On 18 November 2020, the “EWCC Workshop: Learn How to Use Animoto to Make Quick and Effective Videos” was conducted successfully. The facilitator, Ms. Miranda Ma, senior instructor of the English Language Centre (ELC) and coordinator of the English Writing and Communication Centre (EWCC), shared a lot of inspiring ideas about how to create an effective Public Service Announcement (PSA) with students. She pointed out “timeliness”, “relevancy”, “humor”, “emotion” and “honesty” as the five key ingredients for powerful PSA videos.

After showing some videos of different topics, Ms. Ma guided the students to brainstorm ideas for the topic, the goal, the target audience, and the storyline of their own videos. Students were provided with some words, such as “stress”, “vulnerability”, “stigma”, and so on, to create a mind map and think about how to deliver a message about mental health awareness to the UM community. Some of them talked about academic stress and the vulnerability resulting from the breakup of a relationship. Then, they learned how to use Animoto, a free video maker, to practice making a short video with texts, pictures, and music for their first try.

On the whole, the students actively engaged with the facilitator and they gave some positive feedback on the workshop. They also expected more similar activities to be organized in the future.

English Language Centre

Faculty of Arts and Humanities

University of Macau