Film on virtually any subject is available to both students and instructors thanks to the Internet and other electronic resources. There is so much material, however, that it can be difficult to find material that is both accurate and appropriate, and at the primary level editing and screening for relevant content is extremely important. Another issue that instructors need to take into account is citations and ownership when it comes to using film, as not everything available on the Internet or library CD ROM is free for public use.
Thanks to continuing developments in rewritable and portable media and online storage, the videos teachers find and use can be easily stored, viewed and transported either online or via a small and light external hard drive or other device. Of course, any teacher that has had to confiscate portable devices that play video, like phones or hand-held game consoles, from primary-age schoolchildren understands the downside of accessibility. It may seem ironic to many educators that as they try to stem the tide of video flooding their classrooms, society increasingly expects them to use this same media as a teaching tool.
Students are sometimes more knowledgeable than the teacher when it comes to the technical side of using film in the primary classroom. Technology is wonderful when it works, but sometimes it doesn't, and technical problems could be both the biggest disincentive and disadvantage to using film in the primary classroom, or any classroom for that matter. Teachers must also understand not only how and where to search for a video but also be able to edit, copy or manipulate it using software to fit a lesson, a delicate process in the primary classroom where attention spans can be short and time is often a factor.
Another interesting development that film has brought into the primary classroom is literary adaptation. Many books that are commonly studied at the primary level have been re-written as live-action or animated films, which can be an interesting and entertaining compliment to what might otherwise be a rather dry lesson plan. Academic lessons that utilize film at the primary level must be varied and include other activities rather then replacing them. Teachers need to resist using the power of film and video to hold a child's attention as a crutch, as tempting as that may be.