Creating and sharing videos
Making and sharing videos is easy. There is a vast array of apps to make professional-looking short films. Help your child learn the ropes and watch YouTube with them for great discussion opportunities.
Benefits of creating and sharing videos
Modern devices make it very easy for children and young people to capture, create and share videos on a variety of topics. With videos a popular form of communication and entertainment, you might find children show an interest in creating their own.
They might want to create a review for a game, an instructional video sharing a skill, a story or animation, or something they've made for fun with their friends. Making and sharing videos can help young people to:
- connect with like-minded peers
- share knowledge and contribute to conversations
- talk about relevant topics to other young people
- develop skills in digital media production.
Creating and connecting
With the range of powerful video editing apps available, young people can make professional-looking videos that allow them to show off their creativity and digital skills.
The NSW Department of Education’s Digital Learning Selector has information on several video apps with a vast range of features.
Creativity is important to a child’s development, as it can help them to:
- build self-confidence and express themselves
- practice critical and creative thinking, and explore interesting methods to solve problems
- explore different parts of their personality
- learn different thinking techniques
- practice resilience in testing and improving ideas to find out what works.
How families can benefit
Watching online videos together with your children can be a positive experience. It can be an opportunity to start meaningful conversations about characters, themes, and events.
Once you've finished watching a video, you might want to share it, leave a comment, start a conversation or create your own video in response.
Now, online video content is as much about the ways people talk about the video, as it is the video itself. When lots of people participate in discussions around videos, there can be many different perspectives.
When you watch videos together with your child, you can model positive ways to engage with different people. And you can guide your child in understanding the content, meaning and context of a video.
Watching a video with your child can prompt valuable discussions about behaviour, stereotypes and decisions displayed in the video. You can talk to your child about how they might react in a similar situation or what they liked and disliked about the video.
Research from the Child Mind Institute on the benefits of watching TV with young children suggests that ‘co-viewing’ can help children learn about:
- managing emotions
- making informed choices
- when to get help.
Watching media together gives parent and child a shared language with which to communicate when they’re not watching." says Matt Rouse, PhD, a clinical psychologist.
Consider asking your child to find something for you to watch together, for example:
- tutorials about their hobbies or skills they want to learn
- young influencers who spread positive messages, like ‘Kid President’
- family or kids’ vlogs (video blogs) to learn about other people’s lives
- programs or animations with a message or story you can discuss
- examples of young people being great digital citizens. For ideas, visit Digital Citizenship Utah's 30 inspiring digital citizens.
Read more at the Child Mind Institute on the benefits of watching TV with young children.
Video content can be a great way to learn. Some videos teach skills and talk about topics in engaging ways.
Consider asking your child to help you find information that you both can learn from. It could be something of personal interest or related to a topic they're discussing at school.
You can get involved in your child's learning by helping them choose video tutorials that can:
- create opportunities for discussion, ideas and questions
- demonstrate ways to perform skills
- talk about topics in engaging ways.
Benefits for the classroom
Students can learn storytelling and key communication skills by creating and sharing videos with their peers.
Increasing classroom engagement
Digital storytelling brings to life a student’s experience. Teachers and students can use video as a way to demonstrate learning in original, authentic and meaningful ways.
Video creation covers a range of curriculum-aligned skills including:
- writing, designing, editing and presenting
- understanding and creating for particular audiences
- presenting information in engaging ways
- critical and creative thinking (CCT) and collaboration
- digital literacy and production
- stagecraft and filming
- identifying different text types (such as informative, persuasive, and procedural).
Creating and connecting
With the range of powerful video editing apps available, young people can make professional-looking videos that allow them to show off their creativity and digital skills.
The NSW Department of Education’s Digital Learning Selector has information on several video apps with a vast range of features.
Creativity is important to a child’s development, as it can help them to:
- build self-confidence and express themselves
- practice critical and creative thinking, and explore interesting methods to solve problems
- explore different parts of their personality
- learn different thinking techniques
- practice resilience in testing and improving ideas to find out what works.
More resources
- English K-10 Syllabus, NSW Education Standards Authority
- Digital Technologies and Media Arts, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)