Really? We are expected to create a Public Service Announcement? Are you kidding me? I have seen lots of PSAs and I thought that there was just no way that my little, inexperienced group would be able to pull this off. I was totally wrong. We quickly came up with our subject, texting while driving, and began to divide up the work. The most surprising part was how natural the entire process felt. It was like I had been collaborating with the other four group members for years. I was pleased with how quickly our first version of the PSA came together. It was amazing how close all of our individual visions were and how easy it was to work together to bring our collective vision to life. I am proud of the work that we did. The collaboration not only lead to a great PSA but allowed me to form relationships with individuals that I am sure will last well beyond this course.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Chat, Chat, and More Chat
I have now attended two web conferences for EDLD 5363. Whereas I like the idea of the conference, and I usually learn something from it, I find that it is also frustrating. There is usually such a good turn out that the software starts to bog down and the audio always seems to cut out on the parts that I really want to hear. There are so many people in the conference that everyone is typing at once and often the text rolls by so quick that Dr. Abernathy misses questions. This means that you have to ask your question again. This makes me feel like I am nagging her for an answer. Don't get me wrong though. I think that this is an important tool for our courses. It does make you feel more connected to your classmates. Most people are so comfortable now that they are quick to volunteer to help classmates when questions are posted about issues that have arisen. This really makes you feel like you are among friends. Actually, I have formed some friendships that I believe will outlast my time in this program. Amazing considering I have not been in the same room with my classmates...yet.
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Reviews Are In
“Integrating media production in your curriculum can help you find new access to students and help them find new access to the material.” (Garrison, 1999)
I am always interested in providing new access for my students and I am always looking for new ways to cover the material. This approach helps to keep the material fresh for me and my students. Several semesters ago I set a personal goal to either add one new piece of technology, or to introduce a new way to use existing technology, to one class per semester. This week I evaluated two pieces of software that will help to accomplish this goal.
This review will cover Movie Maker and Wax video editing software. Both software packages are available as free downloads and you can learn how to use both of them by viewing one or more of several online tutorials. I did not start with the tutorials, however, because I wanted to see how difficult it was to just jump into a project, which is how my students would likely approach a movie project. Here is what I learned:
Movie Maker
This piece of software is from Microsoft. One of Microsoft’s strengths is that its software is usually easy to dive into. This offering is no different. The interface is not crowed with a lot of icons and buttons which might intimidate some new users. In fact, the layout of the interface almost walks users through the steps to create their first movie. Once the user has imported the video that they will work with they can complete the editing process using the familiar drag-and-drop function. This simple program is even powerful enough to easily remove existing audio and allow the user to replace it with either music or narration. All in all I believe that this software ranks high on the user friendly scale.
Wax
My first impression of this software is that it is more powerful than Movie Maker with a different target audience. This immediately makes me wonder if it is appropriate for use in the classroom. The interface is not as friendly as Movie Maker but I do figure out how to add video so that I can begin to work on a project. Once the video is added to the software you are able to drag the video track to the timeline. You have to drag the audio track to the timeline separately but this means that you can choose what you would like to use as the audio track for the resulting edited video. This would be great if the audio worked.
I tried multiple fixes and downloads to try to fix this issue. I even watched tutorials and read the documentation for the software but could not ever get the audio to play. It seems that this is a common problem that some but not all users are able to fix. So no matter how good all the other features may be there is no way that I could recommend using this software in a classroom.
Garrison, Andres (1999, Winter). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article3.html
I am always interested in providing new access for my students and I am always looking for new ways to cover the material. This approach helps to keep the material fresh for me and my students. Several semesters ago I set a personal goal to either add one new piece of technology, or to introduce a new way to use existing technology, to one class per semester. This week I evaluated two pieces of software that will help to accomplish this goal.
This review will cover Movie Maker and Wax video editing software. Both software packages are available as free downloads and you can learn how to use both of them by viewing one or more of several online tutorials. I did not start with the tutorials, however, because I wanted to see how difficult it was to just jump into a project, which is how my students would likely approach a movie project. Here is what I learned:
Movie Maker
This piece of software is from Microsoft. One of Microsoft’s strengths is that its software is usually easy to dive into. This offering is no different. The interface is not crowed with a lot of icons and buttons which might intimidate some new users. In fact, the layout of the interface almost walks users through the steps to create their first movie. Once the user has imported the video that they will work with they can complete the editing process using the familiar drag-and-drop function. This simple program is even powerful enough to easily remove existing audio and allow the user to replace it with either music or narration. All in all I believe that this software ranks high on the user friendly scale.
Wax
My first impression of this software is that it is more powerful than Movie Maker with a different target audience. This immediately makes me wonder if it is appropriate for use in the classroom. The interface is not as friendly as Movie Maker but I do figure out how to add video so that I can begin to work on a project. Once the video is added to the software you are able to drag the video track to the timeline. You have to drag the audio track to the timeline separately but this means that you can choose what you would like to use as the audio track for the resulting edited video. This would be great if the audio worked.
I tried multiple fixes and downloads to try to fix this issue. I even watched tutorials and read the documentation for the software but could not ever get the audio to play. It seems that this is a common problem that some but not all users are able to fix. So no matter how good all the other features may be there is no way that I could recommend using this software in a classroom.
Garrison, Andres (1999, Winter). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article3.html
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