A Salt Lake City teacher whose students are producing video public service announcements (PSAs) shared the Storm Water Coalition website with me.  The site has several engaging PSAs.

Many of you have used videos from the Ad Council in your classrooms. 

If the Ad Council site is blocked at your school, you can access many of the Ad Council public service announcements (PSAs) on TeacherTube.

While working with students, I’ve noticed that it can be difficult to make an entertaining product that still informs the audience. I’ve been a part of plenty of projects where students had an informational project all planned out, but something becomes lost in the process and students are left with films that don’t have any message.

            I’ve found that one way to get students to create more effective projects is to approach the project like a PSA, where students are always considering the subject, purpose, and audience, and asking themselves the question, “Is it effective?” With a PSA, because of its length, filmmakers can only afford to include content that directly contributes to their message, and a video project should operate the same way.

During all phases of filmmaking, from storyboarding to editing, you should have students ensure that everything they add to their film is contributing to their intended message. That way, students are the ones making sure they don’t get off track, and this is an easy way to decide whether or not something will appear in their film. When they reach the editing phase, it’s a simple matter of allowing them to keep the information that’s on track, and getting rid of everything else.

One other thing for students to consider is what an audience will learn from their video. Creating a movie about the water cycle that simply shows pictures of the clouds doesn’t teach anything. Making sure students actually explain a concept or give factual information will ensure that they’ve learned something in the filmmaking process, aside from just finding images on Google.

            Overall, it can be difficult to guarantee that students are learning while they’re creating a video, but by using these techniques, you can make sure that they will make effective projects that have an educational benefit.

  If you have any additional suggestions on how to get your students to create an effective project, please mention them below. 

I've posted some PSA samples to the video gallery. Take a look at them below. Watching examples from students and adcouncil.org is a great place to start if your students are creating PSAs.

I've mentioned this before, and it's in our guide book, but I wanted to remind everyone to make sure your students' PSAs are kept at 30 seconds. That way you can make sure they only include content that contributes to their message. Additionally, make sure that while producing their PSAs, they are always asking the question, "Is it effective?" That will ensure they create a film that doesn't stray from their subject.

Alcohol

Idiots

Labels 

Listening 

Public Schools 

Recycling 

Rumors 

Stress 

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Utah Coalition for Education Technology Conference. It's always rewarding to be able to speak with educators who are enthusiastic about bringing technology into their classroom, and the UCET conference is full of this type of teacher. Almost every teacher I spoke with was already teaching their students using filmmaking  or was planning to incorporate it sometime soon.

  While at the conference, I was able to instruct a short filmmaking lesson to a group of teachers. Over the course of two hours we produced four 30 second Public Service Announcements. All four PSAs used the same topic, "Technology in the Classroom," but turned out very different. Click the links below to check them out.

Close the Lid

Connected

Technology

In Touch 

Creating Public Service Announcements (PSAs) can be a great way to give your students filmmaking skills and fits right within the core content by addressing both Language Arts and Visual Arts. Students inherently understands PSAs because they've seen so many on television, so it won't take much time to introduce them to the concept.

   Because PSAs are only 30 seconds long, creating one won't take too much class time and students are forced to consider the importance of each moment they put into their script. I've had the opportunity to introduce PSA and commercial lessons lately to a few after school programs and they have really enjoyed them.

  There are several student produced PSAs included in the DVDs we've provided you, and the PSA lesson plan is located on page 129 of the guide book. Also, check out The Ad Council Website for several PSA examples. Students really enjoy watching these and many interesting conversations can come out of viewing these.