In today’s life we are constantly surrounded by and involved in digital media – such as digital images, digital audio and digital video. Even the good old TV has gone digital, with the analogue signal to be switched off by 2013! I will be writing about some of the tools which can be used to view, create and edit different types of digital media.
Digital Video
Digital videos are very easy to create, edit and share. They can either be created using a digital video recorder, iphone or digital camera. However, this isn't the only way to create a digital video.
Digital videos can also be created using programs such as Windows Movie Maker. This program allows you to make videos from scratch or edit those which you have recorded. It's is fairly easy to use and quite self explanatory, as long as you have some basic computer skills to start with. Here’s an example of a video I created as part of my Art assignment back in Term 1, last year.
Digital videos can also be shared on sites such as youtube, granted that you have a decent internet connection speed and a gmail account (which is free). As you have probably worked out, the video above was uploaded to YouTube so that I could share it with you.
Pod Casts
Pod casts are digital video or audio files which can be downloaded over the internet. A lot of content can now be downloaded in the form of pod casts such as radio shows, educational programs and news.
Pod Casts were made popular by the iPod, which allowed users to download Pod Casts and listen to them on the go.
Podcasts can be a great addition to the classroom, providing another resource for learning. If a class has access to iPods or iPod touches students could listen to a pod cast if they finish their work early. They could also be used as part of a group rotation, or the whole class could listen to an excerpt of a podcast. There are loads of educational podcasts on topics from language to science..
Pod casts are also not limited to the professionals or those with a decent budget. Pod Casts can easily be created using a range of programs, such as Podmatic. This could be used for students to create a podcast as part of an assignment, or a teacher could create their own podcast to accompany students’ home work.
With the price of digital cameras constantly dropping, people have more and more access to them. This allows every day people to take pictures of memorable events to share with their friends and family. We no longer have to take our film to get developed. We can share them for free online through a wide variety of means. We can e-mail our pictures, add them to social media sites (such as facebook) or share them on sites such as flickr. Facebook is my favourite way of sharing my photos (and stalking old friends). However, this isn’t practical for school as facebook is not available to students under 13 – and it goes against school policy to add students on facebook!
In conclusion Digital Media is readily available today – So why not take advantage of it in the classroom???
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