Jenkin’s participatory culture is an opportunity for participants to become producers, as well as consumers of content, through the avenues of new media creation. Students come together and work as a team to achieve a common goal but utilise the talents of team members. Students can engage in informal mentorship by passing on their expertise. More often than not, students will move between the roles of ‘expert’ and ‘novice’ throughout the creative process.

21^st Century Skills

These skills will help prepare students today, for their future careers tomorrow. Participatory scenarios are useful in fostering these essential skills. Social skills will be essential for successful teamwork, and digital skills will support creativity and production. 21^st century skills include:

• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Information literacy
• ICT skills
• Teamwork

New media is that which relies on connection and interaction, and is typically computer-related. New media provides many opportunities to foster self-expression, expand knowledge through personal interests and builds capabilities through new ways of reading and writing. YouTube, for example, provides users the opportunity to consume (watch) videos, but also produce (create and upload) videos. Social networking aspects of the site allow other users to comment, like, share, or add videos to their playlists.

Of particular interest on YouTube is the growing number of LEGO inspired video creations, most using the same stop motion techniques as recreated in The LEGO Movie. Stop Motion Animation is a simple activity, which provides teams an opportunity to make and create media in their vision, and under their control, about whatever meanings they want to portray to the world.

This is a really short clip I made with my Pick-A-Brick purchase at the LEGO® Store. A Stop Motion app would probably give a smoother result, as this was done very quickly, and very rustic! I simply took A LOT of photos (hundreds) on my iPad, imported them to Pinnacle Studio, set each picture to be a frame or so long, and boom! “Dancing Lego”.

“Dancing Lego” by MissE © 2020.
LEGO and the LEGO brick are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2020 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.

Stop Motion Animation can allow students to get creative and work on developing lots of useful skills like teamwork, patience, perseverance, precision, storytelling and ICT skills. Film challenges could be directly linked to curriculum learning (extending or retelling a story, to explain concepts), or an opportunity for creative expression (free choice).

You could consider a school social media account to share students’ work through platforms like YouTube and Vimeo (providing your school, district and/or state allow it). Making connections, starting dialogues and receiving feedback from like-minded community members can enhance the participatory experience, and learning for students.

Credit: 6 FREE Stop Motion Apps iPhone iPad | LEGO Stop Motion Tips by Brickology. YouTube video.

This video review by Brickology demonstrates some stop motion apps that are currently available, along with some of the features that might be worth considering. These are, however, just a few of the many options available. Make sure you ‘try before you buy’, and are familiar with the application before considering its implementation into the classroom.

Final thought… Considerations for app purchases:

• Accessibility: is it the whole app, or will further in-app purchases be necessary to access features and export footage?
• Software: do you have the appropriate devices to run the software? Will you need to upgrade your software?
• Content: will the app allow access to inappropriate content or allow students to make purchases?
• Licences: do you have the right to install it on all devices, or just one? Can you get access to multiple licences?