EDLD+5363+Course+Reflections

EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology Course Reflections:

1. The outcomes that I envisioned for this course were very basic and broad prior to the start of the course. I was not sure what to expect. In general, I thought that we might be working with iMovie or Movie Maker in order to explore the options that we might incorporate in our classrooms with students. I envisioned working with video and multimedia tools as they relate to curriculum standards in content areas, and developing a tool box of technology integration ideas. I realize now that the course is coming to a close that I had envisioned only a very small part of what I would actually learn and experience by working through the various course projects. While the projects could certainly be applicable to curriculum, the experience of actually doing the projects gave me a unique opportunity to experience the students' perspective when new content or projects are introduced. I was definitely outside of my comfort zone on several occasions. I have come away with much more than I had expected. I have a huge appreciation for the amount of work that goes into video productions, I have experienced new multimedia applications that I will definitely incorporate into my curriculum next year, and I have learned to really appreciate video technology as a valid and extremely engaging communication tool. I definitely did achieve my expected outcomes, and these outcomes more than exceeded my expectations.

2. I work as a fifth grade teacher, as well as a technology facilitator for my District. I am always looking for relevan t, meaningful ways to integrate technology into our curriculum. As a result of taking this course, I now have valuable experiences that I can share and incorporate in the future. I learned different, yet equally valuable concepts from each of the video projects.

The initial Photostory project taught me that using the combination of images, sound, and voice over narration is a powerful medium for communicating with an audience. My story of personal growth as a Mother was meaningful to me, and I believe that telling it in this way made it more meaningful to the audience. The use of text alone would not have captured the emotion or voice of my story. I will definitely use this project as a springboard for story telling projects in my curriculum. I also loved the idea of posting the story for an audience to watch via the free hosting site. I believe that having a real "audience" will give the project even more relevance with students as it did for me.

The collaborate Public Service Announcement project was a big undertaking! True collaboration requires commitment from each team member, and a big project such as this really does require a team to complete. My team collaborated extremely well, and this experience, combined with the video, "Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace" from //Edutopia// gave me a working model of true collaboration that I want for my students. The video production process itself is much more complex than the novice realizes, and having students work through and produce a short video would be an extremely valuable experience for them. Completing a long-term video production project from start to finish requires students to plan, organize, synthesize information, work as a team, establish a message, set goals, and perservere when there are bumps in the road. All of these activities require higher level thought from students, which I believe is the goal for our classrooms. This project is a great way to allow students to contribute in ways that match their learning styles, and allow educators a relevant and meaningful way to differentiate instruction.

Nelson, R. (2008). Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace. //Edutopia.// Retrieved April 23, 2009, from http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video.

3. While the projects provided me with invaluable experience, there were some outcomes that I had difficulty achieving. Due to the nature of the collaborative project, I did not have the experience of seamless video production from start to finish. This was compounded due to the fact that we were working from different locations. While we compensated for the distance fairly well, I feel like the project was chopped up into parts for logistical purposes, and that prevented me from seeing the bigger picture of the project at times. For example, two of our group members did the filming and made adjustments to the script. Once that was completed, they tried to send the raw video footage to my partner and I for editing. We had major problems with transferring the large video clips, and after several days and many hours, we finally received the footage. Working so long on the video transfer caused us to become distracted from the overall vision of the PSA, and it took a good amount of time to get back on track with the editing process. We were then able to edit the video, add music and complete the voice overs and credits. It was very hard to have ongoing conversations about what to include or cut due to the distance of our group. While I think that our whole group was pleased with the final product, it was very hard to take over the project and work on it in shifts while maintaining the group's original vision for the PSA. I would like to collaborate at the beginning of a video production as to ideas, props, scripts, setting, and other aspects of the creative features of the video. However, to really experience the production as a whole process, I would like to try to complete the project on my own or with a small local group. In addition to the logistics, I would have liked to have the opportunity to make the video longer in order to more fully develop the message of our PSA. We were able to highlight the main laws, but in order to use this effectively with students, we would need to slow down somewhat and possibly add more dialogue to ensure more complete understanding.

4. I was successful in completing the course assignments, however, there were some roadblocks that were frustrating during the process. The most frustrating and time consuming part of the PSA project was the video transfer process. We had problems in several areas. The first problem was in transferring the raw video footage from the camera to a computer in another town. The files were too large to put on our Wiki or to email as an attachment. A couple of our group members opened up an AIM account, and the footage was finally sent. However, because one of our members had an earlier version of iMovie than the member sending the video, she was able to see the video but not hear the audio. After several more tries and consultation with family members, the footage was finally transferred in tact. The second problem occurred when I was to get the edited video from my partner to complete the voice overs and credit slides, and she could not send the movie to me. We concluded that iMovie had the documemtation of her as the author, and due to copyright issues, she was not allowed to send the movie until it was shared as a Quicktime video. We resorted to her bringing me her computer so that I could complete the editing process and upload the video to You Tube. The editing process was done without a problem, but when it came time to upload the video, it processed for hours on You Tube. My partner finally came and retrieved her computer to try to upload the video from her house. We are not sure why, but the video processed and uploaded successfully from her location in about five minutes. There were many times during the production of the video that I felt like I could not get there from here, however, once I did finally get there, it was very satisfying! The frustrations that we experienced were minor for the most part, and we were able to overcome our obstacles. It was a good lesson for me in patience, preserverance, and flexibility.

5. I learned many valuable insights as a result of taking this course. First, I learned that I am a better writer and story teller than I thought. During the course of working, taking classes, and caring for my family, writing for pleasure just does not happen. I write lessons for school, emails, memos, checks, and think of creative ways to encourage my students to write, but I never find the time to tap into my own creative voice. The storytelling project from this course allowed me to attempt to write about myself and what is important to me. Something about that experience changed the way that I see myself. I was also forced to look at myself as a person and synthesize my thoughts, feelings, hopes, and even downfalls in my life. I know that I would never have taken the time to think so much about my story and actually tell it if I had not had this project to complete.

Second, I learned that collaboration on a video production project takes good communication skills from all members, and a lot of organization for all stages of the project. As a result of working through this project, I will definitely take more time to model the collaboration process and practice good communication skills with my students. I found that even though we had four intelligent, organized and motivated participants in our project, the process was not easy. I have assumed that my fifth grade students have these skills, and therefore I did not need to take up valuable class time teaching them. Now I can see why many of my collaborative groups did not achieve the level of success that I had hoped for due to deficits in communication skills and knowing what was expected from a true collaborative group. I will also concentrate on organization skills with my students. I learned from the PSA project that organization at every stage of the project was key for the project's success. The guidelines and organizers given to us were extremely helpful to keep us on track. I will use something very similar with my students to help them think ahead about all aspects of video projects.

I feel that as a result of this course, my attitude toward myself, my role as an educator and as a technology leader is one of excitement. I am very motivated to share what I have learned with my campus, and to have my students take on video production projects. My hope is that they will learn as much about themselves as a result of trying something new as I did.