EDLD 5363 End of Course Reflection

EDLD 5363 Multimedia & Video Technology has been useful and insightful to different multimedia technologies that can be used by students. The readings were constructive and gave me a foundation for the assignments and projects. I particularly enjoy The Digital Storytelling Cookbook by Joe Lambert. In this book it communicates that there are many stories that can be told from character stories to love stories. “And the best of these stories tell us more about ourselves than the details of our own lives.” (Lambert, 2007) This reading was beneficial in helping guide me in the story development not only for my first digital story but for our final group project of a student centered video. I also learned that good video stories are the creative artistry of several skills blended together (Lindenmeyer,1995). The final three weeks of the class was a group project developing a core curriculum student centered video. This project involved our group meeting together on a regular basis and collaborating using a Google document as well as a wiki to post our video clips and other materials. This group project was challenging and frustrating. This was my third class that had a group project yet this was the most challenging. The group was comprised of four students and being summer and working around travel and summer activities proved to be an issue. This was the only group project where I felt like two of us really carried the majority of the load of work and that was disappointing. However, this gave me insight to what students in my school must also deal with. My experience of group projects gives me the tools necessary to create lessons for students to collaborate with other students not in their classroom, but school district and globally to create a multimedia product. This opportunity opens doors for more diversified learning and understanding on an educational as well as a personal level for students. One reference that I will carry with me and share with students and teachers is from Lambert (2007) who notes that you should try to use the best effect of all: letting the images speak for themselves and using the words to say the rest (Lambert, 2007). The tools I have learned and projects that I have created and experienced will be relevant to students and teachers that I work with as a Library Media Specialist. I think the digital story about them is a perfect way to start off the school year to introduce and get to know students. My experiences will encourage me to encourage more multimedia projects being done on my campuses. According to Shank (2011), "In instructional design, the purpose of multimedia isn't just to incorporate multiple media, insert cool text, or add complexity (which can detract from learning). This reference by Shank will help me design rubrics that are clear and go beyond simple graphics. I was familiar with Creative Commons and this is something I will continue to encourage with students as they create e-portfolio of their work. I would have enjoyed using some software that I was not as familiar with but I do understand that most school districts use open source software. I understand and appreciate district budget constraints but I feel many students may go into the workforce unprepared by not being exposed to products such as Adobe. The assignments were not as clear for the group project as I would have liked. The project for this class was new and different from previous classes. I feel like this class worked through all the “kinks” which will help make directions more clear for future classes. The digital story and podcast were by far my favorite projects. I was able to develop my leadership skills in the group project. I had to encourage some group members to volunteer for what parts of the project they would work on. I learned setting early deadlines were important so if work was not up to par or difficulties arose there was time to correct or help with any glitches. Input and listening to that input is an important area of group work that must be facilitated. As I reflect, I realize those challenges that may have been the most frustrating to me were actually the ones that taught me the most in developing leadership skills. References Center for Educational and Training Technology. (2006). Success is in the planning. Retrieved from http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/howtoStoryboardHandout.pdf Lambert, J. (2007, February). Digital storytelling cookbook, 1-30 Story Center. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from http://storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf Lindenmeyer, H. (1995). Writing voice-over narration for video. PSA Journal. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1306/is_n9_v61/ai_17461871/ Shank, P. (n.d.). Designing multimedia applications. Adobe Think Tank. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved from http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/valuemedia/.

EDLD Core Curriculum Student Centered Video

EDLD 5363 Web Conference June 18, 2012

This was my third full web conference.  I logged in on Sunday 6/17 while I was out of town in a hotel and after about 20 minutes I was knocked off the conference and could not get back in.  I figured that this was due to hotel bandwidth.   I had many questions over the assignments for week three so I logged back in on Monday, 6/18.  This was an extremely beneficial and I was so glad I chose to login that night!  There were many questions answered not only by Dr. Abernathy but students as well.  I felt like we all worked as a collaborative group.  Questions were answered over our group project as well as future courses and our internship.  I took the first class several years ago and then had to stop due to health issues with my mother.  After starting back last fall I realized things had changed in the first class from when I took it and I have some catching up to do.  I still have questions that I will talk to Dr. Abernathy about but felt a relief when she told us we had a class in the middle that was kind of a catch up time for internship and our Action Research project.  That information made my day!  One of my group members also attended the web conference that night and we had a side chat going on during the conference about things that pertained to our group.  This web conference was the most beneficial conference that I have attended. 

EDLD 5363 Web Confernce June 10, 2012

This was my second web conference and there were fewer participants than in the first.  It is nice that I recognize names and can now put faces with the names.  I am get frustrated with this course because it seems like the assignments are broken down into several parts but yet at the same time are repetitive. I am still unclear as to why we have multiple assignments to turn in through epic when it seems like it could all be put on one page.  This is what I mean by repetitive.  I feel like I copy and paste the same thing over for several assignments.   When I asked a question in the web conference for some clarification the response I received was “read your assignment it is right there”.  That really frustrated me because I had read the assignment and still had a question and my question was not answered.  I wonder if it was expected that another class participant might answer the question for me.  I’m not sure, but I left this conference frustrated and feeling like it was not a valuable use of my time.  I have had a lot of communication with one of my group members and the two of us have figured things out and answered each other’s questions.  I know this is practice for being a leader facilitating learning.  I am finding classmates to be more than willing to help and answer questions as we figure things out together.  The assignments have not been too difficult and I enjoy them.  The directions in the assignments in this class seem to be not as clear as in other classes and it is frustrating when you cannot get a direct answer for clarification. 

EDLD 5363 : Window Movie Maker Podcast Tutorial

EDLD 5363 : Week 1 Reflection

Coming up with a subject was the easiest thing for me. I chose something I was passionate about…my family. Family is very important to me and stand beside each other no matter the circumstance. This was a passionate subject however pulled at many emotions that I had not visited in several years. My daughter was born with congenital heart disease and has four open heart surgeries. I’ve always known she is my “miracle child” and when I emotionally travel back in time to her birth I have a flood of emotions remembering the roller coaster ride. I never overlook my son who is also amazing. He is a complete opposite of me and can make me laugh when I am furious with him about something. I was not taught how to follow my own dreams and that is something I want my children to do.

I used Photo Story 3 to create my digital story. This is a program that I had used before but it had been many years ago. I use animoto quite often and as suggested used something I was less familiar with. The planning was not difficult for me because I help teachers use similar programs in the classroom. As well, I help students do a storyboard and write scripts. However writing the script and keeping it short enough was my greatest challenge. I realized every single word had to count. I still feel like I did not give my children all the praise that I would have enjoyed sharing with the world but this is just a snapshot of how special they are to me.

"My Story" Digital Photo Story Week 1 Assignment EDLD 5363