"iSpy with my little eyes ... iMovie!"

Since I will be missing the last two days of class to travel to a forensic science workshop in Scotia, New York, I spent today working on the final project for this class: an iMovie! After collecting some great pictures off the internet and making a storyboard (which was pretty much just what text I wanted, what photos I was going to use, and the order of everything), I was ready to rock 'n roll!

After spending a month with my lovely Apple computer, Limbo13, in the computer lab at UT, I still prefer PC's. The Mac has grown on me a little bit, but I think it's mostly because I love that guy (Justin Long) off the Mac/PC commercials! I'd heard horror stories about this project and using iMovie, so needless to say, I wasn't super excited to get started all by myself. However, the program wasn't terrible to use (after visiting the help section numerous times), and I actually really enjoyed this project.

I decided to make my movie on an overview of forensic science. I included the four standards for the forensic science curriculum I submitted to the state department of education this past spring and photos to accompany the topics for each standard. Using TelevisionTunes.com, I found the theme song for Law & Order for free, which is always good. I'm pretty darn proud of my movie, and it only took me a day to make. Hopefully, I won't have to make too many changes when Dr. O'Bannon gets back on Thursday ...

If it didn't take so long to make this "story", I would definitely use this technology for the classroom more often. I LOVE LOVE LOVE short little video clips and music videos. However, I think it would probably be easier to use videos that other people have made when I'm running short on time (which is pretty much all the time ...). Some of my favorite chemistry videos come from Mark Rosengarten, and he has them all on YouTube for free! The lyrics are original and useful, the images are accurate and sometimes funny, and the songs are catchy and creative. Either way, the idea behind using short video clips in the classroom isn't new to me, and I would love to make more movies in the future (especially now that I feel like I have conquered iMovie!).

Be sure to check out my first attempt at making a video with iMovie: