Film Critics

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Steven Bradbury
Telecollaborative Project
ET630: Fall 2017
Overview
What is Film Critics?

Film Critics is a telecollaborative project adapted from ePals (originally called Movie Magic) in which two
classrooms engage in communication surrounding the topic of movies. Students collaborate on a series
of activities in order to become film critics.

This project is based on the Teacher’s Guide provided from the ePals site. My goal is to start simple by
contacting someone I know in order to get this project off the ground (Marcovitz, 2012, p. 73).
Eventually, it could grow and develop, in which case I could advertise more. Until then, I will reach out
to someone with whom I can more readily collaborate and troubleshoot.

Intended audience

This activity could be adapted for students on many grade levels, but my target group is late elementary.
Overview
How does this connect with my curriculum?

In my technology curriculum, I cover units in productivity tools, digital citizenship and some
multimedia design. My curriculum is flexible and allows for a project such as this to take many different
directions.

Productivity Tools - Students will will be using productivity tools such as word processing, spreadsheets,
and slide presentation tools to complete activities within this project.

Digital Citizenship - Students will be communicating digitally with students in another part of the
country. This requires the understanding and demonstration of digital citizenship.

Multimedia Design - Some options within this project include recording a film review or creating a
trailer for a chosen movie. These tasks fall into the category of multimedia design.
Goals and Objectives
● Students will effectively communicate with students from a different part of the
country.
● Students will develop collaboration skills.
● Students will develop and refine skills with productivity tools such as word
processing, spreadsheets, and slide presentations.
● Students will effectively use technology to collaborate.
● Students will build relationships with students from another part of the country.
● Students will develop criteria for reviewing movies.
● Students will review movies and create reviews for others to observe.
● Educators will build telecollaborative skills.
● Educators will widen their learning networks.
Standards (ISTE Standards for Students)
1a Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the
learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.
1b Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
1c Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety
of ways.
1d Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot
current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.
2b Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when
using networked devices.
2c Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.
6a Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
6b Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
6d Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.
7a Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that
broaden mutual understanding and learning.
7b Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine issues
and problems from multiple viewpoints.
7c Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a
common goal.
Preparation
1. Make a connection with a partner educator and classroom. The partnership can be made through
mutual connections, or sites such as ePals.
2. Develop project with the other educator(s).
a. What are the goals and objectives?
b. What are the activities used to meet those goals and objectives?
3. Decide meeting times and format.
a. Take time zones/location into consideration.
b. Will it be before, during, and/or after school?
c. Establish a timeline (Marcovitz, 2012, p. 74).
4. Determine meeting platform/media. Ensure that the tool(s) selected are not blocked and
accessible to all partners involved. Options include:
a. Collaboration docs: Google Suite, Office 365
b. Video conferencing: Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts
5. Develop outcomes and assessments.
6. Establish small group teams and roles for students to collaborate throughout.
7. Test technology and collaboration tools.
Small Group Team Roles
Several of these roles were taken from Mr. Manis’ online article (Manis, 2012).
Students will work in teams across the partnership in order to complete some of
the activities. Roles will include, but are not limited to, the following:

● Facilitator - leads discussion and helps group navigate through the activity.
● Recorder - digitally records notes for the team.
● Summarizer - ties all the information together.
● Timekeeper - keeps track of assigned times and keeps group on track.
● Presenter - presents group information to the whole group.

If sessions are synchronous, roles will be spread across the partnership. During
asynchronous sessions, roles will be designated within each class.
Activities
The slides that follow will detail the different activities listed below. All activities listed are subject to change
upon planning and preparation with the partner class(es).

Activity Structure

Introductions Video conference and collaboration docs

What are popular movies now? Collaboration docs

Develop Film Criteria Collaboration docs

Create Critic’s Guide Video conference and collaboration docs

Become a Film Critic Collaboration docs

Create Movie Project Collaboration docs

Assessment and Final Thoughts Video conference and collaboration docs

Introductions
Structure: Video conference and collaboration docs

Introductions can be made via a video conferencing tool such as Google Hangouts, Zoom,
or Skype. This would be a synchronous session. We can extend a virtual handshake
(Lindsay, 2016, p. 164) by answering the following questions:

● Who are you? (school and participants’ names)

● Where are you located?
● What do you hope to achieve from this project?
● What is your all-time favorite movie?

Students will be designated as note takers and use a word processing doc to record the
interactions.

