I'm looking for teachers to trial a new collaborative education method within which we ask students to learn by making films.
We've run a number of trials already using a social network called http://Create.tv (which my company has developed).
The process seems to work very well and we're now looking for more teachers with whom to define and run free trial projects so that we can improve the method.
As an example, in one project we engaged hard to reach students with Shakespeare by forming them into productions groups, giving them a scene from Romeo and Juliet (they could choose from the capulet party, fight or balcony scenes) and asking them to rewrite the original script into their own language. They were then asked to make a film of their script. Through rewriting the script they came to understand the timelessness and beauty of shakespeare and through making a film they exercised many life skills such as negotiation and problem resolution.
We've also run trials for history and science, and in all cases we engage students in a learning exercise by asing them to write, plan and execute a filmmaking project.
I'd like to identify new educational filmmaking projects and work with teachers to implement them. Projects can be inter or intra school and I can provide case studies for the trials run to date if that's of interest? Schools need to have access to the internet, each production group (generally 4-6 students) needs access to an internet connected computer. The computers need Firefox 3+, Internet Explorer 7+ or Safari and flash 9+ to run Create.tv. The schools firewall needs to allow connections to http://create.tv. It's best if teachers have some familliarity with social networks and online groups (such as this one :) ).
The resulting films can be released to closed or public groups, therefore student privacy can be ensured.
I hope this isn't regarded as overt product placement, I'm not trying to promote a commercial product, rather, validate a novel educational method using collaborative filmmaking.
A short interview with the teacher in charge of the Shakespeare project ("The Big Shakespeare Mashup") is here: http://create.tv/story/play/3329 (the player may take a little while to load depending on where you are in the world please be patient).
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Replies
Aloha from Hawaii!
Sounds like an interesting project! Just wondering...is there a timeline to participate? Our school year ends in May. But I'd love to chat with you and find out if my students can participate in a project in the fall.
Please email me
mkurashige@midpac.edu
or Skype me
mkurashige
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Melvina
I am working on the development of a pilot project for students in the US to collaborate on a film making production with students in Brazil.
Create.tv looks like it might be a good fit.
Would like to communicate with you - have some questions if you would be interested.
Ben
Sounds great, let's chat - happy to answer questions.
You can contact me on email
mark@create.tv
or skype
mark-hardwick
or via this forum of course.
I'm in London so ~5-8 hours ahead depending where you are in the US.
Cheers
Mark.
I've done some preliminary exploration of create.tv -
Was able to get set up, but never got the welcome email that was needed to invite others.
Sent a help message, but nothing back yet.
Also, I see how to upload videos, but not sure how a team would edit videos into a final.
Is there an editor on the site? Or, should students download clips and edit on their own software?
We could skype - at bmccune9 or email at benm9@mac.com
Ben
Regarding the welcome email - could you check your spam folder? That's generally the reason for them going missing. Otherwise, I'll get the guys to sort it for you tomorrow when they're back in.
Yes the site has an editor called "the mixer". When you create a story, the mixer is one of the tools available. There is also a slideshow tool which I find very useful. Having said that, we encourage people to use whatever editing software they're happy with and create.tv allows production members ftp access to the asset library if they want to download and edit group content offline.
I'll try and contact you via Skype and talk you through all that.
Cheers
Mark.
I'll take a look at the mixer.
Ben