Week 4: Digital Video - Tool 2

Creating a video for the first time, appeared challenging, but in reality it was very simple. I used “Windows Movie maker 2.6” for the first time and it proved to be very helpful and had a lot more useful features than the latest version “Windows Live Movie Maker”. I also used the program “Audacity” which allowed me to edit my “voice over” and add music to play softly in the background. Movie maker has clearly been designed so even an amateur like myself can find it useful. It has a simple design structure, again making it simple and easy to use. It involves mainly drag and drop editing where you can change the amount of time an image is viewed by sliding a bar. It provides photo transition animations when changing from one image to another which can be useful if your intent is to not only provide information but to also engage your learners and make the video interesting and enjoyable. Simply having a series of images blink onto the screen, one after the other is not going to be as enjoyable or interesting as a video with creative image transition animations.

I believe that videos have a unique feature, one that can evoke passion and even persuade us to change our opinions. Through their method of delivery, sound, images and videos come together in a harmony where they have the potential to inspire, encourage and motivate, therefore being a useful tool in our community. Therefore they can be a very useful tool in an educational environment. Even in their simplest form, videos can provide support and opportunities for many different types of learners. It can be used to support students of most learning styles, whether it is visual learners or auditor learners.