Thursday, June 21, 2012

EDLD 5363 Week 3 Web Conference Reflection

        This is our third week in our Multimedia Video Technology course.  The web conference for this week that I attended was on June 18, 2012.  Dr. Abernathy discussed week 2, but moved on to discuss our third, fourth, and fifth weeks of assignments.  She mentioned that our remaining assignments were meant to be a collaboration effort.  We are to create a video based on a core curriculum.  We are to work in teams to successfully navigate the process of creating a video project, working through the subsequent plans, and publishing the video. 
       Later, Dr. Abernathy discussed our action research and internship progress.  She reminded us that we needed to continue to work on our internship documentation.  Personally, these classes have been interesting and demanding.  It has been difficult to devote time to other activities.  I am hoping that during the summer months I will have some time to devote to working on research and internship hours.
       As an aside, Dr. Abernathy also stressed that whenever we have a success story to tell about something a student has accomplished in the area of technology that we should let the principal know. Some students find success learning and creating in the area of technology where they have not found success elsewhere.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

EDLD 5363 Week 3 Podcast Assignment

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Podcasting

       While creating my MP3 podcast tutorial with Audacity, I wanted to try a different Video Editor and after looking through the software on my computer I found Adobe Premiere Elements 9.  This software has many features.  Technically, it can fix many defects inadvertently caused by the video camera operator.   Further, it has many effects and themes to choose from.  There were many rendering options and file extensions to choose from for publishing content. There may be too many options to choose from.  However, I am hoping to find a video editing software that can work with multiple sound tracks; Windows Movie Make Live only works with one track at a time.
Audacity was great.  It allowed me to add a music track and sound effects tracks.  I was able to increase the volume of one track and reduce the volume of another track.  When editing, I was able to use many the Windows operating system type moves.  For example, I was able to drag and drop files into the editing timeline, click-hold-cut out bits of sounds that I did not want, and render as if it was Windows Movie Maker Live.  I chose to render my podcast as an MP3. 
       I plan to use Audacity in the future for making ringtones, MP3’s from my voice recorder, and for editing and creating sound tracks for any videos that I create; and it is free! (“Audacity wiki,” 2012)  I also plan to use the file extension website mentioned in this week’s overview.  It is very helpful when you find a file and you do not know what created it or what program opens it (“Common file extensions,” 2012).

Audacity wiki. (2012).Audacity Wiki Home Page. Retrieved June 12, 2012, from http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audacity_Wiki_Home_Page

Common file extensions. (2012).Fileinfo.com. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from http://www.fileinfo.com/filetypes/common

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Web Conference Reflection

Web Conference - June 17, 2012, 5:00 PM.

       In this evening’s web conference we discussed this week’s assignments; 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3.  Dr. Abernathy said that she is checking our work and talking to our IA’s about grading.  She discussed the assignment that is due tonight at midnight.  Dr. Abernathy related that she wants us to transfer to our students what we learn as her students. 
       We are at the end of week 2 of EDLD 5363.  We have created a video and podcast so far and used video and audio editing software.  (See my other posts for links to those projects.)  Dr. Abernathy led off the web conference by letting us know that we should be curriculum oriented as we think ahead to weeks three through five.  She said that, in the past, she had students create a public service announcement.  Now students are to create a core content, student-centered video project of no more than ninety seconds to two minutes in length.  She mentioned that we needed to keep the video to two minutes or less so that we could work easily with the files.  File size could become an issue as we share it between ourselves.  She suggested we design our video in the style of a flipped classroom. 
       “The flipped classroom model encompasses any use of using internet technology to leverage the learning in your classroom, so you can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing.  This is most commonly being done using teacher created videos (aka vodcasting) that students view outside of class time”(Overmyer, J., n.d.).

Overmyer, J. (n.d.). Educational vodcasting - Flipping the classroom. University of Northern Colorado. Retrieved June 18, 2012, from http://flippedclassroom.com/

Saturday, June 9, 2012

EDLD 5363 Week 1 Personal Digital Story: The Unexpected Lesson

EDLD 5363 Week 1 Digital Story Reflection

       This week my assignment was to write a script about a personal story and then create a video for it.  I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment.  The script I wrote was a personal story concerning a past student and myself.   He taught me a lesson early on in my career.  I work at a DAEP campus and he was assigned to us due to persistent misbehavior.   Wade (named changed) could not read or write.  While my other students were learning about literary elements and were writing short stories, I had him listen to recorded stories and "read along" with the accompanying books.  He enjoyed these stories immensely.  
       One day I asked him if he would like to think of a story he would like to tell to the class.  The other students were writing stories at the time.  I suggested that he could use a tape recorder.  His eyes opened wide and he said yes, he would like to do that.  He had so much fun speaking into the tape recorder and created a good Halloween story. 
       For Wade it was a remarkable accomplishment.    After working with Wade, I began to intuitively look for ways to reach students with multiple means of representation and assessments (“About udl,” 2012).
       Further, this week, the video assignment inspired me to use Windows Live Movie Maker for the first time.  I enjoyed using the built in visual effects and animations.  Movie Maker  was limited to adding one sound track at a time.  I had to save the video and re-import it to add music.  I would have liked to  have been able to add more audio tracks.   In the future and I will look for other programs that can edit mulitple tracks and video and graphics at the same time. 
       During this assignment I was able to utilize and demonstrate the following ISTE standards and performance indicators: TFI,II,III, and V.  In using Windows Live Movie Maker and uploading my video to YouTube, I demonstrated continual growth in technology knowledge and skills (TF-I).  Further, I was able to identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them as I utilized software and Web 2.0 tools to complete my assignment (TF-II).   Next, I demonstrated a need for and produced a video that supported the needs of diverse learners (TF-III).  Finally, I was able to apply technology and model the use of integrating video and digital images in presentations and other products (TF-V) (Williamson, J. & Redish, T., 2009).


About udl. (2012).CAST. Retrieved March 11, 2012, from http://cast.org/udl/index.html

Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Berkeley, CA: Digital Diner Press. Retrieved from

Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE’s technology facilitation and leadership standards (First.).
       Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Week 1 Reflection


       During the web conference that I attended on June 4, 2012, we discussed the assignments for the week.  Dr. Abernathy discussed using photographs and scanned graphics for our story.  She suggested we go to the website for the Center for Digital Storytelling. (Lambert, J., 2010)  We were to look at a video produced by J. Lambert.  I watched his video and did as Dr. Abernathy suggested and looked at her “wondering digital story”.   Further, I perused a very helpful website called Cool Tools for Schools as she suggested.  I am amazed at what can be done with readily available software and Web 2.0 resources!  Dr. Abernathy discussed what we needed to submit for the assignments and then suggested we use tools that we had not used before.  I followed her advice.

Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Berkeley, CA: Digital Diner Press. Retrieved from