Temperature Check
What are popular movies now?
Structure: Collaboration docs

In an asynchronous session, participants will begin to list popular movies. Students will work in mixed
teams (composed of students from across the partnership) with designated roles (see list in SLIDE 7 of
this presentation) to create lists. Teams will compare lists to other teams. It will be interesting to see if
there are any differences on movie popularity depending on the location of the students.

A suggested tool is a slide presentation tool in which each team is assigned a slide. Students will answer
these questions on the slide:

● What are current popular movies?

● What makes them popular and appealing?

Presenters will share out to the whole group.

Temperature Check
Develop Film Criteria
Structure: Collaboration docs

Using the list of popular movies and what makes the films appealing, students
will create a list of criteria during another asynchronous session. Students will
essentially be answering the question: What makes a good film?

Students will use a word processing or spreadsheet tool to keep track of the
criteria within their teams. Different pages can be assigned for each group, or
different tabs if using a spreadsheet tool. Group roles (see SLIDE 7) will rotate to
expose everyone to different roles.

Presenters will share out to the whole group.

Temperature Check
Create Critic’s Guide
Structure: Video conference and collaboration docs

Using the criteria developed in the previous activity, students will create an
evaluation tool to rate and review any movie during this synchronous session.

Students within the teams will have to agree upon a specific set of standards that
they should look for in each film, and then develop a rating scale. Group
members will rotate in roles (see SLIDE 7) once again.

Presenters will share out to the whole group.

Temperature Check
Become Film Critic
Structure: Collaboration docs

Using the Critic Guide developed in the previous activity, students will practice with one of the movies
listed as an “all-time favorite” during the introductions. The classes will work together to practice using
a Critic Guide developed in one of the teams.

Students will return to their teams and rotate roles. Asynchronously, each team will select a current
movie to evaluate. Using their Critic Guide, teams will evaluate the chosen movie. Students will record
quotes from team members.

Recorders will compile these notes into a written review using a word processing tool.

Presenters will share out to the whole group.

Optional - Students may record and produce their film review.

Temperature Check
Movie Project
Structure: Video conferencing and collaboration docs

Students will create a product that will entice others to see the film they
reviewed (Cricket Media, 2017, page 7). The product could be a poster, trailer, or
other form of media chosen by the team. When enticing others, teams will be
sure to include quotes from the “critics” who have reviewed the movie (Cricket
Media, 2017, page 7). This could be asynchronous or synchronous - each team
can choose based on its need.

Presenters will display and explain the team’s final product in synchronous
session.

Temperature Check
Assessment
Assessing Student Learning

● After each activity students will complete a brief Temperature Check. Teachers will use this and
anecdotal notes to serve as checkpoints and to make sure students are on track. This will also help
indicate if the project needs any adjusting.
● The Movie Projects will be evaluated based on a rubric. This is a sample rubric and would be
updated upon the partner's discretion.

Project Effectiveness

● The Temperature Check will also indicate project effectiveness as students work through each
activity.
● When the project is complete students will complete the Film Critic Evaluation. This will serve as
students feedback for the effectiveness of the project and evaluating if objectives were met. This
will also be a way to evaluate student learning.
● Teachers will complete the Educator Evaluation at the end to rate the effectiveness of the project.
This will help assess project effectiveness.
Final Thoughts
Structure: Video conference and collaboration docs

Mirroring the introductions in the beginning, class partners will participate in a video
conference farewell. Presenters can finish sharing any projects that were not finished, or
not presented before. Students will also share answers to some of these questions: What
have we learned…

● about ourselves?
● about our partner class?
● about collaboration?
● about technology?
● about film critics?

Thank all participants and post projects on classroom website (Marcovitz, 2012, p. 75).
 References
Cricket Media. (2017). Teacher’s Guide: Movie Magic. Retrieved from
https://s3.amazonaws.com/images-epals-com/gc2015/experiences/cannedexperiences/PROD_teacherGuide
-file-1480441374167.pdf

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017). ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved from
https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

Lindsay, J. (2016). The Global Educator: Levering Technology for Collaborative Learning and Teaching
[Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Manis, C. (2012). Cooperative Learning: How to Assign Meaningful Tasks to Group Members. Retrieved
from http://www.dailyteachingtools.com/cooperative-learning-tasks.html

Marcovitz, D. (2012). Telecollaborative Projects. In Digital Connections in the Classroom (chapter 4).
Retrieved from
https://moodle.loyola.edu/pluginfile.php/1182850/mod_tab/content/156/Marcovitz%2C%20Chapter%204.pdf