Web Conference Reflection

EDLD 5363 included many options for web conferencing with the professor, Dr. Abernathy, as well as for open discussion between the students.  In this class, several time periods were offered for conferencing, which was great because students' schedules vary.  As always, the web conferences are a welcome addition to an online class.  Without them, I would feel very isolated.  This class did involve three weeks of intensive collaboration on the the final project, but that was with only three other classmates.  During web conferences, I got to hear from and see several of the other students in the class.  It's funny - if you had told me that webcams were optional during conferences, I probably would have said I would NEVER turn on my camera...I don't particularly love seeing my image, and many of the conferences are held in the evening when I've already had a long day at work and am usually tired and a little "worn" looking!  But actually I consider it a courtesy to turn on my camera at least for part of the conference, because this mimicks the kind of connections one makes in a face to face class.  It definitely "humanizes" this mode of learning.

Podcasts...Some Fun, Some Frustration!

Week two had two assignments: making tutorial podcasts (one audio, one video).  The audio podcast, a "how-to" on use of Audacity, was fairly easy and fun.  The video "how to" was very frustrating...I tried using a screen capture program, but file format issues made that a nightmare.  My finished product wasn't as robust as I had hoped.  But that's all part of the learning process, right?  See my master's program website for the files and links to these projects ...

Creating a story...

I enjoyed reading about the art and impact of storytelling using digital tools.  This is an inspiring topic that I know I'll be using in the future with the adult learners that I teach.  As one of the authors we examined this week [Lambert] said:

Finding and clarifying stories helps people to understand the context of their lives. This process of self-reflection helps move from an awareness of “I am” to a deeper awareness of “I have been ... I am becoming ... I am ... and I will be....”

 
It's easy for me to see the chain of stories that have made up my life, but it was eye-opening how challenging it is to pare down even a small story into a 2 minute video.  I started with a paper script that while only a page long was 500 words.  Way too many words!  I had to do some serious editing.  Other nuances, like layering sound and narration, balancing the narrated script with the image and text flow, were also new experiences.  I used a public-domain piece of music (Sleep Away, composed by Bob Acri and provided free with Windows 7) and images available to me from Lee College and the professional associations I belong to). I had developed the written script first, but I was surprised at how the images I collected and arranged influenced my edits to the final narration script.  I used captions to the images to include some of my other thoughts and some of the "background" to my story.

While my final product is far from perfect, I learned a lot, and I know my students will enjoy trying their hand at this way of sharing even a small piece of who they are.  I just have to develop a lesson plan to take them to a computer lab room and get them started with the technical tools.

Citation:

Lambert, J. (2007, February). Center for Digital Storytelling. Retrieved May 26, 2012, from http://www.storycenter.org/