Multimedia+Video+Course+Reflection

EDLD 5363 Multimedia/Video Tech Course Reflection I was very excited to be enrolled in this Multimedia/Video Tech course because it is a field that I particularly enjoy and have had some experience with. I envisioned making some videos during the course. I also had envisioned to learn new applications. The outcome exceeded my vision. I definitely appreciated the project-base learning environment. Working in a group was a tremendous experience that I especially appreciated. I was concerned about how we would work together and collaborate in a distance-learning environment. I learned that with today’s available technology it is possible to work together even if we are hundreds or thousands of miles away and with different time zones. It took about close to two hundred emails within a span of three weeks to communicate thoroughly. Creating a wiki page was a key to collaboration. Any member of the team was able to update whatever was necessary. There were two glitches we faced. One was that currently there is a limit to uploading large memory size files such as a video on wiki. The solution was to upload the video to YouTube and copy the embedded codes onto wiki page. The other glitch was that when audio is uploaded to wiki page it embeds the file and cannot be downloaded to the desktop as a mp3 file by other member. We resolved this issue by emailing the files. Working on the PSA project gave me the opportunity to solve technology problems and use variety of applications to create an artistic and cohesive video.

I gained very useful skills and resources that I would be able to share with my students. I have already shared with my Animation class the free video editing software that I reviewed for week two’s assignment called Video Pad. We already have Movie Maker on all the computers, but some students find the program limiting. The Video Pad application will provide them with more flexibility. I have also informed them about Audacity. They would be able to download these applications at home without any concerns about breaking the law or getting viruses. I am continuing to share web site resources for free music, sound effects, images, and video footage such as [|www.creativecommons.com], [|www.freestockfootage.com], and [|www.freefx.co.uk]. The course reading materials have become very valuable in sharing with my students. This Multimedia course has become an asset to my teaching directly. My students got involved in the process of creating the Cyberbullying PSA by helping me video tape them. I have shown the PSA to all my students. I plan to share the PSA with the Dean in hopes of airing it to the whole school through our weekly televised program produced by our TV Production class.

I have achieved multiple skills and tasks during the Multimedia/Video Tech course. I also learned a lot from my classmates. There isn’t any outcome that I did not achieve or hoped to achieve. I experienced creating a video using only images using iMovie. Through making the Personal Story project I explored about my childhood memories. I learned to create narrative that matches the images and background music. I learned artistic skills that would enhance the mood of the video. I learned about Microsoft’s Photo Story 3 application that I can download on the school computers. I had used Audacity to record a MovieMaker tutorial, which was challenging, but overcame my fear.

I valued working with a team. That was an experience that taught me that a key to successful group work is communication. I felt that our group worked very well together. It is very difficult to say how I would improve on the experience or the final PSA video. Our PSA has attention-grabbing introduction, the background music creates an uneasy mood, the voice narration matches the intense images on the video, and it includes many graphics to get attention of the young people. It is informative and educational. If we had better camera equipments our video clips may have appeared more professional. However, our PSA shows what can be done with very little budget or no budget at all. Volunteering to be the editor of the project allowed me to experiment with several applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Flash.

Participating in the discussion board allowed me to see what others have done for their projects and appreciate their vision. I was also able to share my knowledge and experience in the discussion board about art and photography.

I enjoyed all the assignments except the audio recording from week two because it is my weakest ability, but I managed to complete the assignment. I would have liked to have done this assignment better. I naturally do not speak fast, and it was difficult for me to record even though I had a script in front of me. English is not my first language so I tend to think a lot before I speak. I believe my flow of speech could have been smoother and faster.

I did not have any difficulty completing week three to five assignments because I had great collaboration from other members of the group. The only thing that caused difficulty was the confusing instructions on assignment four. The instructions for the Discussion Board were also unclear. On the Discussion Board it only stated to respond to the readings, but there were other instructions from the syllabus. More confusion came from Web Conferences because all three sources were different. There seemed to have been more confusion than necessary. If all the sources had continuity it would have made things easier. There should have been one master source to check what was truly required.

I can say that I learned more about my personal quality than technology during this course. I already had a lot of experiences with graphic applications and producing videos, but what I got of the class was more than technical skills. I learn to overcome my fear. I never liked recording my voice on any devices. I hate to see myself on videos because I feel that I sound terrible. Because English was not my first language I especially want my accent to be perfect. But I know that it is not perfect. I pay close attention to annunciating every word, and that sometimes sound forced. When I talk to people in person I have no problem speaking, but when it comes to recording I get very tongue tight. I freeze up in fear of saying something incorrectly. After completing the assignment I realized I was not as bad as I feared. It could be better but it was not too terrible. Going through this process made me empathize with my ELD students.

While making the PSA project I leaned that I don’t need to control everything and that I can learn to trust others to come through. Like many teachers I am a natural leader and often I take a leadership role in group situations. However, on this project our dynamics became that we all let everyone shine at what they do best. I volunteered to be the editor and I stepped back by allowing others to be creative with the script and narrations. I wanted to emphasize every member’s contribution by consciously including resources provided by each person. Randy Nelson’s part of speech resonated with me when he said “make your team look good.” I was very pleased with the final PSA project, and I feel very proud that we produced something very creative.

Nelson, R. (2008). Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model for the workplace. Edutopia. Retrieved April 23, 2009, from http://www.edutopia. org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video