What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
For this course, I had envisioned different outcomes. Amongst these were to successfully create a video, to learn more about video technology, and to learn about the different types of shots when filming video. After evaluating this list of envisioned outcomes, I am glad to say that I achieved the majority of them. These outcomes that I had envisioned did in fact line up with the actual course outcomes. I learned about creating a video in week one when I created my own personal digital story. This was such a fun learning experience for me because not only was I able to learn how to put together my own video, but I was able to share with others something about me. I learned more about video technology as each week progressed through the different tools that we used, such as Photo Story and Audacity. I now feel confident in showing others how to use these tools. Unfortunately, for the last outcome that I had envisioned which is to learn about the different types of shots when filming video, I feel like I did not learn enough. I learned about different shot techniques through our readings, such as the medium shot, the wide shot, the close-up, the extreme close-up, the trucking shot, and cutaways, however, I did not actually get to use any of these. Though this is unfortunate, I do intend on learning more about this on my own and practicing these shots so that I can become better at filming video.
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?
Out of all the outcomes that I envisioned and achieved, they are relevant to the work that I do in my school for the most part. Since I work with the lower grade levels, there is really no shooting of video in my classes. However, being in this class opened my eyes up to the different possibilities that video brings to a classroom, even those with younger kids. For example, week one’s assignment, personal digital story, is something that can be done by students of all ages. What makes this possible is the fact that it is something that is relatable to the students. Young children love sharing their experiences with others. Why not showcase these through video? After taking this class, I now feel more knowledgeable and better equipped to incorporate video into my classroom.
What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
Out of all the outcomes that I envisioned, I feel that I did not achieve one of them. This outcome is the one of learning more about different shots when filming video. Though I learned about these through the readings, I must admit that my knowledge remained the same as before. What prevented me from learning more was the fact that I did not get a chance to shoot video during this course. Another team member was in charge of filming the video for the PSA. Though I assisted in the choosing of the shots and figuring out what looked best, I really wish that I had more of a “hands on” experience in this project. Unfortunately, time constraints and distance prevented this from happening. Though I did not achieve this outcome during this course, I intend on doing so whenever I have some free time. This will allow me to shoot better video in the future.
Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?
When completing the course assignments, I can honestly say that I was successful in completing all of them. The biggest factor in my achieving of this is the fact that I had a wonderful team comprised of members that all looked out for each other. Whenever one of us missed something in an assignment, another team member was sure to tell that member. For example, during week 3, it was mentioned in the web conference that all team members had to post a link to the team wiki in the discussion board, along with the names of all the other team members. Those of us that did not attend the web conference missed this requirement. Thankfully, one of the team members noticed this and notified the other team members so that they could get credit. It is teamwork like this that allowed me to complete my assignments. Without my team members, this would not have been possible.
What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?
Through this course, I was able to learn a lot about myself. More specifically, I was able to learn about my technology and leadership skills, and my attitude when it comes to working with others. As this class progressed, I was able to contribute to the group work with my pre-existing technology skills. I was very happy to see that I was helping others because I had never realized just how much I knew when it came to technology. I was able to take screen shots to create a storyboard for all to follow, I edited some shots for the video editor to use, and I was able to work with both Wiki and Google docs in a way that it helped others completing the assignment. I never knew just how much I knew until I started this class and began using all these different tools at once. Something else that I learned through this course is that I can be a successful leader. In group work that I had previously participated in, I was always a follower; I let others guide me. In this group, however, I had the role of the director so I had to make many decisions. Looking at how the PSA came out and how my decisions along with those of others helped create such a wonderful product, gives me confidence that I can be a great leader. One last and major thing that this course taught me is that team work is nowhere near as bad as I had always pictured it. Due to previous bad experiences while working in groups, I started this class feeling nervous about having to do group work. I was not happy about this and was dreading the creation of this project. However, as time passed and I began working with my team members, I realized just how amazing working with others can be. This made a huge impact on my perspective of group work. I no longer dread it.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
EDLD 5363 Week 5 Assignment: PSA Reflection
During the course of EDLD 5363, I had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented people I have ever worked with. This was very interesting to me because we had never met each other before, and yet we were able to get organized and work together through the use of Web 2.0 tools.
Upon the assigning of the PSA, my group and I immediately joined forces to come up with a topic during the pre-production stage. Through email communication, we all agreed that the use of cell phones in school zones was a problem that affected us all. We quickly distributed the different job roles based on the individual strengths that we all had. Dub Wellborn, a fellow team member, set up a group Wiki in order for us to work collaboratively. Once this was set up, the production of the PSA began.
