Video on the iPad – it’s about Creation not Consumption

There’s been a lot of talk lately around the iPad in schools, particularly in light of some of the issues faced by the mass roll-out into Californian schools. Disappointingly, much of the talk both here and in the US focuses on the iPad as a ‘consumption’ device; connecting to the internet, reading eBooks and watching videos.

This all misses the point. The iPad is about creating content, and it’s about creativity.

A great example to use is video – the iPad is NOT just about watching video. iMotion HD is a free app which enables the easy creation of stop-frame animation and time-lapse video. It is free, enables onion-skinning and takes no more than 5mins to show a teacher who has never used an iPad before how to make stop-frame animation videos on it – from then it becomes completely about how it can be used to support teaching and learning.

The beauty of iMotion HD is its ease-of-use and its application as both a teaching tool and a learning resource in equally powerful measure. The example here (iMotion Art Demo) demonstrates the use of iMotion to create a looped resource for the teaching of portrait drawing; this example is set to around 3 frames per second but can very easily be sped up or slowed down. Although this example refers to Art, teachers will always be able to see how this concept can transpose across the entire curriculum; the working through of equations in Maths, the position of the body in Dance, or the building of a structure in Technology; in fact any teaching where step-by-step instructions are to be followed and learned. See the Lego example here: iMotion Lego Video

The concept can apply to learning in all subjects. In Science experiments can be ‘filmed’ over an extended period of time and then viewed in a quick sequence; imagine kids watching their watercress grow before their eyes. In English scenes can be created using props filmed on the inside cover of the book, as in The Gruffalo example here. Gruffalo Video in Video

Following the creation of the stop-frame animation or time-lapse video, the process doesn’t stop there. The videos can be exported to the photo library and then imported into other apps such as iMovie and Video-in-Video for narration and so on, as with these other examples.

The learning then becomes not only the production of the video, but the analysis and explanation deepens the learning and builds on the creativity.

iMotion HD is available for free from the App Store. iMovie and Video-in-Video are paid apps, but are some the few which we recommend thinking about opening the school purse-strings for. Matt