Multimedia and Video Technology Week 5 Reflection

As I look back on my experience during weeks 3-5, I have to say I was blessed.  I had the opportunity to work with (2) professional ladies who were enthusiastic about the challenge that lay before us.  During the pre-production phase, many ideas were tossed around but the topic of child obesity seemed to strike a nerve in all of us.  We all agreed, unanimously, that this was the way to go.  We created a Google doc page to begin brainstorming on the way we wanted to attack this topic.  This part could’ve possibly been difficult but we decided pretty quickly on the direction we wanted to go and the message we wanted to relay.  During the production phase, choosing the roles was easy.  I think we took on roles that fit our niche’.  Other assignments, we would do together.  As each member completed a task or had a question on a topic, we would add it to the Google doc, or contact the other partners by email.  The production phase went smoothly because we had more than enough information.  We had to cut out much of our information because of the PSA time length.  We had more than enough video footage from different angles, related images, and research articles.  The post production phase also went smoothly.  We thought we were going to have an issue with the video file extension, but that was solved quickly.  It was simply a process of dragging the file to another location and changing the file extension.  There were a couple of questions about citation but the one of the web conferences addressed the issue.  Overall the whole project went smoothly; I would only hope that I could relay this information that smoothly to my students.

With this being my first time creating a PSA and doing a project like this, this went really well.  Each member had many things going on in their personal life that could have a created a negative experience for all involved, but we all manage to be professional and make this a great learning experience.  The only thing that could’ve made this a better experience is if we had physically worked together on the project.  Our interaction was positive and supportive.  Members were willing to do what it would take to make this a success.

Multimedia and Video Technology 12-4-11 Web Conference

In this week’s web conference there was a lot of important information discussed that would be important for Weeks 4 & 5.  Dr.Abernathy wanted to make sure she addressed some of the issues that needed clarification.  As far as week 3 is concerned, each team member needed to submit the assignment document.  Because of the collaboration among group members, the documents should look similar.  Week 4 will be used for production purposes.  Also during week 4, the students will not receive a grade.  Dr. Abernathy forgot to mention previously, that it would be wise to get more video footage of each shot.  If possible, try to get a couple of extra minutes to accommodate the audio.  Also she spoke about the e-portfolio and its purpose.  The e-portfolio should be viewed as a documentation of your work and it can be displayed as a wiki, blog, or any other web 2.0 tools.  A couple of questions came up about the audio portion of the PSA and documentation.  Many students do not use different sounds from other places because of the correct copyright citations that are required. 

When looking at the overall big picture of this particular class, Dr. Abernathy stressed that we should explore.  Don’t be afraid to try different programs.  The information gained from this class can be used as a blueprint for activities that can be used with our students.  As a leader, you want to be able to share your knowledge with co-workers.  The more we stress the importance of technology integration, the better chance we have in creating an environment that fosters student success.  As we move ahead it will be difficult to keep students engaged if we don’t utilize all of the new technologies.