Why and How Can Flipcams Motivate and Engage Learners in the Classroom?

This year, I am not in charge of a classroom; however, as the school year begins, I find myself still in the mindset of setting up a classroom- classroom rules, procedures, class climate, routines, and management.  I've been fortunate because every principal at every school I've taught at has encouraged that we take the first week or two of school to build that foundation.  Isn't is awesome how we are able to set the stage for a productive year within this short time period.  I was playing with the gadgets one gets when they transition from classroom teacher to curriculum tech partner.  Holding the flipcam, I recall the "Welcome to Our Classroom" video that 4th graders made in i-movie.

Why did we use the flipcams and i-movie?

• To assess and document our understanding of how this classroom needed to operate in order         to be productive 
• To provide a dvd to new students and visiting adults showing them what to expect and how to behave in our classroom

How did this work? 

• After a week of practicing procedures, memorizing rules, and learning our management system,  partners wrote scripts, acted them out, then downloaded their footage into i-movie.  We edited as a class then burned a DVD for everyone to take home and share with families - plus two extra classroom copies.  
• Each time a new student registered, a sub, volunteer, UND Intro student, TEAM student, or Student Teacher arrived- our classroom greeter presented them with a DVD to become familiar with our class.  Sometimes we watched it first thing in the morning with our visitor - not only did it introduce us to our visitor but was also a great review.

We are so fortunate to be teaching in a school district that provides us with the multiple tools that can be used to bring our digital learners into the 21st Century!  Each school has a digital storytelling cart in its building with all the tools needed to do a project like this.

Check out 44 more ways to use a flipcam and i-movie in the classroom!  The ideas are endless :0)

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_6tv55j7g9

Have you used the flipcam and i-movie for project base learning?  I'd love to hear about it!