This week, just round the corner from my Dunoon holiday, Partners in Excellence (PiE) have been running the first of two animation summer schools at Benmore Outdoor Education Centre. Admittedly, all the action has taken place indoors as the weather has been just a little inclement.
And in the classroom...
The three days are used to create iStop animations with voice overs in foreign languages. Coordinator Mark Pentleton is also experimenting for the first time in creating photo stories. I know this has been a very successful technique tried out by a few teachers in Musselburgh, using digital stills cameras to take pictures before adding handwritten speech bubbles. It's a great way to get pupils using the language they might use in a Standard Grade role play. This summer school will use cheap but effective comic strip software to add the speech bubbles, creating a more polished final result and developing more IT skills in the students.
I am hoping to come back to the West next week and see how they're getting on in the second summer school. Full report next week...
As with all things, it's best to see the final result before attempting this yourself. I will put up some 'how-to's later, but in the meantime, take a look at last year's animations and some photos from this first week's animation summer school.





The animation about the wee fish is the BEST!
Posted by: Chris | July 21, 2005 at 11:48 PM