PE3 iMovie

Complete! I must admit to a certain amount of pride in earning my first ever Lynda.com certificate of completion. A part of me wants to send my mom a copy for the fridge :) 

Just to comment on the training in general, I really enjoyed and benefited from the Lynda.com tutorial by Garrick Chow. The short clips were a perfect length and easy to digest, the lessons themselves were very easy to follow, and I appreciated the text boxes that popped up to help us follow along with keyboard commands and menu shortcuts. I was also very impressed by the fact that, with a more premium membership, users of Lynda.com could have access to the sample files that Garrick Chow used in his lesson.

The director of technology at my school has expressed interest in having some faculty members make software training videos, not unlike the iMovie ’11 Essential Training course, for other teachers.  Having seen this example of a lesson on Lynda.com, I’m more inspired than ever! I’ve already made a few very short videos, about three minutes in length each, using Screenflow. This tutorial has shown me just how powerful and useful a video training segment can be.

Regarding iMovie, I’ve been very impressed by features I previously did not know the application offered. Some of these I know are restricted to the newest version. I particularly enjoyed working with the trailers. As you’ll see in my video, I might have had just a little bit too much fun in that arena…enjoy!

PE1 iMovie

Greetings from the depths of iMovie! I’m currently watching the Lynda.com tutorial on iMovie ’11. As I begin this practical experience in ETC, I’m frightfully aware of just how much I have to learn about the software!

Screenshot of my progress in the Lynda iMovie tutorial

I’ve used iMovie in the past, but not terribly extensively. I am still not very comfortable using the iMovie video editing interface. Compared to other editing software, such as Quicktime Pro and Screenflow, I find iMovie very cumbersome. I’m sure that overcoming this aversion is simply a matter of getting enough hands-on practice, and so I’m enthusiastic about the new insights that this upcoming week will bring.

Already, I’m interested in the video trailers that iMovie practically builds for its users. Since I know that this week of learning will culminate in a one-minute video produced by yours truly, I’m considering using one of these templates to guide my project. I think that they can be used very effectively in the classroom to generate student interest in new topics. Of course, the full power of any software tool is only realized when students use it themselves to generate new content. I am eager to take what I learn about iMovie and bring it back to my classroom.

Many of this blog’s readers already know that I work at a school that is very fortunate in its administration’s commitment to technology integration. We have a one-to-one laptop program for students and teachers. (Thanks to my masters program at Full Sail University, though, I’m the only person on campus with a MacBook Pro!) Given this phenomenal setting, I see it as my job to introduce students to as many different ways of expressing themselves as I can; iMovie will be an important addition to their toolkit.