Using video with students - especially K-6 - can be very challenging. The physical act of recording video on equipment is the easiest it has ever been. However the challenge comes when the pre-recording stage (storyboarding) and post-recording stage (editing) happens.
It is very time consuming to teach children the art of storyboarding in a short amount of time. Similarly for the editing process, it is time consuming. For example, I can envision the students taking forever to edit a project since they love to play with every effect!
In order to push through these issues, a good designer will be able to see that the issues will arise with K-6 students. A teacher may use some shortcuts to make these processes quicker for those students for whom this would be an issue. For example, a teacher could tell the students that they may only use video effects X and Y, for example.
I know what you are thinking, and... Yes, it does stifle the creativity of the students. However, when there is a time issue, it is better to have a completed project (without a hundred bells and whistles) that can be assessed to see student understanding of the content than to have no project at all!
Similarly with the storyboarding, designers can give a limit to storyboard pages, or to scenes, in order to have the project be shorter. This may also help student use of critical and creative thinking skills by forcing them to make tough decisions about how the content and story line can fit into a frame.
In uptopia, time is limitless, but in the real world, there are limits. I am sure there are many more ways to provide students with, yes, "limits", but reasonable limits in order to combat common traps that the students find themselves in. If the goal is a finished product to show understanding, I think the "limits" are an acceptable solution.
I think that it is a good instructional strategy to develop criteria for the design process. Certain types of projects have these criteria built in. For example, Public Service Announcements by nature must be 30 seconds long. If students understand that a scene is between 4 and 6 seconds long,their storyboards are limited anyway. I think putting some limits on the editing process is better than saying you don't have time at all to do video and video editing. At least this gives teachers the hope that it can be done.
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