Zondag 9 maart: The different forms of film and their educational purposes.

Liefste allen,

Vandaag heb ik eindelijk mijn paper ingediend. Het was mijn eerste, dus voor zij die er al veel ervaring (en enkele fouten opmerken)....ssssshhht ;) Enjoy:

The course is called Film, Video as Aesthetic Expression. In class we talked about the use of new media and especially film. But what is film exactly? We use films for many years now, but when I asked what film is I get different interpretations. Because the term film is so vague I decided to make it my subject for the paper. What is film? And how can we use it in elementary school?

The Cambridge Dictionaries Online describes film as follows “a series of moving pictures, usually shown in a cinema or on television and often telling a story.” The Visualization Center in Norrköping describes film almost in the same way “a series of pictures that move”. As we take this in consideration we have many options. We could say that everything that moves on a screen is a film. In this paper I will talk about the different types of film and how we can use it in the classroom. Movie, short movie, documentary and YouTube video will be discussed. I will describe some different ways how you can use it in class as well as some advantages and disadvantages.

It is important to know how film was used in the early nineties, before I start with the modern ways of showing film in class. Schools have always looked for a better way to teach. Although that process has never been easy. Larry Cuban wrote a book about the relationship between teachers and technology: Teachers and Machines. The Classroom Use of Technology Since 1920. Despite of all the good things technology has done for education (books, chalkboards, radio, film and television), teachers still are resistant to “modern” technology (Cuban 1980), which was very noticeable with film and television. This because of the teachers attitude to technology and change as well for the equipment. The teachers attitude was very important in the use of film in the classroom. Many teachers feared that film could replace them. A film could say the same things and could even show it to the students. They saw a tool becoming a teacher. Then there is also the equipment. The first thing you need to know about that is that this technology was very expensive at that time. Schools often did not have the funds, even if they did there still was another problem. Teachers often did not have the necessary experience in order to feel comfortable with the new technology. They had to install it themselves and when something broke they were not able to fix it. Teachers are not technicians. Another aspect of the equipment was the size. The installation was very big. Depending on the school there were two options. First option was that the teachers had to install the equipment in their classroom. This took time and by lack of skills teachers preferred not to use it. The second option was that the school had a separate room were the equipment was permanently installed. For this the school needed the space. Even if the school had an separate room the teachers still had to move the pupils. Many reformers saw possibilities for the use of film. Sadly there was no frequent use detected. Even in 2000 Larry Cuban seamed correct and film, new media and computers did not become a part of the daily routine in schools.

Fortunately, technology keeps evolving. We are much further developed than during the nineties. Everything is more compact, user-friendly and cheaper. Think of mobile phones, laptops, flat screens, projectors, iPods,… And because everything is smaller it is easier to use. So it became a big part of our daily life. The transition to education as a learning tool should not be difficult. When film and video were very new, there was the problem of not finding the right movie to cover the subject. Now we have search engines (for libraries and the internet)  and a big choice from different types of films. We are a generation who have been growing up with television, film, new media and technologies. If you could compare the teachers from the early nineties with the new teachers, recently graduated, you would find a big difference in how comfortable they are and the skills they have.

Now we get to the different forms of film and there educational purposes. With this I mean the different kind of films we have, and not the different genres. There are short films, long films or even segments of film.

What should not be forgotten is copyright. When you use film in your class, even if it are just some scenes it is important to know when you violate the law of copyright. What does the law of  copyright? The UK Copyright Service explains it very easy: “The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used.” You should always use a legal copy. Usually when you buy or rent a movie it has the license which is needed. When a movie is shown during a training workshops by a paid consultant who works for a nonprofit organization, then the law of copyright is not violated (Champoux, 2007). A school is a nonprofit organization, so when the teacher uses a legal copy, there is no problem.

When they hear “film”, then most people think of a movie. Joseph E. Champoux describes in his text “Film a Teaching Resource” different ways to use a movie in class. A movie is explained as “a series of photographs, played rapidly, so it gives the illusion of motion. To this pictures sound and music were added. It tells a story”. A movie can easily fill 120 minutes. That means you can show the entire movie or you can show some scenes. Because a movie takes a chunk out of the schedule it would be better that we take a shorter film. Now, aren’t we glad there exists something as a short movie. A short movie tells a story, just like a normal movie. The biggest difference is, that a short movie only takes maximal twenty minutes. It has the same characteristics as a movie of 120 minutes: a plot, characters, dialogues, an action, rising action, a climax, an anti-climax, a denouement,… And because it is shorter than a normal movie it is easier to analyze. If you take a block of 50 minutes and the teacher decides to work with a short movie, then the teacher could work as follows: watching the movie (20 min) and still have 30 minutes to talk about the movie and have a discussion. There is also the aspect of diversity. Short movies became more popular over the last years. This means there is a broad spectrum of different subjects and for every age, interest, background, … something can be found. Short movies have to be powerful as they have to make an impression in a limited amount of time. The duration of this film has another positive point for (younger) children: attention. Children are not able to focus for a long time, even in a normal movie they cannot focus the entire time. Due to its duration children are able to focus the entire time during a short movie. The duration is also a disadvantage for children, because when they miss something it is likely they missed something important. The movie and the short movie are mostly used for narrative stories or to show a perspective. For example the discovery of America with the pilgrims conquering the native Americans and the Indians losing their grounds. With a movie you can help the children to develop insight in a person’s mind as well as empathy. Children have to think about the reason why a character reacts like that.

Movies have narratives storylines, when you want a scientific view it is better to use a documentary. A documentary is a kind of movie about facts. Usually about a person, animal, (historical or scientific) event. A documentary has a lot of strong points especially for education. It is very logical, everything is explained and repeated before they go to the next part. The explanation and facts are very well supported by images so you know what they are talking about. Because of the good explanations the students are able to construct all the information that is given, this way they understand everything much better. Furthermore, a documentary is perfect to show things we cannot show that easy, for example: inside the human body, the cosmos, deep underneath the sea surface,… The length, difficult language and slow progress can be a reason for children to lose their focus. Documentary is mostly used in secondary school for the subjects biology, physics, chemistry, history and arts. For younger children exist specialized programs. In Belgium and the Netherlands we have for example “Huisje, boompje, beestje”. This is a television show which has short documentaries for children. They explain a scientific phenomenon on an simple and fun way. Next to this they have for the same subject different versions per age group. These are often used in the classroom in Dutch speaking countries, they are digitalized and easy accessible.

A very short and popular kind of film is the YouTube video (in Dutch “YouTube filmpjes”). The site YouTube.com was founded in 2005. On YouTube many videos can be found. There are not only many videos to choose from but there are no problems with copyright, all the videos on YouTube are open for the public. YouTube has something for everything, you just enter a word in the search engine and your options will be shown. There are music videos, sport fragments, video blogs, television shows,… Because of its huge amounts of videos it is very useful in education, however there is also a lot of useless material. A teacher can do research or look for something to start the lesson with. It is useful for children and students as well. This leads us to an entire new kind of video which was born  on YouTube: the tutorial. The tutorial is film from two till ten minutes where someone explains you how to do something. There are many subjects, varying from math exercises to how to do your makeup. A tutorial is not hard to make. So it is possible for a teacher to make some tutorials so the students can work individually. The best part of a tutorial is that the student can pause an rewind whenever he wants. This way the student can work on his own pace. Some students from the KHLeuven proved that there is a difference between learning from a video and learning with the help of a teacher. The children had to learn how to juggle with a ball. The children which had help from the teacher had a better result than the other group. This does not mean you cannot leave children alone with a YouTube video, yet it is important that the teacher does a follow up with the students and helps them when they need it.

Making a tutorial is so easy that children can do it. It would be fun and instructive, and does not take much time in class. A child needs to know what he is good at and wants to teach others, show it, film it and maybe edit it. This would perfectly fit in a project about talents. You could even let the children help each other with math exercise, language or sports. The children can even choose to learn something new and to teach others the same thing. Skortez and Cottle (2011) wrote an article about problem-based learning with a video framework. In this article they describe the different steps you need to take with children to create a nice video. When they talk about problem-based learning they mean that the children need to solve a problem on their own and make a film to explain it to others. In the tutorial they transfer their knowledge to others.

Once children have made their own tutorial it will not be challenging anymore. As a teacher you can do different things with children within film education; making a digital storyboard or even make a short movie. When a teacher does one of these things the video-framework is very useful. It not only shows the steps but it also tells you when you have to give a just-in-time technology lesson e.g. how to do research, how to write a script, how to use a film camera, how to edit… When making an film with children these just-in-time technology lessons are very important. It gives the children the chance to develop the skills which are needed to make a film or video by themselves. And when they can show it to the world they will be so happy and motivated. This is the best way of education. As Benjamin Franklin said “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

As stated earlier, film can have different functions in teaching. There is no right or wrong way to use it in your class. Everything depends on your teaching style, teaching goals and course content. Only by experimenting you will find the way that fits you best (Champoux, 2007). To make it a little bit easier there are a few rules that can help you (Hoxley & Rowsell, 2006):

-          Never show a video of someone else saying what you can say. For example World War II. Do not show a movie about the facts. What you can do is showing a witness who tells her/his story.

-          Use videos for things you cannot adequately describe. For example emotions, broad application of theory to practice, etc.

-          The absolute need to prepare and plan. This is to get beyond the audience reaction characterized by: ‘It was a great show but I don’t know if I learned anything’. You should prepare what you want the children to learn (discussions, questions, assignments,…)

Why should a teacher use film in her/his teaching? We live in a society where we have many visual impulses. Everything has to be bigger, brighter and faster to keep our attention. Film follows this need for movement. In a normal day we get confronted around 200 times with film. This does not have to be a movie. It can be small things, things we don’t even notice anymore: advertisements, security images,… Children nowadays need this “interesting” things to keep their attention. A teacher almost becomes an entertainer. Film helps with that. Do not forget the other advantages, such as the subjects a teacher cannot explain that well. Sometimes an image says more than thousand words. Film can show different perspectives and helps students to develop insight in a person’s mind and empathy. With tutorials you can leave children alone, so they can learn by themselves, and it possible from a young age. By making their own film, children can be in charge of their own learning. They have to choose a subject, to research, understand it, make sure they can transfer it to others, film and edit it. With this they will develop technical en social skills.

Now we have smart boards. You could see it as a combination between a interactive chalkboard and a computer screen. In 1986 Larry Cuban wrote that computers would not transform the teachers practice. In 2000 a person Henry Jay Becker wrote that Cuban still was right. Computers did not transformed the teachers practice. I was 8 years old in 2000. I see a big difference when I compare what I did in school with what children do now. The technology developed, and I am from the generation where everyone started to have a personal computer. Even at school we had one in every classroom. Now classes often have more than one computers. Schools have laptops, beamers and iPads. And do not forget the smart boards. With all this technology information an knowledge is everywhere. It is just one click away. Computers did change the teaching practice and are still changing it. Teaching with the help of computers will be a part of the teachers training. When that happens there will be research after the best way we can use film and video. Film will become as traditional as books. It just needs some time, maybe five till ten years.