Course+Reflection+EDLD5363

As I began the Multimedia and Video Technology course, I was anticipating that the course would take me through several media software applications and provide practical uses for these in the classroom. I was expecting to get a lot of hands-on experience with software that was new to me as well as specific project suggestions for use in public school classrooms. I am particularly interested in web applications such as Flash Player and thought that, perhaps, this course would introduce me to the Flash software and/or similar applications. To my surprise, the course didn't go as deep into trying out various software applications and the majority of the course was focused on a final group video production project. While the course was not quite what I expected, I can see the value in sharing this information with teachers at my campus. Student-produced video and/or audio projects will have great value in achieving desired learning outcomes in the students at my school.

In addition to being the music specialist at my campus, I am also paid a stipend for fulfilling the role of "campus technologist." In that role, I am responsible for bringing new uses of technology into the classrooms at my campus, training teachers on software applications and their classroom use, managing the campus website and email system, etc. At the beginning of the '09-'10 school year, I will be in servicing all of the teachers at my campus regarding technology. The introduction of the possibility of creating photo stories and video productions could generate some true excitement in the faculty. There will be some reluctance to throw out "the old way" but one of the best lessons I have learned in these past two courses is that it is imperative to impart to students that the teacher doesn't always have to know everything and, sometimes, the student will need to become the teacher in order to seamlessly integrate technology applications into the classroom environment.

While I was familiar with Microsoft's MovieMaker software, I was completely unfamiliar with the use of Photostory 3 prior to embarking on this course. I loved using this software and even created something further using it - just for my own practice (see "Kitchen remodel" at left). Because so many of my friends and family live far away from Texas, I rely on email to communicate and often email pictures or, if there are many pictures of an event or project, I have posted them on a wiki page for friends and family to view. Because of the creation of web-ready file formats and being required to post them in various places on the internet, I was actually able to create a photo story, convert it to a WMV file, upload it to a free site, and simply email the link to interested people. Further, I was even able to upload the video to my former photo page and place the video on my Facebook page for even casual friends to see. This was a definite learning experience and will be useful in sharing information with students, teachers, and parents. Additionally, storyboarding, wide, close, medium, and extreme close-up shots and all the various stages of preparation are worthwhile elements to teach anyone using pictures or video to tell a story.

In my off-time I enjoy travel and as a person with a high interest in technology, I have actually used MovieMaker to create "scrapbooks" of trips to share with friends. Being able to burn my photos and video onto a DVD and add music to share pictures and video with friends has added a whole new twist to "Come over and see the slides of my vacation" in years past. I have also used MovieMaker to document a multitude of do-it-yourself projects I have done around my home and created a mock "HGTV" show to share with family and friends who have never seen my home. Because of these experiences, creating the projects required in the course were not a big challenge because these types of media projects are things I actually do for fun when I am off from school in the summer. The aspect of posting the assignments on the Internet was fairly new to me, however. I was familiar with free posting sites such as YouTube and had heard of TeacherTube but had only //watched// video on them in the past - I hadn't ever posted anything before and this experience was new and valuable but not impossible. This is a valuable skill in both professional and personal realms.

I am continuing to learn as I proceed through my technology courses that while technology may make our lives simpler and more connected, it has amplified the hectic nature of the lives of most people. Setting a face-to-face meeting date is always a challenge and usually is more dictatorial such as, "We are meeting on this date at this time - either be there or be left out." With this approach, people rearrange their schedules to accommodate the meeting if they need to or want to attend. In the online world, place is not a factor and therefore time and date for meetings becomes more open. While this is a good thing, it actually amplifies the problem of getting a time that is convenient for all involved. Because this course had a finite time to get many things accomplished, this proved very difficult. Outside the nature of the course, I can see where it is almost essential that online collaboration happen with LOTS of lead time. Further, I have always been "the leader" usually just to avoid my own frustration. I like to work quickly and move on to the next thing, but being forced to work on the final project in this course taught me two valuable lessons: 1) Letting go of some control is not such a bad thing and 2) More minds contributing to the final outcome will yield something you never could have conceived working alone. I will no longer fear the phrase "I want you to get into groups."