During the production process, everyone contributed equally to the PSA. This is what made the experience so great. Everyone completed the task they were assigned, and helped those that were in need. This kept the production process from becoming overwhelming. Leigh Moore, the camera operator, quickly got a group of student actors to volunteer and sent home permission slips for them to appear in the video. Once all parts of the production process were complete, post-production began.
When it came time for post-production, my team showed how well it could work together. We quickly communicated back and forth on any changes that needed to be made, all while being very respectful of each other. Thanks to the use of Google docs, we were all able to work collaboratively on the PSA document until it was finalized. This saved us time from having to wait on others.
To make our PSA more reputable, Dorothy Patel, the script writer, located some statistics to include in the PSA. She appropriately cited each source in the PSA document to give credit to the authors. Since all of the shots and sounds were contributed by the team members, a creative commons license logo was placed at the beginning of the PSA. This will let others know how the PSA can be used.
After analyzing the final version of our PSA, I am very happy with the final outcome. I believe that even though we never met in person, my team and I managed to create a PSA that delivers a very important message to all those who watch it. I cannot think of anything that my group and I can do to improve our public service announcement; however, I do believe that in order to learn more about PSA production, each person should have done their own PSA. This would have allowed me to learn more about the video production process.
Overall, the creation of this PSA was a wonderful experience that taught me how wonderful group work can be when it is organized. Since my team members and I knew our own strengths and weaknesses, we were able to distribute the work evenly amongst each other, thus making it a process that targeted each of our needs. As an educator, this is something that I want my students to learn how to figure out. Because of this project, I can now give my students a real life example on how to work together, all while teaching them an important lesson; never use your cell phone while driving in a school zone!
Upon the assigning of the PSA, my group and I immediately joined forces to come up with a topic during the pre-production stage. Through email communication, we all agreed that the use of cell phones in school zones was a problem that affected us all. We quickly distributed the different job roles based on the individual strengths that we all had. Dub Wellborn, a fellow team member, set up a group Wiki in order for us to work collaboratively. Once this was set up, the production of the PSA began.
During the production process, everyone contributed equally to the PSA. This is what made the experience so great. Everyone completed the task they were assigned, and helped those that were in need. This kept the production process from becoming overwhelming. Leigh Moore, the camera operator, quickly got a group of student actors to volunteer and sent home permission slips for them to appear in the video. Once all parts of the production process were complete, post-production began.
When it came time for post-production, my team showed how well it could work together. We quickly communicated back and forth on any changes that needed to be made, all while being very respectful of each other. Thanks to the use of Google docs, we were all able to work collaboratively on the PSA document until it was finalized. This saved us time from having to wait on others.
To make our PSA more reputable, Dorothy Patel, the script writer, located some statistics to include in the PSA. She appropriately cited each source in the PSA document to give credit to the authors. Since all of the shots and sounds were contributed by the team members, a creative commons license logo was placed at the beginning of the PSA. This will let others know how the PSA can be used.
After analyzing the final version of our PSA, I am very happy with the final outcome. I believe that even though we never met in person, my team and I managed to create a PSA that delivers a very important message to all those who watch it. I cannot think of anything that my group and I can do to improve our public service announcement; however, I do believe that in order to learn more about PSA production, each person should have done their own PSA. This would have allowed me to learn more about the video production process.
Overall, the creation of this PSA was a wonderful experience that taught me how wonderful group work can be when it is organized. Since my team members and I knew our own strengths and weaknesses, we were able to distribute the work evenly amongst each other, thus making it a process that targeted each of our needs. As an educator, this is something that I want my students to learn how to figure out. Because of this project, I can now give my students a real life example on how to work together, all while teaching them an important lesson; never use your cell phone while driving in a school zone!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
EDLD 5363 Week 2 Assignment: Video Editing Podcast
This is a short tutorial on how to use Windows Movie Maker for editing videos.
-Kristy Lopez (ET 8019)
Video Editing Podcast by Kristy Lopez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
-Kristy Lopez (ET 8019)
Video Editing Podcast by Kristy Lopez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Friday, September 3, 2010
EDLD 5363 Week 2 Assignment: Evaluating Video Editing Software
For this week’s assignment, I was asked to evaluate two video editing programs. Upon reading the article “Before You Buy Video Editing Software,” by Gretchen Siegchrist, I decided to evaluate Windows Movie Maker and Wax. In order to conduct both evaluations, I chose a video clip recording I had in my video library and edited it in both programs. Ultimately, I chose Windows Movie Maker to edit my video because I had previous experience working with it, it was free, and its features were far more user friendly.
