted into the Mac iTunes automatically launches and then will access an online database to find the track names and album names for the CD. The CD will then appear in the iTunes window ready to play or import using the import button. Pressing import will take the CD tracks and convert them to a compressed audio file such as MP3 or AAC so that 10 tracks lasting 40 minutes will be compressed to take up less than 40 MB of hard drive space. You can choose the file format you want to use by choosing preferences from the iTunes menu and if you wish you may import these tracks as larger AIFF or WAV files. These imported tracks will then be stored in your iTunes library ready for quick access in any of your iLife programs.

Another way to import audio files into iTunes is to download them from the Internet from sites such as downloading royalty free music from Freeplaymusic.com or audio stories from Talkingbooks.com.

Once these files have been downloaded to your computer they can be imported into iTunes by using a simple drag and drop onto the iTunes window or by using File and Add to Library menu.

Audio can also be imported into iTunes that has been recorded on the computer. Using a program like Audio Recorder, Sound Studio or Audacity files can be saved onto the computer and then imported into iTunes for use later on in the iLife process.

Another option for getting audio into iTunes is to use an iPod with a Belkin microphone attached. This is a simple solution for recording in the classroom and importing the audio into your computer. The iPod can pick up sound accurately from some distance and has the ability to cut out a fair amount of the background noise created in the classroom. Once the microphone is attached to the iPod it goes into record mode allowing recording and replaying of the recorded sound through a built in speaker. When the iPod is attached to the computer these recorded tracks are automatically imported into iTunes and given a date and time of the recording so that you can easily find the recorded file again.

You can also put text files into iTunes by using a Text to Speech program like iSpeakit or Audiobook Studio. These programs will convert any text directly into an MP3 file and place this MP3 file into iTunes for you.

Once you have your material in iTunes these can be organised into Playlists that will make it easier for pupils to find material later on in the iLife process. However these is an excellent search facility in iTunes if an audio file cannot be found.

Your playlists can then be listened to on the computer in class by groups or individuals and can also be burnt to CD for listening on a computer or CD player. An iTunes library on one computer can also be shared for listening over a network with any other computer with iTunes installed. This is set up in the iTunes Preferences where specific playlists can be selected for sharing with other computers.

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7. Using iPhoto

iPhoto will automatically recognise a digital camera or card reader attached to a Mac and launch itself. It will them ask if the images on the camera are to be imported and offer the option of deleting the images from the camera.

The images will then be imported into the iPhoto library and these images can be reorganised into albums that will allow simple access to images when used in the classroom. An image can be in multiple albums.

iPhoto is capable of some simple editing in the Edit tab that includes cropping, one touch enhancement, red-eye reduction, retouching, black and white mode, brightness and contrast adjustment.

There is an excellent facility for creating slideshows or albums, the whole library or a selection of images. These slideshows can be set to run automatically to set timings or to run interactively with the use of the space bar or arrow keys. It is also possible to set a slideshow to a music file or audio file chosen from the iTunes library.

Images can be exported from iPhoto to make Web pages, different sized files and usefully to create QuickTime movies that can then be used in other programs like iMovie or to make presentations.

Tips for better digital photographs

Where possible use the LCD screen to frame your images. The viewfinder on most digital cameras is very small and this leads to a tendency to shoot images too far away from the subject. Using the LCD in bright sunlight might be more of a problem as the LCD is much harder to use. In this case use the viewfinder and the framing guides in the viewfinder to make sure you get your subject right.

When framing an image think about the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds simply says that your subject should be in the middle third of your viewfinder. Some cameras actually have the option of putting the thirds on the LCD screen for you (see illustration).

Think about the lighting of your subject. If the light is behind your subject your subject will be in silhouette.

Think about what is behind the subject. Many consumer digital cameras will focus on infinity, which means everything will be in focus, including anything in the background that might not be desirable.

Try and avoid using the zoom on cheaper cameras. Many cameras claim to have a digital zoom facility, which in effect reduces the quality of your image. Walk closer to the subject instead.

If you are using the images on screen keep the quality setting and size setting of the camera to their lowest for your needs. If you take images at their best setting the images will be very large, fill up your memory card quickly and slow your computer down (see illustration).

It is important to remember that as with other uses for digitized size is important. All images must have a 4 by 3 ratio bigger than DV size of 768 by 576. If the size is larger than the DV size iMovie will be able to scale this down to the DV size.

