The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) and the British Film Institution (BFI) have released a report that shows that integration of digital video into teaching and learning “has the potential to enhance learning across the curriculum,” Macworld UK reports.
The 91-page report covers a six-month examination of the use of Apple’s digital video technologies in UK education. Schools in the research program — which ran from October 2001 to March 2002 — received an iMac G3, iMovie 2, ten QuickTime Pro software licenses and a Canon MV 400i DV camera. The lead teacher also received one day’s training in DV use. Apple and Canon donated the equipment.
The report says that using the technology in school can refresh estranged pupil’s interest in learning, providing greater access to the curriculum. However, school IT managers were concerned that integrating Macs into existing PC-based school networks could present challenges, the article adds. However, “new networking solutions from Mac OS X may offer some solutions for this,” according to the BECTA-BFI study.