ILife
From WikEd
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[edit] What is iLife?
iLife is a collection of software applications designed by Apple Computers that allows the user to create and edit music and movies, design websites, and edit photography. The contents of iLife, that run exclusively on Macintosh computers, include:
•iWeb
•iDVD
[edit] Why iLife in the Classroom?
According to Apple.com, "when producing digital projects with iLife, students are empowered to be innovative and creative while at the same time building crucial communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills." Furthermore, Apple.com relate its iLife software to the standards set forth by the International Society for Technology in Education. ISTE focuses its standards into the following areas:
•Creativity and Innovation
•Communication and Collaboration
•Research and Information Fluency
•Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
•Digital Citizenship
•Technology Operations and Concepts
The tools of iLife allow students unprecedented digital authoring advantages in an ever-changing technological landscape. The ease of production makes for maximum student output and efficiency, creating a classroom where students do not have to focus their time on program manipulation, but instead can engage in collaboration and creations.
Randy K. Yerrick and Donna L. Ross, educators in the College of Education at San Diego State University, argue that "desktop digital video editing with the recently released iMovie software [can] increase student motivation, build on children’s prior knowledge and natural curiosity, and provide a context that enhances literacy instruction" (Yerrick & Ross).
Yerrick & Ross observed iMovie integration in elementary classrooms and analyzed the results. Educators used iMovie to create films to utilize in science curriculum, and the researchers found that the software helped in many ways. For instance, "iMovie was used as a springboard for students to develop short stories about what it would be like to be an animal living in a pond" (Yerrick & Ross). Furthermore, the researchers claimed that iMovies resulted in increased student engagement and "caused children to push the limits of their knowledge" (Yerrick & Ross). Moreover, students wished to further research ideas from their iMovie experiences and expand on their knowledge more completely while engaged in iMovie software.
[edit] iLife Effects on Classroom Learning
In 2005, the Escondido School District in Escondido, California, began an initiative known as "Project LIVE (Learning through Instructional Video in Education)". Teachers were given MacBook computers and training in the iLife programs, and sought to increase student awareness in using the tools. These tools were fully incorporated into classrooms, with the goals being to "increase overall student achievement, foster critical and visual literacy skills, and build upon standards-driven instruction." The results were astounding, with standardized test scores increasing 10 to 30 points (the results can be seen below).
At the Freestyle Academy in Mountain View, California, students are consistently involved in the Mac software, completing Public Service Announcements, blogs, graphic novels, and podcasts. The iLife software has led to students' better acquiring "critical collaboration, technological literacy, and visual literacy skills...[and] a passion for learning."
Gordon Jack, instructor at Freestyle Academy, says, “Anecdotally, we have a ton of evidence saying this program is really engaging kids, and they’re responding well. When students tell you they’re now getting the best grades ever, and that they’re more motivated to learn than ever, that’s pretty amazing.”
[edit] iLife, Digital Literacy, & Reading Strategies
As digital literacy becomes the new literacy in students' lives, iLife can assist both learners and educators in adapting to this revolution. According to Digital Strategy, digital literacy is "the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information." Using a program such as iMovie allows students and educators to better hone these skills through the retrieval, creation, and evaluation of pictures, words, and other images. Creating a digital storybook or compiling video clips and other information for a history class can help greatly improve reading comprehension in an engaging and relevant manner. A key strategy that can be practiced through iLife is questioning.
Questioning is a crucial part of reading comprehension, and in his book, Learning and Instruction, Richard Mayer makes mention of adjunct questions. These are questions that can be inserted into text and can serve forward or backward functions (Mayer 333). Forward questions inform the reader what to pay attention to in subsequent portions, while backwards questions give readers the opportunity to assess what has already been read (333). These questions can enhance comprehension by “helping the learner pay more attention to the material, focusing the learner’s attention on certain types of information, and, when used skillfully, guiding how learners organize and interpret the material” (333).
A program such as iMovie makes using adjunct questioning simple and effective. For example, instead of simply showing a 40-minute video in social studies from start to finish, the educator can splice up the film using iLife software and insert adjunct questions into the film. This will certainly assist students in focusing on the material, as well as assist in analysis of the information. Furthermore, students can create their own digital media projects with a focus on adjunct questioning, easily manipulating multimedia materials that highlight their understanding of the curriculum as well as fostering their use and practice of the questioning strategy. The students can lead class discussions and guide the other students in a way that truly showcases mastery of organization and interpretation of academics.