The format of the video clip I chose to edit was QuickTime Movie (.MOV). I had no problem uploading this file format to Windows Movie Maker. Within seconds, my video had been uploaded. The ease of access to the different editing tools made editing my video an easy process. With its easy accessibility, I was able to split my video into sections, cut out any parts I did not want, add transition effects, text, audio, and even an image to my video. After I finished editing my video, I saved it to my computer for playback. Windows Movie Maker gave me several video quality options to choose from when saving my video, including high definition, both 1080p and 780p, widescreen, and standard definition. For easier storage, I chose standard definition and clicked the save button. Within less than thirty seconds, my video was saved in Windows Media Audio/Video file (.wmv) format, which makes it easy to upload to video sharing websites, such as YouTube.com or TeacherTube.com.
When I tried to edit the same video on Wax, I encountered some problems. First, the navigation menu was not very user friendly. I spent quite some time trying to figure out how to upload a video clip to edit. When I finally figured it out, my chosen file format, QuickTime Movie (.MOV), was not supported. As a result, I was not able to upload my video. This presents a large problem because most of my video files are .MOV. In order to edit any of my movies in Wax, I would have to convert them all to the accepted format, WAV. This process would be very time consuming, thus making it a less favorable option. In order to fully review the Wax software, I uploaded a Video Clip (.avi) file, which was a supported format. I tried to edit it in the provided storyboard; however, though it looked like the video was playing, the audio nor the video image never came on. Only a black screen was shown. Next, I went on to try out transition effects. When I clicked the button for transition, the program deleted the video clip I had downloaded and left me with a blank project. In the end, I was never able to edit anything with Wax. The only thing I accomplished was the wasting of time.
Before conducting this week's assignment, I had only heard of Windows Movie Maker for editing videos. Now, I know there is a wide array of software available for such task, all with different strengths and weaknesses. After editing a video in both Windows Movie Maker and Wax, I came to the conclusion that Windows Movie Maker is by far the best editing software for me. Because of its ease of use, I am most likely going to use this program again for all my future video editing needs. By learning how to edit videos, I will be able to create my own educational videos, tailored to my own class’s needs. Video editing software is a very powerful tool for educators. It provides more opportunities for individualized instruction by allowing its users to keep necessary information, and discard any that may not be as useful.
Siegchrist, G. (n.d.). Before you buy video editing software. About. Retrieved on August 30, 2010, from http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/editingsoftware/bb/Buyeditsoftware.htm.
The format of the video clip I chose to edit was QuickTime Movie (.MOV). I had no problem uploading this file format to Windows Movie Maker. Within seconds, my video had been uploaded. The ease of access to the different editing tools made editing my video an easy process. With its easy accessibility, I was able to split my video into sections, cut out any parts I did not want, add transition effects, text, audio, and even an image to my video. After I finished editing my video, I saved it to my computer for playback. Windows Movie Maker gave me several video quality options to choose from when saving my video, including high definition, both 1080p and 780p, widescreen, and standard definition. For easier storage, I chose standard definition and clicked the save button. Within less than thirty seconds, my video was saved in Windows Media Audio/Video file (.wmv) format, which makes it easy to upload to video sharing websites, such as YouTube.com or TeacherTube.com.
When I tried to edit the same video on Wax, I encountered some problems. First, the navigation menu was not very user friendly. I spent quite some time trying to figure out how to upload a video clip to edit. When I finally figured it out, my chosen file format, QuickTime Movie (.MOV), was not supported. As a result, I was not able to upload my video. This presents a large problem because most of my video files are .MOV. In order to edit any of my movies in Wax, I would have to convert them all to the accepted format, WAV. This process would be very time consuming, thus making it a less favorable option. In order to fully review the Wax software, I uploaded a Video Clip (.avi) file, which was a supported format. I tried to edit it in the provided storyboard; however, though it looked like the video was playing, the audio nor the video image never came on. Only a black screen was shown. Next, I went on to try out transition effects. When I clicked the button for transition, the program deleted the video clip I had downloaded and left me with a blank project. In the end, I was never able to edit anything with Wax. The only thing I accomplished was the wasting of time.
Before conducting this week's assignment, I had only heard of Windows Movie Maker for editing videos. Now, I know there is a wide array of software available for such task, all with different strengths and weaknesses. After editing a video in both Windows Movie Maker and Wax, I came to the conclusion that Windows Movie Maker is by far the best editing software for me. Because of its ease of use, I am most likely going to use this program again for all my future video editing needs. By learning how to edit videos, I will be able to create my own educational videos, tailored to my own class’s needs. Video editing software is a very powerful tool for educators. It provides more opportunities for individualized instruction by allowing its users to keep necessary information, and discard any that may not be as useful.
Siegchrist, G. (n.d.). Before you buy video editing software. About. Retrieved on August 30, 2010, from http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/editingsoftware/bb/Buyeditsoftware.htm.
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