EDLD
5363 was an overview on principles of multimedia planning, design, production,
editing, and evaluation. We created
digital stories. In the area of video we planned, designed, produced, edited,
and evaluated.
Creating
the PSA was a new experience for me. I luckily knew how to share large files
over the internet which was a practical skill for this assignment since I had
to share the video files with the editor on our team. When the assignment was
first released, I was worried about working with a group of people I did not
know. I found a group and met them all via email to begin. When our group
reached 6 people, we realized we had to split. One group was geared to working
with older students and adults. My group was geared to working with younger
children. All six of us decide to meet via web conference on Toxbox. After the
initial hour on the conference our group deiced to meet separately to discuss
our PSA particulars. After the video conference we were able to collaborate
functionally over a wiki I created for the large group. We also utilized email
for direct conversations that required quick responses.
I
also, learned about Creative Commons licenses. I had been at several
conferences that discussed them but had never truly delved into their usage
until this course. I now have a better understanding of its concept. On the PSA
we decided that since it had video of my daughter who is eight, we wanted to
limit others from editing the video for her safety. We chose a license that
stated, "Chatting with Kids About Being Online by Leanne Knight, Patty Odom,
and Stacey Thompson is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License." I posted our
final PSA at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6iNORQiMQ.
The
topics covered in EDLD5363 were extremely relevant to the skills required in my
job. As a campus technologist, I use a variety of technology on a daily basis.
In elementary school multimedia is a large portion of how I effectively assist
teachers and students. I work regularly with video editing software both Adobe
Premiere Elements and Movie Make found at http://knightl.blogspot.com/2010/09/movie-maker-vs-adobe-premier-elements.html.
I also help students and teachers in grades first through third create videos
using Photo Story. I am actively engaged in helping teachers podcast
using Audacity and posting the files to a site with an RSS feed. EDLD 5363 was
a review of what I do on a daily basis. It was nice to re-examine all of the
features of the different software I use regularly. I appreciated learning more
in depth features of Audacity. While learning about video editing software I
compared the free trial of Adobe Premiere Elements to Microsoft Movie Maker. I
admit I wanted to learn some of the newer products for multimedia instead of
the tools schools have been utilizing for the last ten years.
Marco
Toress stated "Her passion and her interest to talk about something that
really bothered her and to have it reach every corner of the world was an
experience that she'll never forget" (Edutopia, 2002). I have experienced
many professional development workshops where Marco Torres and his former
students presented to teachers. He is truly inspirational. The students took
ownership of their videos. Often Marco Torres would give an assignment where
the students had to interview a hero in their neighborhood. The students began
recognizing the treasures in their own "barrio" they never would have
recognized without Marco's assignment. Torres also has his students explain at
conferences how to get the best possible quality without having to purchase
high end technology. Whatever the age of a student or their economic background,
we need to give them opportunities to express themselves in a safe atmosphere.
Just like Marco Torres. Students need to have a voice and it is our
responsibility as educators to help them. Multimedia is the perfect outlet for
the generation we teach. With the simple use of inexpensive Flip cameras,
students can create endlessly. It is our own imaginations as educators,
sometimes, that actually put the limits on what our students can create.
We
need to remember we should be using twenty-first century skills with our
students. Not only have we been in the twenty-first century for ten years but
our younger students have known nothing else. As educators with a concentration
in technology, we need to go beyond just learning these skills. We need to be
utilizing as many up to the minute tools that have been released and have shown
to be robust. We should never take a step back in technology or we have lost
our audience. Many of the tools utilized in EDLD 5363 are tools that are
becoming outdated with the utilization of web 2.0 tools. Photostory is a great
tool but there are many newer ones being released that have better functions
and will keep our students interested. We should be given an opportunity to
learn about the newer tools since our teachers come to us as a guiding resource
of knowledge in innovative technology.
Our
team was extremely successful in completing the assignments. I do admit though
that we were successful by pure determination on our parts. We would complete
most of the PSA, then find out another component of the assignment which was
not detailed in the online CourseWhere, emails from the IA, or rubric. Luckily,
at least one of the team members was present in at least one web conference
each week. Otherwise, we would have missed the new requirements that were added
weekly. For example, on the PSA rubric and the assignment it never discusses
the number of narrators. During a web conference. Dr. Abernathy said there
should be at least two narrators. So our team had to edit our final PSA per her
new requirement. Nowhere on the rubric does it discuss giving Creative Commons
licensing but during a web conference, Dr.Abernathy was adamant the
participants of the course add a license to their PSA. So, we had to edit our
PSA yet again.
Garrison
wrote, "Whatever you do not know about the equipment can probably be
figured out by your students." Students are fearless and want to help us
solve our digital problems. When we give up our control, our students are there
to assist. Alan November, reputable digital leader in education, often comments
that we should take our students with us to technology professional development
so they can then get everything going in our classrooms. Every class I have
worked with, all the way down to Kindergarten, has someone who is so excited to
be able to help the teacher. Plus, knowing that I will have someone with me if
problems occur is very powerful and allows me to be more adventurous with the
activities planned.
Students
from the 21st century appreciate multimedia. “For this digital
generation, electronic media is increasingly seductive, influential, and
pervasive, yet most schools treat the written word as the only means of
communication worthy of study” (Ellis, 2005, para. 3).
While
working on the PSA, I learned how easy it is to work with a group where each
member is hundreds of miles apart. We never met in person only through
electronic means. I learned that I have an ease of use with cloud computing. I
have used online web 2.0 tools on a regular basis for my own use and I teach
teachers at my school their use. I discovered that if you have people who are
willing, they will collaborate online. I thought I could only work with a group
via face to face meetings and use online software as an alternative. Now I know
online software can be used as a primary form of collaborating and
reinforcement.
References:
Edutopia.
(2002). Multimedia serves youths' desire to express themselves. Retrieved on
April 19, 2009, from http://www.edutopia.org/print/980
Ellis,K. (2005). Students Evolve From Consumers to
Critics and Creators. Edutopia. Retrieved August 23, 2009 from
http://www.edutopia.org/print/1321.
Garrison, A. (1999, Winter). Video basics and
production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved
April 6, 2009, from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article3.html
No comments:
Post a Comment