Size when importing still images into iMovie program is important

Remember to take spare batteries for the camera because using the LCD screen uses more power than the viewfinder.

Remember to start a project with a camera that has had all the previous user's images transferred to a computer. This will mean that you have the maximum number of images available for your project.

Use the camera's own playback and erase to sift out any images that will be of no use because they were taken by accident or poorly framed.

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8. Using iMovie

Once you have your images in iPhoto, your audio in iTunes and your film on tape you are ready to put an iLife project together. The first thing to do is to capture or import the video into a computer for editing. This section will concentrate on iLife's DV editing package, iMovie. There will however be references to more advanced editing options such as Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro. iMovie is different from most other digital video editors in that it is able to integrate seamlessly with iTunes, iPhoto and iDVD.

This section will discuss some of the editing techniques that pupils will probably use in their projects but it must be remembered that no amount of editing will replace poorly planned, filmed, recorded and photographed source material. How to plan for success and creativity is covered sections later on.

When importing into a project in an education setting it is probably best to try and import all the footage taken and let the program detect the breaks between scenes. iMovie will split this into clips or rushes for you and put it into a window called the shelf. To ensure that this happens it is important to make sure that the camera date and time has been set so that time code can be laid onto the DV tape for the computer to use in the detection process.

In this project scene selection has been detected and the clips put into a bin or shelf

The next phase is to order the clips you have taken into the timeline so that the sequence makes sense in film editing jargon this is called a rough cut. In iMovie this is quite straightforward and involves simply dragging the clips into the timeline and reordering them if required. Some people believe that clips should be edited before they are put into the timeline but for the purposes of education and time it is recommended that the simpler approach is adopted.

iMovie allows you to see at least one video track and a two audio tracks. This timeline view in a video editor allows you to do more complex tasks and effects. For simpler editing in iMovie it is recommended that clip view is used this is akin to ordering slides in PowerPoint. The slide view is ideal for pupils who are starting to edit.

Timeline view in iMovie

The simpler Clip view in iMovie

Once all the clips are in the correct order in the time line the next stage is to trim down the clips so that any unwanted footage does not end up in the finished project. In iMovie this is achieved in the viewer window by dragging the marker triangles to select the video that needs trimming in the clip.

Trimming a clip in a the viewer

Continuity - An important message to get across to pupils is the need to make a scene flow as it were one continuous piece of action - continuity editing. Of course this relates to the footage taken and emphasizes the need for good planning. The concept of continuity editing it a great one to get across to pupils and can be something as simple filming a person walking past the camera or filming an interview. When a scene involves action it is a good habit to get pupils to cut their clips so that action is taking place ("cut on the action") at the start of a clip and to make sure that there is no overlap in the action between clips. You can get away with missing a bit of real time action out of a continuity sequence but not the reverse.

For a many projects by younger pupils this is the only limit of editing that will be required as the object of the exercise is to get a simple message across to an audience. However as pupils get more experience they will want to try more adventurous editing to try and reproduce the types of film they are used to seeing and give more expression to their video projects.

Inserts and cutaways - are when video clips are inserted over parts of video clips already in the timeline, while retaining the sound from the original clip. This technique is used for showing the audience details in a scene, for showing viewers what a speaker's talking about, for showing a reaction to something that is happening in the main clip, as a technique for hiding camera wobbles during filming or some poor editing. In iMovie where there is only one video track this will need a work around, this can be achieved by a paste over at playhead which places any video that has been copied to the clipboard over the existing video in the video track. In more professional programs this is is achieved by putting the inserted clip into the video track above the original clip.

Here a clip has been pasted over at the playhead as a cutaway

More advanced packages like Final Cut Express allow inserted clips to be placed in a video track above the original clip

Split edits - this is where the video and sound change at different points in the film. This is the technique used to make sound bridges between scenes as discussed in the sound section. You can also use split edits in dialogue sequences to make them flow a little more smoothly. To make this work properly you need to make sure you hear the audio from the second clip before you see the footage, which requires editing of audio tracks and video clips separately. In iMovie this achieved by using the Extract Audio command in the Advanced menu.

In a split edit you hear the sound from the second clip before you see the footage

Jump-cut edits - this is a jarring edit put into a sequence by the choice of shots rather than any technical mistakes. In this type of edit the cuts are unnatural, there are abrupt switches between shots of the same subject but from slightly different angles and places on the screen. There is a disjointed progression that makes the subject appear to jump from one place on the screen to another. Some times they are accidental, but they can also be used for purposeful effect to add tension to a sequence.

