Dr. Sherri Colby, Curriculum & Instruction
Instructor Authored Films and Active Learning
For my web enhanced courses, I create films on course material using my own digital photography. My films integrate the famous “Ken Burns approach” for documentary film making. In his historical documentaries, Ken Burns created interest through zooming, panning, and scanning still images such as old photographs and archival records. For more information, see http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/. Using the Adobe Master Suite, I create the films using Premiere Pro (for video editing), Photoshop (for photo editing), and Sound Booth (for audio recording and editing). Also, I integrate free photography from sources such as www.freedigitalphotos.net and free music from www.freeplaymusic.com. Premiere Pro enables me to adapt the films to a number of formats including podcasts, You Tube, and Teacher Tube (www.teachertube.com).
After the students view my films, we meet in class for interactive discussions. For example, in a doctorate class on educational research, I created a film of myself making and eating chocolate truffles. The film compared truffle making to educational research methods. We then met in class for a chocolate tasting and discussed how the ideas in the film related to research.
Student-Authored Films and Active Learning:
For my online courses, I ask students to create their own films using the software of their choice. Students often elect to use Windows Movie Maker, IMovie (for mac), or Premiere Pro. I do allow students with limited technology experience to create audio recorded PowerPoints. A few students have opted to create interactive websites or newsletters (using software such as Microsoft Publisher).
As part of the film assignment, students then create an activity for their classmates to participate in. Using the discussion links in ECollege, I create discussion topic areas, and the students then post their activities on the boards for their classmates to respond to. The films may be uploaded in the doc sharing section, a personal website, or YouTube. My students have used all three options.
Hopes for the future:
I am currently creating a set of podcasts using Premiere Pro, and I am planning to call them Dr. Colby’s “Mindcasts” on cognition and other teaching and learning theories. I am excited about the idea of adapting small films for mobile devices.
In the future, I hope to conduct my own research with middle and high school history students who create their own well-researched documentaries from primary document sources. If successful, I would like to build a community website for students from Texas middle and high schools to submit their documentaries. I am envisioning a learning center with a multimedia section and an electronic student-authored journal. I am still exploring possibilities in this regard. If you have any ideas to assist me, please email at Sherri_Colby@tamu-commerce.edu.
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