4MAT

I am continuing with posts connected to how videography can be integrated into one’s teaching by using the 4MAT approach to curriculum design. The following originates from the Teacher Toolkit that I created in graduate school.

Quadrant II: Reflecting To Conceptualizing- Concepts: What do the subject matter experts say about the topic? What?

Imagine- The deconstruction process mentioned in my previous post now moves into the construction step as the students look at the bigger picture putting the pieces together to develop the purpose and message of their video. The storyboarding occurs here, which also involves Quadrant III using some of the skills the teacher teaches. Dr. McCarthy writes about the students using metaphors for understanding from their perspectives. Metaphors are also naturally used as part of the writing process to represent the ideas and meaning the student creators want to get across in their videos.

Inform- This is the information gathering phase of students going to information resources.

Learning Climate- The production team is still in the pre-production phase, with students working on research about the content the video will cover. The students work individually and in teams gathering information and reporting to each other.

Method- Dr. McCarthy states that this is where the “teaching,” as in direct instruction in most classrooms, occurs. One strength of video production is that the high level of buy-in by the students means that they can be expected to gather the information themselves (as opposed to teacher instruction) from resources structured by the teacher (e.g., WebQuest, a listing of Web bookmarks, library books on reserve, etc.). Video projects involve talent in front of the camera sharing information or actual interviews of “authentic” talent for interviews. This form of talent often can be subject matter experts. As video production is a constructivist learning process, it makes sense to allow the students to gather and interpret the data independently.

Using the camera does not fit in this quadrant, but the video production process of gathering information for the content of the videos does fit well here.

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