The iLife advantage
Profiles in Success: Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School
Playing a major part in the school’s ongoing efforts to explore and exploit the learning potential of computing is Apple’s iLife ’06 – a suite of ‘digital life’ applications designed specifically to enable anyone to create, edit and manage digital photographs, movies, podcasts, music, Web sites and blogs.
Even though the school staff had high expectations from the introduction of the Apple computers and software, Mrs Morgan states that she and her teachers are constantly surprised at some of the comments they receive from their students. “I had one student tell me that with podcasting, she learnt that she could actually speak well and with good pronunciation,” she says. “Another student said to me: ‘I’ve learnt that I can learn in a fun way and to speak well.”
Underpinning those and other similar reactions from students is the application of the iLife suite to develop podcasts and movies. Year 6 students, for example, were given the task of working in teams of three-to-five to create a three-minute movie, using iMovie, focusing on gold and the concept of change.
“It demonstrated with absolute clarity that using these tools, we’re definitely able to tap into the learning style of today’s children.”
In commenting on the ease with which students have been able to pick up on iLife, Mrs Morgan relates an occasion early in the school year when an Apple representative gave a talk to Year 3 students on how to use the software. “Even before he had finished, students were already heads down and exploring the various iLife programmes,” she says. “The entire iLife environment is just so intuitive and friendly, that teachers and students can concentrate on learning rather than learning the program.”
“Every single movie created by the students demonstrated clearly that they had successfully applied knowledge gained in the classroom and additional research to the project. Using the iLife software and Comic Life [an engaging comic creation tool] to develop the storyboards, they enjoyed their projects and realised an entirely new approach to learning.
— Margaret Morgan, Principal
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