EDLD+5363

Week 1 Week 1 Assignment: Web Conference (Optional Activity) [|EDLD 5363 Blog]

Week 1 Personal Digital Reflection (Blog) [|Week 1 Personal Digital Reflection (Blog)]

Week 1 Assignment: Part Two Personal Digital Story Preparation and Creation and Posting Google Doc Link (Interview Questions & Video Script) [|Week 1 Interview Questions with Partner]

Steve Jobs Biography (Digital Story) media type="youtube" key="5boj66w84ZY" height="315" width="560"

Week 2 **Week 2 Assignment: Part One (Software evaluation blog)** I am quite limited in the options for video editing software this week. We are off from school the entire week for Thanksgiving break and I do not have access to a Windows PC. At home, I only have a Mac and narrowed the choices down to three video editing software: Apple iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Premier Pro. I tried to install Adobe Premier Pro but it turns out that I do not have sufficient hard disk space for the installation. I like Final Cut Pro however it is very difficult to use and pricey. I decided to use the most practical and commonly used video editing software for the Mac. I used to edit with the old version of Final Cut Pro 7 however recently Apple did away with that style and released Final Cut Pro X, which looks extremely similar to iMovie. In fact, after using both pieces of software, it just seemed much more reasonable to use iMovie rather than spend $299 on Final Cut Pro X. I used iMovie for Week 1 activity and I have to say that I am very impressed with the newest version of iMovie. It integrates very well with iTunes and iPhoto. This is especially important capability since all of my videos, photos and music is all on these two software titles. When I used Final Cut Pro 7, I had a difficult time importing and keeping track of the scratch files. Another great feature of iMovie editor is the autosave option. How many times have you worked on a project and your computer shuts down or freezes? All the transitions, titles, and tools look very professional and are extremely easy to edit. I think it is important that many of you consider using iMovie as well because if you own a iPhone or iPad, you can easily "capture" your videos or photos straight from your mobile device. I have to admit, I am biased towards Apple products but only because I have seen final products that are truly studio quality. I hope to get more experience with iMovie since I rarely use it. There are certain features I want to use further and experiment with. For example, I would like to use some new transitions I have not used before, experiment with the precision editor rather than using the scrubbing option, and perhaps use chroma key (green screen) option. Learning more about video editing will give me confidence in the classroom and generate more video editing opportunities with my students. In addition, my principal and I have been talking about a morning newscast that could be broadcasted and posted onto our school web page. If I learn more about video editing using iMovie, I believe the plan can become a reality.

Peers, I intend to use either .mp4 or .mov format for my videos and podcast. The reason why I choose these formats is because video hosting sites like YouTube prefer this type of file and allow for High Definition (720p & 1080p) upload using these formats. Last, it is the native format for Apple's iMovie.

Week 2 Assignment: Part Two & Three

[|Week 2 Google Doc with Partner]

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**Week 5**


 * Week 3/4/5 Shared Google Doc for Planning **
 * [|EDLD 5363 Week 3/4/5 Planning] **

**Week 5 Assignment: Blog Posts** **[|EDLD 5363 Week 5 Blog Post]**

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 * Week 5 Group PSA **

**Final Assessment: Course Reflections**

**What outcome had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?** At the beginning of the course I envisioned to become a better movie producer. I’ve worked on films before but mostly did editing for other people’s raw film content. Before the start of the course I believed that the course was going to be simplistic and not as time consuming as it really was. Although I had been accustomed to traditional research and constant writing, it was great to work on something a little different. I enjoyed learning about the entire movie making process. Previously, I would create movies without any type of planning, scripts, or storyboards. I learned that these are extremely critical parts of the movie process and significantly improve the final product. I do believe that I became a better movie producer and the course outcomes were closely knit to what was needed for me to achieve my personal and educational goals. In the end, I learned that there is so much more to movie making than just post production. Through collaboration and planning, our group was able to accomplish a great public service announcement despite our time and distance constraints.

