What is the Visual Voices Project?

Visual Voices: Amplifying Student Expression Through Digital Video Production was a joint program sponsored by the Austin Independent School District and the IDEA Studio, at The University of Texas at Austin. It was was funded through a TARGET (Technology Application Readiness Grant for Empowering Texas) grant from the State of Texas. The program helped 4th and 5th grade teachers integrate digital video production into English language arts instruction, and provided students an opportunity to express themselves through film.

Visual Voices brought together teachers from AISD, Leander ISD, Austin Jewish Academy, and the Austin Peace Academy. With support from instructional technology staff from the university and the school district, each teacher worked with selected students to a create digital video project that addressed Texas state standards for language arts. Over a span of three years, 37 teachers and 100 students participated directly in the program. The teams involved many more classmates during the filming and production process to serve as actors and writers. Some students drew upon their knowlege of detectives, superheros, and tv reporters to make their films, while others created personal narratives and reenactments of historical events.

Participating teachers and students attended two Saturday workshops. In the first workshop, teachers received instruction about the fundamental goals and principles of integrating digital video technology into curriculum. In addition, they learned about planning, implementation, and assessment strategies. Using a number of examples from Apple Learning Interchange (add link here), students discussed the characteristics of good digital videos. Together, students and teachers were trained how to operate the equipment and use Macintosh iLife software to import and edit images, sound, and video.

During the workshop, teams received complete digital video production packages* and a binder with training materials. Quick reference cards for the hardware and software were added to the resources in spring 2006.. All of these training materials are available for download on this website**.

Teams were given several weeks to work on the projects, and then attended a second workshop in which they learned how to add effects to polish their final products. This second workshop also provided them an opportunity to work on their videos with the help of technology support staff on hand to answer questions and solve problems.

At the end of the semester, the teacher/student teams presented their videos at a public film festival devoted entirely to Visual Voices videos. During the festivals, teams selected two People's Choice videos whose producers received trophies and special recognition on DVD and VHS compilations of the videos which were distributed to participating teachers and school administrators. Below are links to two of the People's Choice award-winning videos.

*Hardware packages included a Canon ZR70 or Canon Elura 65 digital camcorder, a Canon A60 or Canon A510 digital still camera, an Apple iBook laptop, a Logitec dual headset, a wireless microphone set, and a tripod.

**Training materials on this website cover the use of this hardware and Apple iLife software, including iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie. Also included are links to digital video resources and information about planning and assessment strategies for teachers.