iMovie 101

This week's highly anticipated session revolved around iMovie basics. Having never used iMovie before and having never been proactive enough to seek out online tutorials, I was thrilled to have the opportunity for small group mentoring on iMovie basics.

Not knowing anything about how the tool works, iMovie looks quite intimidating. You know what you want to do but you just don't quite know how to do it. Having some sandpit time to make a movie without any expectations of quality and content allowed us to explore and discover the many functions of iMovie, all of which were so easy to access and apply as long as you simply know how!

I was able to make the following movie within a couple of hours. The overarching theme: A day in the life of a Hub 5 learner. 

If I did it again, there are a few things I would have done differently

• Used a wider variety of shots
• Consistent use of Landscape shots, to avoid Vertical video syndrome
• Used a tripod a lot more for more stabilised raw footage

Putting on my reflective teacher lense, I took more than just the tangible skills away from today's session. Had we been put on the spot to create a video to be submitted for judging, there would have been more pressure on learning the technical skills and we would not have been able to put much effort into the actual content. Allowing us the time to play however, meant that we were able to build our confidence in using the tool so that when we are required to use it for an authentic task, we can focus more on the content. The same goes for my learners. When introducing a new digital tool it is important to let them play before hand so that when they are required or want to use it for a specific task, they spend most of their energy developing content rather than exerting most of their energy to learn technical skills. Definitely something I am going to be more aware of when in the classroom.