In the sequence the edits of the same subject have jumped to alter the distance from the camera to subject

Cross cutting - this is where alternating views of one thing going on in a scene are inter-cut with views of another. For example, in a conversation you might cut frequently between views of the one person and those of the other. As an alternative you could also cross-cut between actions taking place in two different locations. For example if a road accident is about to happen you could cross cut between the pedestrian and the oncoming car, increasing the speed of the cuts to build up the suspense and expectation.

Here the edits alternate between the car and the girl on a bike

The use of still images with film has had a long and powerful tradition in film making, especially in genres such as documentary and news. Still images have huge potential for story telling and for younger pupils there are less technical issues to consider than are encountered with the moving image.

Using still images

Once images have been imported into iMovie these can be narrated or music added to them. This is a simple and effective way of pupils to tell a story or illustrate their work. In iMovie it is possible to alter the length of time an image is in the timeline for, thus making the narration process simpler.

Altering the time each still image is shown helps with narration.

The best technique for this is to record the narration for each image first so that you know how long the image has to be in shot for. If any transitions are required this will also have to built into the equation as transitions reduce the amount of time the image is viewable to the audience. Another consideration when choosing images for inclusion in an iLife project like this is to think about how long the viewer needs to see the image to take it in. An image with a subject close to the camera can be understood more quickly than an image that has multiple subjects or is some distance from the lens. It is also important not to leave an image on screen too long as an audience can quickly become bored. Think back to those days of watching Jackanorey - 5 seconds is a long time to have an image on screen with no action or change.

If the narration is entered first in a sequence it is easier to synchronize the images

However in iMovie it is possible to go a little further by allowing rostrum shots to be created in the software. In iMovie this effect is called the "Ken Burns" effect after the famous American documentary producer. In a rostrum shot it is possible to recreate the effect of a camera zooming in and out, panning across or a combination on a still image. Of course before software this was exactly what was done but it required specialised equipment to do this well.

A rostrum shot that pans across a still image can be recreated in iMovie

This is ideal way to deal with archive images or images that have been scanned from publications (copyright allowing). For example images from World War 2 have been used to illustrate the effect evacuation had on children and their parents.

In the Ken Burns effect the starting point and finishing point of a rostrum effect are set.

If the rostrum effect is possible in the software the proportions of the image are not so important. This is because the software is able to fill the frame with the image in question as well as move across it.

If using a rostrum effect the proportions of of an image are not so important. Here the same scanned image has been given a rostrum effect on the right.

The images can be imported from the Web. This works especially well with maps downloaded from sites such as the Ordinance Survey and then imported into iMovie. By using these maps pupils can really begin to understand scale and place. This is especially effective when used with real images.

Using maps and stills is a very effective tool for learning about scale and place

The more experienced pupils become the more they can experiment with editing but as many people have found with iLife projects they never feel that they have finished. Indeed there is a natural tendency to over edit a piece, which could actually make it worse. As a teacher it is important to set deadlines for editing and try to get pupils to stick to them.

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9. Planning for creativity with iLife

If we are going to use iLife to make the most of the creative opportunities that iLife offers teachers can promote pupils' creativity best with by:

thoroughly planning tasks and activities that give pupils scope to explore their creativity
using teaching styles that makes the most of pupils' creativity

To get the most out of these activities teachers should consider the following pointers:

Set a clear purpose for pupils' work - Project base used to get a bad press but if a clear learning purpose if given at the start of the project things will run more smoothly

Be clear about freedoms and constraints - Pupils need to know the parameters they are to work within if they are going to get the most out of the experience.

Fire pupils' imagination through other learning and experiences - As multimedia is all around them it is a very good idea to give pupils an opportunity to explore the work of others who have used the medium.

Give pupils opportunities to work together - iLife is the ideal tool to use in group work.

Establish criteria for success - Pupils should be taught hoe to evaluate theri own work so that they know what is a successful project. See the Evaluating iLife section.

Capitalise on unexpected learning opportunities - During a project pupils should be allowed to explore ideas that occur during the process in consultation with the teacher.

Ask open-ended questions and encourage critical reflection - The critical role for teachers in the iLife process is to encourage pupils to be look critically at their own work.

Regularly review work in progress - By following the project management steps outlined below teachers will be able to easily ensure that work is reviewed at regular intervals.

