EDLD+5363+Multimedia+Video+Technology



**Course Embedded Reflection**

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Course Reflection for Multimedia and Video Technology by Kim Icenhower

1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?

From this course, I envisioned that I would get closer to learning more about the 21st Century learner and how video technology could help in that task. Having to incorporate technology into the classroom, I hoped that I would come out of this class with the necessary tools to teach and create many kinds of videos. I also hoped that I would add to my already known skills of digital storytelling in the classroom and that I would be given some tools that would help me as an instructor be able to help other teachers feel comfortable doing these things with their students.

I did, in fact, achieve what I had hoped from this class. We created, edited, and completed videos, alone and collaboratively, in a way that will be very helpful to me as I attempt to help other teachers and students take on this role. Because we, the group, were able to collaborate using our Wiki, we were able to plan out our pre-production phase, the shot list, the script, and then finally, the post production. The course outline went right along with what I had envisioned. You only learn by doing and by us having to get in there and actually try, we will be much more confident in teaching and instructing others. We were also able to go in and create digital stories and were able to take the time to add details and different aspects that I know I had not taken the time to do before and I feel much more confident in preparing other educators with this same task. By using digital pictures I already had of a very important event in my life, I was able to tell a story in a different, meaningful way, while incorporating sound, audio, and a wide variety of transitions from one picture to another. While completing the video editing assignment, I was able to use Adobe Premiere Elements on just a trial basis, but all along the way, the copyright attributions were stated clearly on the video. I did not realize there were so many editing techniques to choose from, plus the vast choices of editing software.

2. 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?

The outcomes of this class are very relevant to what I have been doing in school and what I am going to be doing this next school year. In the classroom setting, there are so many opportunities, even more so in this technologically advanced age, for the students to take part in digital storytelling and videomaking and editing. In every subject, whether it is spelling, math, science, etc., there is every opportunity to advance their knowledge and take part in the making of a product. This past year, the classroom watched day after day as monarch butterfly eggs hatched into caterpillars, formed cocoons, and then finally became butterflies. Each day, digital pictures were taken to keep track of the changes that were continually happening. From the pictures, we were able to make digital stories, which became such a huge part of our science and writing classes, making such a huge impact on what had taken place in our classroom. The digital pictures were taken in the classroom by each and every student so when it came to copyright attributions we were able to list our names and where the pictures were taken.

This next school year, I will be an Instructional Technology Specialist, which means I will be going daily to several elementary schools to help other teachers find ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. This will be a wonderful approach to take when working with teachers and students to find ways to connect learning to our advancement in technology, while staying in line with our curriculum. The way our group was able to communicate with our Wiki (Wikispaces.com) and through email on a daily basis, will help me give teachers a tool to use to stay current with teammates as we are tying to incorporate more technology into the classroom. This will give them an online community to collaborate with and discuss concerns that they may have over something new we are trying.

3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?

The only outcome I could possibly think that I did not fully achieve would be making a video from start to finish completely by myself. I loved working in a group and leaned so much about collaboration that I would not want to have to complete one solely on my own, but I would probably want more practice on every aspect. Maybe the next time, I would want to work on a different part of the video to get my thinking in that area and not the ones I worked on. I would want to work more thoroughly on the editing techniques and being able to distinguish between all the different types of shots. I would want to experiment with different shots in different ways to decide what is clearly needed to make the shot more understandable.

I also learned so much about video editing, but really need to have a lot more practice in that area. I used Adobe Premiere Elements, which I loved, but having never used it before, it was very difficult getting through it. I am so glad I did because I learned so much, but am ready to learn more. I will just continue to try, practice, fail, recover, try some more, and then start to feel better as I go through many more attempts. The best way to learn is by doing and that is exactly what I did. I read tutorials and help pages and realized they are there when you need them. Not many programs leave you hanging without helping in some way.

As far as having something that prevented me from achieving my predicted outcomes, there really was not a whole lot of opposition in that area. I was very pleased and, of course, a little apprehensive about the assignments but very satisfied with the outcomes of this class because of what I was able to produce and learn.

4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?

I was very successful in completing the course assignments. The digital story from Week 1 was very encouraging to work on and I learned so many more things about digital storytelling that I had not known before this assignment. I was able to spend time on every detail and add details that I had not taken the time to do before. In Week 2 when working on the video clips that had to be edited I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Premiere Elements. I had never used this software before and was a little overwhelmed at first and really confused at what each aspect of it was actually used for. By trial and error and by me pushing myself to keep trying, I finally figured a lot of the things out and was able to complete my editing of the clips. This is information I can take with me with whatever project I am working on, whether it is with another teacher or more students.

I feel very successful in the Weeks 3-5 assignment on the PSA. Not only do I feel that I accomplished the task of completing the video, I feel that I gained so much more knowledge in learning how to collaborate with others, especially when we live in different places and cannot actually talk face to face. I am in awe that so much can be accomplished over the Internet and became much more accustomed to using a Wiki in a way that nothing else would have come close to helping us complete our task. During our pre-production phase we collaborated on our Wiki and decided on how our PSA should come together. We discussed the script and what kind of shots needed to be included. Using our article, "Nice Shot: A Guide to Common Video Shot Types," by Bill Davis, we were able to pick out which shot worked best for the type of video we were shooting. Several shots had to be done again because it worked better if it was a closeup rather than a wide shot. Also, using the article, "Shoot to Edit: A Guide to Using Your Camcorder," by Marc Peters, we learned that to make our video more professional looking we needed to pay attention to head shots, height of shots, how to pan, how to follow your subject, and many more great hints to completing a well thought out video. We had to constantly communicate with each other, trying to decide how to best improve what we had done. We came to the conclusion that a bit of the footage should be cut because part of it was just a continuation of an already completed shot, with little or no difference. This bit of footage that was cut off would also give room for the citations at the end of the video that showed copyright information and editing and production information. One of those important citations at the end had to be the Creative Commons License. We were very careful to look through the different choices Creative Commons provided in deciding how much of our video we would allow someone to show or change if it was found on the internet.