It's a Wrap

School Bonds Q & A is out in the cybersphere, and I feel proud of the product we created. My team members and I come from school districts of varying size throughout the state and have professional backgrounds that range from elementary science and math to secondary tech ed to district administration. This diversity of experiences brings depth and perspective to our work, but also presents challenges to collaboration. The professionalism of my colleagues overcame those obstacles in fine style. We used a variety of collaboration tools during our process, including Google Docs and a Google Site. We found that, although the real-time editing functions of Google Docs had their uses, the multi-level platform of the Google site was more in line with the variety of uses needed for project completion. Through the site, we compiled video footage and audio tracks, archived transcripts of online conferencing, collaborated on assignment and proposal documentation, and tracked tasks and timeline status. Please feel free to take a look at our process at the EDLD 5363 PSA Video Project Google Site. My primary responsibility was to work with another team member to complete research and background on our selected topic and to develop the voice-over script. This was a humbling process; one forgets after years of being accountable only to her own judgement and discretion that all roads do not end at one's own opinion. I tend to oververbalize, and collaborating with a peer helped me to make my point more succinctly. Each team member contributed either voice-over templates or video footage, or a combination of the two, to the project. In the end, I felt privileged to have a small piece of each in the final product.
Collaboration has not generally been my strength in the past, and I quailed at the idea of a majority of my course grade being dependent on the result of not only a collaborative effort, but a long-distance one. I simply cannot be more delighted to be proven wrong. This experience has shown me how fulfilling, enlightening, educational, and how fun a group project can be when a group of true collaborators work towards a common goal. My profound thanks to Lynne, Shannon, Russell, and Janet for time well spent and a job very well done.

The Tech Teacher's Corner: Windows Live Movie Maker Tutorial

My first foray into podcasting!  It was a great opportunity to learn about both Windows Live Movie Maker and Audacity.  My podcast is embedded on the blog, or you can follow the link:
The Tech Teacher's Corner: Windows Live Movie Maker Tutorial

Web Conference August 28-29: Quite Disappointing

The web conference experiences of this course have been short, largely uninformative, and immensely frustrating.  
The technology itself was a significant obstacle on the August 28 conference.  I logged onto the conference, but was unable to activate voice and camera.  As I attempted to use the help function through Adobe, the browser navigated away from the conference instead of opening a new window.  This disconnected me from the conference.  Although the conference had been closed when it reached a certain number of members, I expected to be able to log back on because the conference host can see the names of those who try to join, and my name had already been listed.  However, I was denied access for the remainder of the conference.
Although my conference host contacted me after the conference to tell me that I would receive credit for attendance, I logged onto the next day's conference in the hopes of gaining some insight into the next week's assignments.  That was not the case:  the course material for the next week was still being developed, and was not open for questions at that time.  The questions mostly revolved around using video for the PhotoStory assignment: the conference host seemed frustrated and mentioned that she was anxious to end the conference quickly.  
Because the Week Two assignment has been quite confusing, it is a disappointment indeed to have received so little information from the web conferences.  

What's In a Name? WMM versus WLMM

     I must confess, I have never used video editing software prior to this week.  I've always been a fan of still photos - I did not even have a wedding video made.  So it was with no small amount of panic that I began my first tentative steps, starting with the software closest:  in my case, Windows Live Movie Maker, which is installed on my Dell netbook.  I began importing video footage and trying out the various editing tools, building a basic storyboard that I saved on a flash drive in hopes of completing some more polishing during my lunch the following day.  Sure enough, about 12 minutes presented themselves and I blithely plugged in my flash drive, ready to continue the process.  Alas, it was not to be.  Here is what may be a little-known fact among those who are new to video editing:  Windows Live Movie Maker is a complete redesign of Windows Movie Maker software available with Windows XP and earlier.  For schoolteachers who are working with newer Microsoft operating systems in one location than another, this is a vital distinction.  In fact, the two applications have some fundamental differences.  Defenders of the earlier version cite that many of the features available in WMM are no longer present in WLMM, including many of the custom plug-ins for captions and titles. (Dolcourt, 2009)  However, from my perspective this is a small price to pay for a program that has a much more intuitive interface.  As a teacher, I found the WLMM editing tools much more user-friendly, which would support the idea that technology integration should not supercede curriculum in the classroom. (New, 2005)  In particular, WLMM features an "AutoMovie" function that allows users to go from clips to finish movie in literally minutes.  This could enable students to work with the software and come up with work product in a single class period.       Sadly, WLMM is not compatible with Windows XP, so my dreams of instant multimedia will have to be scaled back a bit.  However, the process has reminded me that experience is the best teacher when it comes to technology.  Students get as much out of process as they do out of product, and movie making with Movie Maker will be no exception.
Works Cited:
Dolcourt, J. (2009, August 24). Windows Live Movie Maker Verdict: So-So. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from cnet.com: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10313682-12.html
New, J. (2005, 12 2). How to Use Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from Edutopia.org: http://www.edutopia.org/use-digital-storytelling-classroom