Planning for creativity

Organising ICT in most classrooms can be a challenge and the challenges are magnified in the eyes of many teachers when it comes to using iLife in their classrooms. Some schools have opted for using multimedia projects as an extracurricular option or as something that is included in special times in the school year. However there are a numbers of tried and tested ways of getting the best out of the technology when it is embedded into everyday teaching and learning in a classroom.

In some schools where there are suites of computers teachers have introduced pupils to editing by using the supplied tutorial material of digital images, video clips and sounds. In this type of skill building session teachers have taught pupils the basic techniques of multimedia editing. This has been extended by teachers who have provided pupils with material for editing that has more focus on the subject in hand. By doing this some teachers believe that time can be saved later on in the process. It is also thought that when pupils understand the basics of editing they will be able to plan and film more effectively.

In a classroom that has more limited resources this theme can be adapted by doing a class project. In this scenario pupils are given a theme and asked to film one or two clips or images each. This is then imported onto a class computer and pupils edit this in turn or in groups to produce different t edits of the same material. The benefits of doing this are as above but it also gives pupils an understanding of the linkage that there is between the capture of raw material and editing.

By rotating roles all pupils will get fairer access to the technology

By its nature multimedia is usually a group activity involving different tasks. Sometimes the tasks are allocated along traditional lines such as: producer, director, screenplay, cameraperson, sound engineer, artists, animators, actors, editors etc. However in practical terms pupils like to be involved in all aspects of a project and often the roles are rotated. This often allows teachers to overcome gender issues that come to the surface in group work such as male domination of equipment.

The way a project proceeds will depend on the amount of equipment available, the size of the class and a teacher's access to the class. In a primary school this will tend to be less of an issue than in a secondary school where teachers only see pupils for shorter periods each week.

In a primary school a project could run over an extended period and be of a cross curricular nature. For example a report for a science project or investigation could include literacy, numeracy, science and of course an element of ICT.

For projects that are not cross curricular per se the multimedia task could be rotated from group to group each week. For example if the project were a history one this could be rotated between each group each session history was taught during an area of study.

In a school the Victorians are studied every Wednesday afternoon 1 - 3p.m. for a half term. The class is split into 7 groups and each history session studies a different aspect of topic such as:

Industrial revolution
Education
Children
Women
Exploration
Slavery
Toys

Whilst one group undertakes a multimedia project task based on one of these areas the remainder of the pupils in the class do paper or ICT based work on the same subject. By doing this there is little disruption to the routine of the classroom plus pupils are studying and adding to the class knowledge the same subject area.

Whatever approach is taken it is important that teachers take account of the possibilities that iLife has to offer in their curriculum planning and try to ensure that the use of multimedia in the classroom is not merely a one off project that is then forgotten. Experience has shown that pupils get more out of the experience of producing iLife projects if they can repeat the process over a long period of time.

Whatever approach is taken it is a good idea to keep a checklist for managing projects. What follows is a procedure that has worked for some teachers:

iLife Project Management Steps

Step 1 - Team determine project focus and audience

What is the area to be investigated or covered?
Who are we doing this for? (Audience)
What do we want it to look like? (Genre)

Step 2 - Write three-part iLife project proposal

The focus of the work (from step 1)
The essential question - What are we trying to achieve or find out?
Necessary resources to do the work

See below for example

Step 3 - Mentor reviews project proposal with team

A time for discussion, negotiation and teacher input
A crucial time to look critically at the ideas

Step 4 - Team develops outline, storyboard and script for project

The type of planning will depend on the project.
It must be in sufficient depth to meet needs of project.
Agree on group roles.

Step 5 - Mentor and team agree on storyboard

Agreement at this stage is important for all concerned. The project makers must feel as if they have ownership.
The project must be focused enough to meet learning objectives.

Step 6 - Team engages in project work with mentor support

This is where the work is done
Support can be technical and curricular
Time constraints must be considered

Step 7 - Team presents project to audience

The important part often forgotten
A chance to show achievement and share.
Should not be rushed
Should be appreciated

Step 8 - Mentor, team and peers evaluate project

No need to be formal
Let project workers have their say first
Try to ensure constructive evaluation from peers.

iLife Project Proposal

Video Title ___________________________

Target Audience ___________________________

Video Style (genre) _______________________

Length of Project _______________________

Project Goals & Objectives - What does the project aim to teach? What effect do you want to have on the audience? What is the question you are exploring?

Project Description - Provide a brief description of your project. How will the end product look?

Settings & Resources - Indicate where your video will be filmed and what props might be required.

Team Roles