Multimedia and video technology was a new experience for me. It was never something that I thought I would enjoy or be good at so I never took the time to explore all it has to offer and how it could change the way we teach 21st century learners. I learned how “to extend the amount and type of information available” (Shank, n.d.) to a given audience. I learned about all the ins and outs of producing a short, informational video and became aware of the importance of filming several shots from different angles (Desktop-Video-Guide, n.d., Change Your Perspective, para. 1). Keeping these things in mind as filming and researching occur, can lead a production team to producing a video that will engage the audience. Producing a public service announcement (PSA) as a group, allowed me to become familiar with the process of production and the amount of time it takes to create a successful video.
Creating the PSA as a group, forced me to meet new people and helped me learn how to mediate disputes from a leadership perspective. We quickly determined what our PSA would cover and the direction we wanted to go. Over the course of three weeks, personal lives and inclement weather forced us to change directions and adapt what we originally thought we could do to what we could actually do in the allotted amount of time. I quickly learned that I was working with several different personality types. From this, I learned that I believe good leadership lends itself to providing direction, having patience and trusting each participant to fulfill his/her given role. In addition, I found that good leaders also need to have the ability to intervene in a professional manner when a participant strays from the group or loses sight of the purpose of group collaboration and the tools used to collaborate. It can be frustrating when not all group members are actively participating in the collaboration process. Sometimes just a quick e-mail can bring them back to the group and help them refocus on the task at hand. When creating something that could be performed in numerous ways, it is beneficial to have a team to work with. I believe our group PSA is better than what I could have produced alone simply because of our differing views and abilities.
Through the collaborative process for creating a PSA, I discovered the importance of being able to envision how a tool can be used to meet the needs and purposes of the project in order to realize a tool’s potential (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 103). It becomes more important when working in a group. If one person cannot envision how to effectively use a tool to our benefit, it can lead to unnecessary work and loss of valuable time. In the future, I believe it will be beneficial to discuss the importance of how technology tools can work to our benefit and make sure those implementing the tools fully understand their potential. I often find that I can envision how technology will work to our benefit, but I find myself forgetting that not everyone can and taking the time to ensure everyone involved has an understanding of the purpose of a task can make all the difference.
Desktop-Video-Guide. (n.d.). Guidelines for shooting quality video. Retrieved on December 6, 2011, from http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/shoot-video.html
Shank, P. (n.d). The value of multimedia in learning. Think Tank. Retrieved November 12, 2011, from http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/valuemedia/
Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Web Conference 12-4-2011
It is amazing how many different ways instructions can be interpreted. It is more noticeable when you have to work in groups of 3-5 and there are 2-3 different ways the directions have been interpreted. This web conference was a good place to come to get questions answered and clear up any confusion on what needs to be included in the assignment and what is expected in the weeks to come. It is difficult to work online with everyone in different locations, with different daily schedules. Tonight’s web conference cleared up many unanswered questions our group had and cleared up many of the discussions our group had on what needed to be included and what didn’t need to be included at this point in time. For example, our wiki links. There is not a place on the assignment to include them, but by week five they need to be included on the assignment. I also learned that our PSA can be one minute plus the credits. I am looking forward to what our final production will look like.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Web Conference 11-20-2011
This web conference was not what I expected. I was expecting to learn more about the week two assignment; however, there were several questions about the week 1 assignment that was due later that night. Toward the end of the conference there was mention of the purpose for the week two assignment. The purpose was to learn at least one video editing tool. I also learned that Audacity is purely an audio editing software and that this week is to help us practice our editing skills for the weeks to come. I appreciate the fact that the professor’s at Lamar not only teach the content, but model the content and give us resources to use in our careers. Luckily, two more web conferences were added to the week. I tried to attend the conference on November 21, 2011, but could not get connected. I learned later that it was server issue and the web conference never got started. That was my chance to attend another conference and get questions clarified. Fortunately, the scripts were posted from other conferences this week and I was able to find the answers to my questions.
Windows Movie Maker Evaluation
Although Windows Movie Maker has been installed on my PC since we purchased it, I had yet to use the program. I remember opening it a few times and then closing the program thinking I didn’t have enough time to figure out how to use the program. To my surprise, Windows Movie Maker was easy to use. The event I chose to edit was actually filmed from two different digital cameras. One camera produced a .MOV file and the other produced a .AVI file. I quickly learned that Windows Movie Maker does not accept .MOV files. From attending web conferences, I recalled that file formats would be important for this class; therefore I began to search the web to find a free file converter and came across Koyotesoft.com. Within minutes, I had the software downloaded and the .MOV files converted to .AVI files and was ready to edit the event.
I worked using the storyboard view and found it easy to navigate from task to task. I was able to split the video segments as needed and rename the segments appropriately so I could easily click and drag them to the storyboard in the correct order. It was easy to add effects and slide transitions by clicking and dragging as well. I would have liked to be able to change the time of the effects. Not being able to manipulate the time on effects prevented me from using certain effects, such as the ease in, since I couldn’t customize it to my liking with the video clip. I did like the variety of transitions between slides that was available along with the variety of animations, colors and fonts for creating titles and credits. I found Windows Movie Maker to be very user friendly.
Due to its user friendly features, I can see how Windows Movie Maker could be used by K-12 teachers. Andrew Garrison (1999) gave several examples of video exercises that ranged from beginning to advanced in his article Video Basics and Production Projects for the Classroom. Any educator can easily adapt his suggestions to activities in his/her classroom. Students will be engaged and motivated to use critical thinking skills and develop the ability to communicate ideas in a new way. As my children begin to reach school age, I wouldn’t be surprised to find them using Windows Movie Maker or a similar program to create projects and show mastery of the TEKS.
