Can Video-Making trigger critical life skills?

“Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as director. Now you’re a director. Everything after that you’re just negotiating your budget and your fee” --- James Cameron (Veteran Filmmaker)

My daughter's weekly bargaining for my device to shoot stop-motion videos seems inspired by James Cameron! And during the shooting of her video, my usually animated, very vibrant and talkative 9 year old transforms into a quiet, focussed child seemingly obsessed with the work at hand.?

A common but misplaced perception on video-making is that with the advent of easily available digital technology, it is a novice skill-set and develops few, if any, soft skills. Both these facts cannot be further from the truth.

Video-making in fact, is one of the few art-faculties that allows for multimodal learning across VARK learners and as an extension of this, employs multiple agencies in students who practise it. In this article, we will focus on which soft skills get augmented through video-making, in school children.

A good reference framework for soft skills assessment is the SPOCC –? abbreviated for Social, Personal, Organizational, Co-operative and Creative-thinking skills. Let us review each in the context of video-making for academic learning.?

?Social skills, as the name suggests, refers to interactive and communication skills. Shooting, the meat if you will, of video creation, espouses strong social skills - in the form of verbal communication and public-speaking by students. Academic video projects require students to present their understanding of concepts by talking in front or behind the lens. And both - an opportunity to review and revise their video output as well as consistent practice, bolsters these two social skills. There is a definitive and distinguished improvement in a child’s oratory and public-speaking skills from their 1st video to their 5th, 10th, 50th and 100th video.?

?Scripting of videos for their STEM subjects, brings a degree of self-awareness and self-analysis to children of their own strengths and weaknesses, beyond just the knowledge of the academic content. The rigour that goes into scripting pushes them to introspect on the best ways to demonstrate knowledge and improves their personal skills development.

Scripting and Editing are both inevitable parts of video creation and together they test the Organisational skills of the creator. Goal-setting, prioritisation, a to-do list, time management, decision-making, critical thinking, problem-solving all come in play when a child decides on what video technique(s) to use to demonstrate their academic knowledge, how to best edit such that the crux is conveyed in the best possible manner and within the given time limits.?

In creating & sharing video projects in classrooms, children learn & inspire one another. When children of differing abilities, strengths and skills are made to work together to create videos for their academic group projects, gradually, over a period of time, one would witness amazing team management, flexibility and adaptability amongst the members, eventually leading to greater Collaboration & Cooperation.

Finally, the use of Creative skills in video-making are a no-brainer. At every step - from ideation, storyboarding, scripting, planning, shooting, editing and presenting the final outcome to their peers, kids get a chance to explore, experiment and express themselves creatively. Which is why videos present itself as one of the most-loved mediums for children to use - just like my 9 year old, who looks for every opportunity to make a stop-motion video on topics ranging from academics, story-telling & fantasy and passion-projects.

That's why at xQ , we're obsessed with teaching kids the art & science of video-making. So that they apply it in their academics and passion projects, and in the process, nurture a range of soft skills that are crucial for long-term success.

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About the author:

As a mother of two, Arpita Shah is deeply invested in matters related to education. She has worked with world-class organisations like Apple (Silicon Valley) and Goldman Sachs (London), before joining xQ as a PR Specialist. Arpita always strives to bring the best of her cumulative experiences, both to work and in raising two balanced, happy world citizens!