Weeks 3-5 Reflections and Web Conferences Reflections for 12/5/11 and 12/10/11

Week 3 in our Lamar Mulitmedia course began a group project for a Public Service Announcement, or PSA. My group consisted of Larry Wetjen, Oregon; Meredith Bell, Texas; Brian Conner, Texas. Although three of us live in Texas, Texas is a big state. We were never able to meet face to face, and so we began our collaboration. We started with a google document that we could all collaborate on using different colors. We also set up chat times with an online source called Rondee. Along with email, texting, and these other tools, we were able to collaborate and begin our journey together.
Week 3 consisted mostly of Larry and I getting things organized and getting a script created. We did a lot of research and collaborating during this time. We were able to come up with a script, a storyboard, and copyrights and works cited.
During Week 4, Meredith and Brian began their challenging parts. Meredith was able to get her Honor Society students together after she received written consent from their parents. She spent several days editing the script and storyboard to fit in our 60 seconds. Her students did a wonderful job at portraying what we had envisioned for our project. Brian spent countless hours editing the video that was sent and adding voice over and background music. He also had to add in the citation shot, the creative commons shot and the title shot.
We used dropbox which became a very valuable tool for use. I have enjoyed dropbox so much, that a colleague of mine, who is a few classes ahead of me in the program (although we happen to be in this course together), have asked our principal for a staff development day that we lead and teach our fellow teachers how to utilize dropbox.
I attended several web conferences during this course. On December 5th, the web conference focused on the PSA project and answereing questions for those that had any. We discussed intellectual property rights and talked about teaching our students to work on creative commons. We also discussed the importance of using web 2.0 tools for collaborating. The lack of integration of technology for progress across the state was discussed and the importance of teachers helping with this implementation of technology was stressed.
TK20 was mentioned and what was needed to put in to TK20 by the end of this course was discussed. Those including the collaboration document and the Final Project.
I also attended the web conference on December 10th at 10:00 A.M. Pamela Comer was available for questions regarding TK20 and we were told how to upload artifacts into this portfolio. We are to upload our pre-production documentation, our updated documentation, and our team video to TK20. We were also told to put our Blog Link into our Week 5 document when we submit.There was much discussion again over what our eportfolio was, with that being our wiki site.

5353 Week 3 Reflections

Week 3 in Multimedia was a great learning experience. The readings were helpful in beginning our pre-production tasks. Working with a group is very helpful and allows for many ideas instead of just your own. I like to not think I am narrow minded, but I am a creature of habit. Having others give their insight and ideas helps me to see outside of the box. I created the script for our PSA project and it did happen to be quite a challenge, although writing and reflecting is one of my very favorite past times.
I worried that I was doing a good job as to not let my fellow group members down. Working with the group is exciting and I am looking forward to the next few weeks. Our group lives so far away from each other, we will never meet face to face, but we collaborate online and on call conferences so that we can assist each other. We also text, email and talk on the phone at non-scheduled times as needed.

November 20, 2011 Week 1 and Web Conference Reflection

In week 1, our assignment was to create a digital story. This was a lot of fun to create. My story was the effect my Mom had on my life. Creating this story really helped me travel down memory lane and really see the trials and tribulations I have faced in my life, to get me to where I am today. I was able to share my story with my family and friends that knew my Mom, and it was truly fitting and fell at the right time, as this month marked the tenth year anniversary of her passing.

I must admit that this Multimedia class has been very challenging. We have been required to accomplish many tasks that I have never even heard of. Online learning can be challenging at times and even more so with technology. I am having a hard time with the web conferences. A fellow classmate did let me call him with this last conference and let me listen to Dr. A through our phones.

I have enjoyed having a partner for this class, Lawrence Wetjen. He has been a wonderful partner and is very helpful with the assignments. He is very technology saavy and his works are always very professional.  I am looking forward to our large group assignment although, like the last few weeks, the assignment instructions are vague.  When following the to-do lists, week’s assignments, and course syllabus, I sometimes feel like I’m flying blind through this course.

I have not found the web conferences as beneficial as I hoped. When everyone’s camera is on, I have trouble with my audio and therefore cannot hear the answers to questions that have been asked. I am hopeful that this technology glitch will get better.

Dawn and Dr. A have been great. Dawn answers every one of my emails quickly and thoroughly. She and Dr. A are very supportive and have helped tremendously. I am so thankful for the support of my class colleagues and professors.

5363 Week 2 Refections

Larry and Nicole Collaboration Document Week 2

Week 2 Podcast
Nicole's Wiki Site
This podcast will assist elementary students in the creation of digital stories by using Windows Movie Maker. I will use MP3 as the file extension for saving and uploading this assignment. This podcast can be played for the students while they are working through movie maker. This will help these students to not only understand current technology and digital story making, but will also allow them to express themselves in their own way. For those students who find it difficult to participate in class, this will hopefully allow them to feel excited and ultimately successful about an assignment.  As told by Andrew Garrison, “Media production engages and excites; it leads to unexpected discoveries, increased self- awareness and esteem, sharpened critical thinking, analytical skills, group work skills, and ability to communicate ideas.” (Garrison, 1999) We tell our students they have to learn in a certain way. I remember when I was in elementary school, we had to create a script and come up with a weather report for a news show. Of course, there was no technology then, so we had to pretend to have a camera man and act out our scenes. For today's students, there is so much technology available that can help them to achieve success. Breaking out of the “norm” and allowing them to tell their own story, is a way for them to be proud and show off their true abilities.

References

Garrison, A. (1999). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from Center for Media Literacy: http://www.mediallit.org/reading-room/video-basics-and-production-projects-classroom.

The web conference I attended this week was on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 6:00 P.M. In this web conference we discussed vodcast, which are podcast with video, the Discussion Board for week 2,  and the topic for our group PSA project that could be anything. We were told we would be using audacity software for our podcast and the Lame is the 2.0 tool we need to export the podcast and upload to a free site. In our podcast, we had to add descriptive tags so that the site could be easily found.
Dr. A discussed a little more about the PSA project we would be working on in Weeks 3-5 with a group of 3-5 people. We were told that assignments would be due in Weeks 3 and 5 but that nothing would be due in Week 4.
Videopad was also mentioned and told that it was an online video editor.

Link to eportfolio (wiki)

Wiki Site- eportfolio

EDLD 5363 Week 1 Reflections

Wow! I can't believe week 1 is finally over! This has been a very long week, but a very exciting week. I really enjoyed this assignment. I loved creating a story about my mom, and actually believe that writing is a form of healing. So, I learned how to create a digital story along with remembering and reflecting on the life of the person who has impacted my life the most. I really enjoyed having a partner this week. People interpret things differently and this really helped to envision more than just what I thought the assignment was asking for. Lawrence was a  great partner, and together, we survived week 1!

EDLD 5363 Week 1 Video

Digital Story