EDLD5363 Week 5 Reflection

I envisioned the EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology to be a course in which I would learn about new multimedia software tools, create multimedia mini- projects. I knew that pod casting, digital photo, audio, and video would be a part
of this course as well as Blogs or Wikis. I just couldn’t envision how I would learn how to put it all together. I feel like a “Jack of All Trades,” but a master in none. In a previous class I had created pod cast, a Wiki and a Blog. And twelve years ago I was introduced to Movie Maker, but never utilized it in the classroom or personally. Thus the master of none yet I had to create a video, a Public Service Announcement at that! As for the outcomes, I think I have achieved what was expected, in fact in my Post Evaluation I had scored higher. Though I did not put the PSA together, I played an important role in that I assisted the Editor. I created the Credits and found music and sound effects for the Editor. I also researched how the Creative Commons was to be cited. Since I lived in the same city, I provided moral support for our Editor and stayed with her until midnight as she put together the first rough draft. Through my readings I gained the knowledge I lacked or forgot to create my own digital story a prelude to our Public Service Announcement. I’m anxious to utilize my new skills in the classroom and wish I had more time to plan. My goal is to have my students create a Public Service Announcement using our Science Safety Rules as the theme. In closing, the course outcomes far exceed my expectations and what I envisioned.

The outcomes I have now achieved are very pertinent and valuable to my work. I can better support my grade level team, my campus and more importantly my students. I have now left the “Digital Immigrants” behind and have joined the “Digital Natives.” I can now comprehend the complexity of video editing and all the components it takes to create a video movie. These next two weeks I’m plan on introducing story boards to my class in hopes of creating our PSA for Science Safety. I also want to introduce podcasting as our means of creating an oral book report. I thought it would upload the podcast book reviews to our class web page, “Revilla’s Reviews.” Every year I work diligently to increase my students reading fluency. I bribe my students with bookmarks, book lights, reading to a kinder, or library aide to read more at home. Since revising podcasting in this course, I contemplated in using podcast to develop reading fluency. I can model a paragraph from our basal and have my students’ practice listening and reading at school and home. After a couple of days of practice, my student will create a podcast reading two to three lines from the paragraph. I feel that once students are aware of what they sound like, they have a better understanding of fluency. This will lead to more reading and practice at home.

My outcomes far exceeded those that did not. I had reservations about collaborating with others to create our public service announcement. I was hesitate about putting my grades into someone else hands. If a team member did not follow through; it could affect our (my) grade and the project. Lauri first initiated the call for more team members on the Discussion Board. My former co-worker and I decided to join them. I felt comfortable using Google Documents and uploaded our Project Proposal. I can’t say we had a leader for our group, it was very collaborative. When a leader was needed to make a decision or to guide the team, a team member would assume the role. We chatted via tinychat.com, a new experience for me. I liked tinychat.com because it was easy to download and begin using. The drawbacks voice delay and limited access to the people who get on. At the end, we used Google Video Chat and that was easy to use with no voice delay. I downloaded Skype, but that was difficult to learn and use in a short period of time. The only outcome I did not achieve was providing enough support for our fifth member.

Yes, I have been successful in completing all my assignments in a timely manner. I encountered difficulties in week one, downloading my podcast to my blog. It was on the fourth attempt that I realized I had not saved my file as an MP3. Once I made that correction, I had no problems downloading my podcast. It also helped having my twenty-three year old daughter following me through the process. Also in week one, I encountered editing problems with my personal story. I couldn’t figure out how to extend the music to all parts of the movie. I think if I had first created my personal story in Movie Maker, I would not have had as much trouble.
As my skills and talents in technology develop, I feel confident in sharing with my Fifth Grade Team. I’m always researching for my team interactive sites to enhance our curriculum. These interactive sites are always made available to my students on my school web page. Many of my colleagues direct their parents to my web page for the tutorials.
Since starting my professional journey in Educational Technology Leadership, I have learned more about leadership. I find myself observing and analyzing the people on my campus and in my district. I now realize that people in Administrative positions may be knowledgeable but not necessarily a good leader. Personally, I have never been comfortable in a leadership position. I always felt that a leader should have all the answers which I did not. As I learn more about the qualities of a good leader, I still don’t seek that role. It is my team and colleagues who seek my technology expertise that have placed me in the leadership role. For example, I haven’t utilized my Smart Board to its fullest potential. Last school year we were re-trained and I have since used it everyday throughout the day. I noticed that our Academic Coach slows her pace when passing by my classroom and peeks through my window to see how I am utilizing my board. Recently she approached to provide Smart Board training in our up coming Professional Development. Apparently I’m the only teacher that uses the Smart Board throughout the day through my curriculum.

EDLD5363 GROUP 5 Public Service Announcement:

EDLD5363 Web Conferencing (2)

My experiences with Web 2.0 have been invaluable. 
Had it notbeen for Lamar’s online M.Ed. in Educational
Technology leadership, I’m not sure I would have had
this experience.  Especially the experience of web
conferences, that is not utilized in an elementary setting. 
I have always envisioned and seen web conferences
in the movies or in the corporate world.  It’s amazing to
be able to meet and collaborate with others all over the
world and in our setting all over the United States. 

Distance Education at first seemed kind of lonely, yet

The web conferences allow for the socialization

that is missing with online classes.  Our web conferences

are held to answer any questions on assignments.  Yet,

I never seem to know what questions to ask until

someone asks. 

The only negative about our web conferences, are the

Technical difficulties and schedule times.  In regards to

technical difficulties, our audio never seems to work and
we end up typing out questions and responses.  If typing

answers and/or questions during a web conference is

the only way to communicate, I would rather use

the discussion board.  To provide flexibility with time,

two conferences are offered each week.  But it never fails,
when I plan on attending some meeting pops up or family
life takes precedence. 