References
Garrison, A. (1999, Winter). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/video-basics-and-production-projects-classroom
I worked using the storyboard view and found it easy to navigate from task to task. I was able to split the video segments as needed and rename the segments appropriately so I could easily click and drag them to the storyboard in the correct order. It was easy to add effects and slide transitions by clicking and dragging as well. I would have liked to be able to change the time of the effects. Not being able to manipulate the time on effects prevented me from using certain effects, such as the ease in, since I couldn’t customize it to my liking with the video clip. I did like the variety of transitions between slides that was available along with the variety of animations, colors and fonts for creating titles and credits. I found Windows Movie Maker to be very user friendly.
Due to its user friendly features, I can see how Windows Movie Maker could be used by K-12 teachers. Andrew Garrison (1999) gave several examples of video exercises that ranged from beginning to advanced in his article Video Basics and Production Projects for the Classroom. Any educator can easily adapt his suggestions to activities in his/her classroom. Students will be engaged and motivated to use critical thinking skills and develop the ability to communicate ideas in a new way. As my children begin to reach school age, I wouldn’t be surprised to find them using Windows Movie Maker or a similar program to create projects and show mastery of the TEKS.
References
Garrison, A. (1999, Winter). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/video-basics-and-production-projects-classroom
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Personal Digital Story Reflection
Creating a digital story was a new adventure. Joe Lambert’s (2010) Digital Storytelling Cookbook was an excellent source to guide me as I began to ponder what I wanted to tell and how I was going to tell it. At first, I thought the hardest part was going to be deciding what story I wanted to tell since I don’t publicly share that much about myself. However, it was more difficult to decide what photos to use and how to arrange them to effectively portray my story. The process as a whole could take any amount of time to complete depending on how you approach the project. I still cannot decide if it is better to have a story script written and then find photos to support it or have the photos and then write the story script. Maybe it all depends on what presents itself at the moment.
Creating a digital story gave me several new tools to work with. This was my first time to use PhotoStory3. I found it was user friendly and easy to work with. I also learned about dropbox.com (2011) and how to use it to share files with others. This came in handy when I was collecting pictures for my story. Some of the pictures I wanted to use were from my family members’ albums. Dropbox.com was the quickest, easiest way to obtain the photos, and it gave me the opportunity to share what I had learned about the site with others. In addition, I created TeacherTube and YouTube accounts. I was unsuccessful in uploading my digital story to TeacherTube in a couple of ways. First, the video wouldn’t fully upload and I kept receiving a “generic upload error”. Second, I tried to search the site for clues to what could be wrong and couldn’t find an immediate answer, but I did discover they have a tech support department that can answer questions. This doesn’t always give immediate results, so I decided I would try YouTube. It uploaded with one try, rather quickly. I would still like to know what caused the error with TeacherTube for future reference.
I used a lot of trial and error to complete this project and I have found that I learn best using this method. It helps me fully understand what is happening and why I should or should not do something. I learned several things about storytelling and its applications. “Storytelling is a vital skill with seemingly unlimited applications” (New, 2005). Throughout this project, this statement kept coming to mind. Everyone has a story, if not several, to share. Bringing stories into education can be what draws a student into the learning process. It can give them the opportunity to share about themselves or what they have learned, but most of all it can make them feel important and give them the chance to express themselves. It is a good way to help celebrate who the student is and get to know them personally.
Dropbox.com. (2011). Dropbox. Retrieved from http://www.dropbox.com/
Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Retrieved from http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf
New, J. (2005). How to use digital storytelling in your classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom
Creating a digital story gave me several new tools to work with. This was my first time to use PhotoStory3. I found it was user friendly and easy to work with. I also learned about dropbox.com (2011) and how to use it to share files with others. This came in handy when I was collecting pictures for my story. Some of the pictures I wanted to use were from my family members’ albums. Dropbox.com was the quickest, easiest way to obtain the photos, and it gave me the opportunity to share what I had learned about the site with others. In addition, I created TeacherTube and YouTube accounts. I was unsuccessful in uploading my digital story to TeacherTube in a couple of ways. First, the video wouldn’t fully upload and I kept receiving a “generic upload error”. Second, I tried to search the site for clues to what could be wrong and couldn’t find an immediate answer, but I did discover they have a tech support department that can answer questions. This doesn’t always give immediate results, so I decided I would try YouTube. It uploaded with one try, rather quickly. I would still like to know what caused the error with TeacherTube for future reference.
I used a lot of trial and error to complete this project and I have found that I learn best using this method. It helps me fully understand what is happening and why I should or should not do something. I learned several things about storytelling and its applications. “Storytelling is a vital skill with seemingly unlimited applications” (New, 2005). Throughout this project, this statement kept coming to mind. Everyone has a story, if not several, to share. Bringing stories into education can be what draws a student into the learning process. It can give them the opportunity to share about themselves or what they have learned, but most of all it can make them feel important and give them the chance to express themselves. It is a good way to help celebrate who the student is and get to know them personally.
Dropbox.com. (2011). Dropbox. Retrieved from http://www.dropbox.com/
Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Retrieved from http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf
New, J. (2005). How to use digital storytelling in your classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Web Conference 11-13-2011
Tonight’s web conference was a full house and one of the largest web conferences I have ever been on. I think we challenged the technology a little and at times the meeting would cut off and have to reconnect. Through this web conference I learned valuable information to help get me through week one. I learned I need a partner from my section to interview and be interviewed by. I may have even found a partner to work with. We will collaborate on a Google doc and help each other create a personal digital story. I was surprised at how many students already had their videos prepared. I am hoping this is a sign of how easy the project will be. Hopefully, the writing will be the most challenging part. I also learned about dropbox.com, a website that is able to accommodate large files. I will definitely be checking this site out to see how it can assist with my photo story.
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