EDLD+5363+Reflection

I believe our group worked very well together. There were five of us and we all live a good distance away from one another. I was worried about the logistics of being able to pull off a group project over the Internet and more concerned seeing that it was a video project. From the start, our group communicated clearly with one another through email. We set up weekly chats using Today’s Meet, an online chat forum that lets you set up the room and decide how long the location will stay open. It also keeps a log of your chats for as long as the location is open. I think this allowed us to speak to each other in real-time and to discuss varies points about the project. Once we met in the chat we had divided up jobs and started working on getting the remainder of our pre-production work completed. Sarah wrote the original script in two versions, one long and one short. She sent the script to us using Google Docs. Since “digital writing is often collaborative”, this allowed us to work on our script from our different locations (Heitin, 2011). Lori took Sarah’s script and divided it into a shot list with the various audio and visual components. She found some public domain safety type videos at the Prelinger Archives that I knew would be perfect for our video.
 * Reflection**
 * __Self – Assessment__**

Once our script and shot list were finalized, we began on the production phase. Lori shot the additional video footage that was needed. Debbie and Jessica recorded the audio footage of the script for the voice-over narration we included throughout. Taping the footage was a fairly easy process. Lori got a student at school to be the talent in the “check-in” section of the video. She only shot his hands since he is a minor and used the footage of him checking in along with video of his resulting post on Twitter. The remainder of the footage she shot at home using a video camera and tripod. Debbie and Jessica did an excellent job on the narration. They both have very calm and smooth styles so they complemented each other well. During this stage we had an additional chat to check up on everyone’s progress. Once taping was complete, we uploaded our video and audio to Google Docs. This allowed everyone access to the footage to be able to see what we had done and give the editor a way to download our raw footage.
 * __Learn as a Learner__**

We then moved into the post-production phase for editing. I was our editor. I took the footage and began working with it. I soon realized that the amount of footage, both audio and video, were beyond our 60 second time limit for the PSA. Having taught Video Technology before, I knew there were spots in both the audio and video that could be cut and bring us under our 60 second limit. Everyone was worried that we would have to re-tape or re-record the audio sections to try to get it under the time limit. I assured them that we didn’t need to do any re-taping, that all the footage that we had was good and that it just needed to be edited down to our time limit. I took the audio footage first and cut out the extra explanations for some of our tips that were not really necessary to tell our story. After cutting out that information, the audio was down to around 55 seconds. This was perfect because it left room for credits at the end. Since I had already done that portion, I decided to start cutting the video down to match. I’m also slightly OCD, so once I started working I couldn’t stop until I finished. I uploaded the finished cut to YouTube and sent the link to my group. I let them know that we did not have to use my version, that others could re-edit and we could submit that.

Videos like these are helpful for teachers and students. We as facilitators can “develop quick tip guides that can be posted online and accessed by teachers” (Williamson & Redish, 2009) at any time during the day. Some of the easiest of these can be completed with screencasting software. Video tutorials can be created along with instructional videos “for both online and campus classes” (McCrea, 2011). One of my goals is to help find and create video tutorials for our staff. Currently I am working on some screencast video tutorials to help teachers with changing privacy settings. I am hoping that the teachers will be able to access the videos for future reference.
 * __Lifelong Learning Skills__**

Heitin, L. (2011, April 4). //Writing re-launched: teaching with digital tools//. > http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2011/04/04/02digital.h04.html McCrea, B. (2011, March 23). //Video tutorials to support instruction.// > http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/03/23/ video-tutorials-to-support-instruction.aspx Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2009). //ISTE's Technology Facilitation and// > //Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leaders Should Know and// //Be Able to Do.// Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education.
 * __Bibliography__**