I do like the web conferences and would like that only

one conference be mandatory.  With the option of

attending web conferences when the student deem

necessary. 

EDLD 5363 Week 4 Reflection

I had a hard time getting started on the project.  I was hoping to work
with a former group that I had established a bond.  It was our
November/December class that we meet and have been friends since. 
The criteria to keep our groups small is what kept us apart. 

Yet, the separation led me to a new and wonderful group, Group Five! 
Members of our group:  Lauri Arnold, Susan Haught, Laura Lopez,
Angeles Perez, and myself.  As I mentioned in my previous blog there
was a uniqueness to our group.  Two of our members Lauri and Susan
live in Beaumont, TX and Laura and I live in San Antonio, TX. 
Our fifth partner had to work solo and meet us on tinychat.

Speaking of tinychat.com, what an an experience!  I loved it because
it was easy to join and get online, what I didn't like was the feedback
and Lauri was always five minutes behind our conversations.  I decided
to look into Google Video Chat, thinking it would be easier since we
 emailed in Google and housed our collaborating documents in Google
documents.  Well it worked like a charm and not feedback.  My next
goal to tackle will be SKYPE, I don't know why that seems intimidating. 
The hardest part of in creating our PSA was deleting shots to meet the
60 seconds criteria.  I felt we cut a lot of great information. 

Below are the links to my group's collaborative documents.

Week 4 Assignment: Public Service Announcement (PSA) Pre-Production
https://docs1.google.com/document/edit?id=14zrjTDdc8Q_10HDAi-RyF_vEfXorQeNTV66iWFFegnI&hl=en&authkey=CIaD2IUK


Brainstorming for PSA
https://docs1.google.com/document/edit?id=1gX-ZSuZkHQ7vRYAlaYu_dqoDHGmU-CJwRhtPKPNmcD8&authkey=CJPVhbEP&hl=en

Group 5 Web Conferences: Tiny Chat & Google Video Chat
https://docs2.google.com/document/edit?id=1TBCEQ80_ShtCpe6El_oPluD-eMsYnM4bUhT4OiZMgyc&authkey=CIuqx_MJ&hl=en

Week 3 Assignment: Public Service Announcement

Our team consists of four members, Lauri, Susan, Laura, and me. We
thought it was ironic that Lauri and Susan are located at Beaumont
and Laura and I are in San Antonio.We decided to tackle the latest
technology chaos, texting and driving. Technologyis such a luxury
and a necessity and just a way of life. Yet, our phone can be a danger
in the wrong hands, especially that of a driver.

We began our planning on Google documents and followed Lauri
to tinychat.com. While we chatted we made our changes on Google docs.
It’s kind of eerie having two people work on the same document at the
same time. We found ourselves referring to two of our readings when
selecting our camera shots, “Guidelines for Shooting Quality Videos” and
“A Guide to Using Your Camcorder.” We wanted to take advantage of
the expertise these articles offer to give our PSA the cutting edge.

I really enjoy my teammates, they have a great personality and funny!
It was nail biting at first trying to find a team that would accept my partner
and I. I saw on the Discussion Board that Lauri and Susan were in need
people to complete their team. My partner and I decided to join them!

Desktop-Video-Guide. (n.d.) Guidelines for shooting quality video.
           Retrieved May 5, 2009, from 
           http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/shoot-video.html

Peters, M. (2006, April 18). Shoot to edit: A guide to using your
           camcorder. Digital Director. Retrieved April 6, 2009, from:
           http://www.blogger.com/goog_692136350
           guide-to-using%20your%20camcorder-a184.html

Week 2 Assignment: Web Conference

I finally had an opportunity to participate in a Web Conference.
This was not my first experience with web conferencing, nor
will it be my last.  I truly have enjoyed my graduate classes
with Lamar University.  I only wished I had more time to
really explore some of the sites, programs, etc.  My other
wish, dream, and goal is to share this passion with my
coworkers.  They like many of the ideas I have shared
with them, but they will only participate if I do the work.
For example, I have been trying to get them to use
wikis but the answer is I don't have time.  I love the
web conferencing concept.  Instead of having to
always meet at different schools for Professional
Development, we could stay put and use the web
conferencing. 

While participating in the web conference, I was
surprised to hear/see many professionals not focused.
I felt like I was in my classroom giving instructions
and my students not listening.  I noticed that Dr. Abernathy
would answer a question and 2 minutes later someone
would ask the same question.  The other thing annoying
thing was people conversing while Dr. Abernathy was
sharing information.  Maybe that's why people kept asking
the same questions because they were not paying attention?!

I did like the sharing of technology in solving a student's
problem.  It's amazing the wealth of information, talent,
and technology skills our students have.  I hope with
time I can compete at that level.

Analysis Reflection of Video Editing Software

Twelve years ago, I was trained in Microsoft Movie Maker 2 (WMM2) and have not used it since. Two years ago I purchased a Macintosh (do not know why) and have never used the iMovie until last week. Considering that I have not had much experience with both software programs, I managed not to have a meltdown in creating my digital story. I started creating my digital story on my PC, but ran into problems. My computer could not run my programs so, out came the MAC! It was intimidating at first using the MAC but, once I got over my fears, everything fell into place.

In my research, critics say that WMM2 is an easier program for the novice and quality of movies are exceptional due to the Media Player 9. Whereas iMovie is easy, but only for the experienced user and you must have a MAC.

I will probably use both applications in my current and future position. Currently our district operates with PCs and Windows Movie Maker 2 is what is available for our campus. In my spare time, I will continue exploring iMovie. I feel that the diversity in skills will be to my advantage in the future.