**To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?** All three course assignments were extremely valuable for me as a technology educator and coordinator. The digital storytelling project assigned in week 1 is something I have worked on with my students but never realized that the caliber of the work can be significantly improved by following simple guidelines. For example, a storyboard and index card can help students in the script writing process. Also, the way the digital storytelling was done in my class was without narration. I learned that adding narration dramatically increases the viewer’s attention. In week 2, I created a podcast in which I showed viewers how to get started with iMovie. This assignment was extremely relevant because as a technology coordinator I am constantly being asked to create tutorials. Most of the time I simply make a PDF with screenshots and texts. Mixing both video and audio made my tutorial superb. I am actually very proud of my tutorial from week 2. Last, the public service announcement was the assignment that really put all of the skills learned together. From an educator's standpoint, I believe it is very important for students to become involved and engaged using various media opportunities. I was so excited to see such a great response from the students. The students impressed me with their on camera skills and eagerness to research the topic. I truly believe that given the opportunity, the students would of done a better job than our team at creating the public service announcement.

**What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?** There are two main outcomes that I feel I didn’t accomplish. The first is the ability to communicate and plan effectively with my team through our Google Doc. Although I am a fan of collaboration and online learning, there must to be a way to communicate more effectively. Time conflicts and technology barriers really hindered our ability to communicate synchronously. Each team member would add his or her input and ideas at different parts of the day. We suggested using Skype however our schedules did not allow for us to meet all together. The second outcome I feel I did not achieve was also affected due to the distance and time barrier. Each team member was assigned a role in the video creation however we were never able to merge our ideas effectively and create a unified video. For example, my biggest role was that of the editor and post-production. After every change I made, I had to upload the video to YouTube and get feedback from the team. This was a very time consuming task especially since the final video was revised a couple of times. I wish there was a way that either Windows Movie Maker or Apple iMovie gave access to other users to edit in real time similar to how GoogleDocs works. If this capability were available, each group member would have gotten more experience in editing and the final product would truly be a collaborative effort.

**Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?** At the beginning of the course I was skeptical that these projects could actually be accomplished in a period of five weeks. I noticed that I did much better on the second assignment. This was mostly because it was done during the Thanksgiving break and I had plenty of time to work on it. As a result, the quality of the second assignment exceeded both the PSA and digital storytelling assignment. Another reason I believe that the assignment was of better quality was because it was done in solidarity. I mentioned before that I am a fan of collaboration and sharing, however, I normally tend to do well when I work alone. In undergraduate school, I performed best on individual assignments. When given a group assignment, I always took the leadership role and dominated the workload. It’s not that I don’t trust other group members but I feel like a perfectionist at times. Also, I don’t like to procrastinate and whenever I would work in a group, they would like to wait for the last moment. By the time we would meet, I would announce that I had already done all of the work. For this course, I became very patient and gave the team members plenty of time to input their suggestions and ideas. In the end, we managed to collaborative effectively, stay on track, and produced a sound public service announcement.

**What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?** This course gave me a valuable insight to the complete movie creation process amongst other things. I’ve always considered myself a technology expert and leader but I realized that my collaboration skills need improvement. This course provided many valuable resources in the form of weekly readings. Unfortunately, I ignored many of the readings and decided to stick to my old routines. For example, the entire public service announcement was shot in one angle. Although I became knowledgeable on shooting film, I did not try the newly acquired knowledge. Perhaps it was the time constraint or the lack of planning but I think the final project could have been of better quality had I decided to use different techniques. Again, I feel like I took on much of the workload not because the team members were not willing to help rather I’m just used to working fast and alone. The team contributed a great length and I am glad that they put up with my constant demands and strict deadlines I set as a leader. This course was structured very well and I believe that it was very effective in helping us learn important multimedia techniques and concepts despite the nature of it being online. The most important outcome from this course is that I will be able to use this new knowledge in my role as a teacher and technology coordinator. In fact, I was so impressed with the engagement level of students, I will assign more movie making assignments not only to gain more experience but because I feel that the entire movie making process requires students to use workforce and 21st century skills including writing, creativity and collaboration.