Backtracks CD-ROM

KS2 - KS3 (Years 3 - 9)

Music

This product is distributed by Channel 4 Learning (Tel: 08701 246444)

In my opinion, Backtracks successfully manages to provide teachers with a way of teaching some of the harder aspects of the Music Curriculum. The ability to quickly produce professional looking and sounding clips is extremely motivating and the structure of the Projects allows children to constantly challenge them throughout. Having a Freeplay option also encourages them to use what they have learnt in a thoroughly independent environment. The pre-selected clips are of a high quality and are drawn from rich and diverse sources. The CD-ROM delivers a stimulating and easy to use interface that can be accessed independently by upper Key Stage 2 and work in progress can be accessed through the Notebook and the Save options.

The practical aspects of choosing which video clip and sound combinations to use for various purposes are accessible to children in Key stage 2 and can have useful applications in the classroom. The skills required to operate the software fully are, however, beyond your average junior. I have used professional video editing software and I found the tools in this program awkward and not at all intuitive. The instructions are limited and learning how to make each bit of the editing window work is a process of trial and error. This is unfortunate as learning through experimentation with sound and video can be empowering as well as inspiring and the ideas behind this program are clearly based on an understanding of this.

Although Backtracks was evaluated with Year 9 students, it is quite obvious that the program would benefit younger students. The publisher does say that Backtracks is intended for students aged 9 year olds and upwards. With the use of ICT becoming much more widespread, younger students would probably benefit from some of the projects.

This is a stimulating resource helping the children learn how music and sound can be manipulated to achieve particular effects, and to explore these techniques creatively themselves as they integrate them with the video clips. Music, Art, ICT and English colleagues will welcome the opportunity to use this resource in their Schemes of Work as well as those teaching Media Studies in Pre-vocational courses. It also assists the Special Needs Department in their efforts to provide focussed tasks for students with learning difficulties and the hyperactive child. Some of our sophisticated and 'street-wise' teenage girls liked the animated cartoons and dancing videos, which featured modern music; there is something for everyone here. This title is well worth investing in as it supports many cross-curriculum links where film, television or animation are being studied, and will give a good boost to ICT skills.

I used Backtracks two hours a week for three weeks, to teach two Year 5 pupils about different combinations of sound and video can be used to communicate different moods and effects. The lessons took place after school and during some lunch times. I began by quickly demonstrating some of the features of the program, such as the dragging and dropping of icons and using the Notebook facility. I then let the children work independently through the first project, providing additional support where necessary. After the introductory project had been completed and saved, we discussed who might do this sort of thing for a job (film makers, TV producers etc,) and why it was so important to get the right combinations. With this discussion in mind, I then chose a more sophisticated project "Making a TV trailer", for the children to attempt. At the end of the sessions, I challenged the children to use the Free Play mode to create a piece with a definite mood in mind.

I used this title to support a literacy module on advertising and persuasive writing as well as to improve pupils' speaking and listening skills. I wanted children to consider the importance of sound in TV adverts and how it affects meaning and to use this understanding when recording a radio advert in the following week. The children worked collaboratively in groups of 6 and were encouraged to choose any project from the list. During the plenary of each of the week's Literacy lessons, the group who had worked on the program presented the work they had done so far (even if not finished) and explained why they had made their choices and what effect they had intended to create. The whole class could then contribute to the discussion about whether the group had achieved the desired effect. All groups understood the tasks and objectives but needed almost constant support to use the software.

The Film Music curriculum project was first introduced to my students by a film music quiz to decide what music went with what film type, e.g. western, love, horror, sci-fi, war and cartoon. Class discussion followed, along with introduction to Backtracks.

Backtracks was used to discern if its claim to allow children to "interact with sound and vision", could be an acceptable means of using an ICT resource. I wanted to see if its "stimulating and easy-to-use-interface, offering virtual editing of sound and image", would live up to expectation. It further claimed to be usable from age 9 years upwards. Thus I used it with years 5 to 7, in a variety of curriculum contexts, from Science through to its recommended use in ICT, Music and English. We wanted to see if this resource was capable of being used by children of a wide range of abilities, and by teachers who are hard pressed to include "new material" into their already crowded Schemes of Work. The CD-ROM was found to be popular as it provided many hours of additional learning as the children progressed at their own pace through the various projects. The Freeplay option enabled video clips and sound tracks to be managed in a very rewarding way.