Digital Literacy is simply a part of Media Literacy. Media Literacy is "various video and audio structures, genres, and formats" that can be found in digital media (iPod in Education: The Potential for Teaching and Learning). The article cites the full definition of media literacy, courtesy of the The Center for Media Literacy, which classifies the definition as the “ability to communicate competently in all media forms, print and electronic, as well as to access, understand, analyze and evaluate the powerful images, words and sounds that make up our contemporary mass media culture.”
Students are engrossed in aspects of media literacy on a daily basis, and educators can harbor the skills students refine while interacting with media literacy. Using such photos as iPhoto and GarageBand, students can manipulate and combine many different forms of media such as historical photographs, music, sound effects, video, and text. These forms of media can range from personal collections and self-created compositions to historical photographs and popular music. According to iPod in Education: The Potential for Teaching and Learning, "as students move content between their iPod players and iTunes, the intermingling of the personal and the academic may lead them to pose questions about evidence, bias, point-of-view, and context."
[edit] iLife & Active Listening
Active Listening plays a role with iLife as well. In his book, Solving Discipline and Classroom Management Problems: Methods and Models for Today’s Teachers (2001), author Charles H. Wolfgang characterizes active listening between teacher and student as the teacher “actively communicat[ing] to the student he or she is being understood by summarizing or mirroring the student’s feelings or problems, as the teacher comprehends them” (Wolfgang 208). It is used to bridge gaps in communication, so that the teacher can fully understand a student, and the student knows the teacher fully understands what he or she is saying as well. Some simple strategies involved in quality active listening include maintaining continuous eye contact, nodding, smiling, and rephrasing/summarizing words of the speaker to communicate understanding (Wolfgang 208-12).
Active listening is not simply a classroom strategy, but a strategy that should be utilized in personal, professional, and social relationships. Suffield Academy in Suffield, Connecticut utilizes iMovie software to assist in students in building active listening skills. The goal is for students to strengthen leadership skills in anticipation of future management positions; although the basic lifetime skills the students build prove to be the most important skills acquired. In the school program, "each student takes leadership classes, and they must complete several public speaking assignments. These are videotaped, edited with iMovie, and then archived as a visual record of the student’s progress." The process of recording and archiving these skills allows students to be further aware and better practice these leadership skills. According to the Charlie Cahn, former Suffield director of admissions, "the symmetry between portable computing on the iBook laptops and what we’re trying to do with the leadership program, in terms of developing students’ personal mastery skills — public speaking, active listening, goal-setting, and time management — has been very helpful.”
iPod in Education: The Potential for Teaching and Learning cites the importance of iPods and podcasts in active listening. When utilized appropriately and "purposeful(ly), deeper and more sophisticated learning can occur." The article is referring to such podcasts and media productions that challenges students to enhance their learning with evaluation and analysis, such as literacy projects like National Geographic: Unplugged, a classroom designed, interactive nature film and analysis. These films combine film and sound with scientific observation, interpretation and questioning to create a more richer academic experience. Active Listening is best utilized thought-provoking activities such as National Geographic: Unplugged, which "challenges students to use video clips from nature films to analyze and provide scientific explanations of visual data they contained."
[edit] References
Apple Learning Interchange: Suffield Academy http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=11690
Apple Profiles in Success: Escondido Union Elementary School District http://www.apple.com/education/profiles/escondido/
Apple Profiles in Success: Freestyle Academy http://www.apple.com/education/profiles/freestyle/index.html
Digital Strategy: Glossary of Terms http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/Media-Centre/Glossary-of-Key-Terms/
Mayer, R. (2003). Learning and Instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pasnik, S. (2007). iPod in Education: The Potential for Teaching and Learning. Apple Inc. Cupertino, CA.
Wolfgang, C.H. (2001) Solving Discipline And Classroom Management Problems: Methods and Models for Today’s Teachers. U.S.A: John Wiley and Sons.
Yerrick, R.K., & Ross, D.L. (2001, July/August). I read, I learn, iMovie: Strategies for developing literacy in the context of inquiry-based science instruction. Reading Online, 5(1). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/yerrick/index.html
