Week+5

Here is our finished product for our group project in EDLD5363.

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//When beginning this course, I wanted to have a higher comfort and proficiency level in working with digital media. Achieving that higher comfort level has definitely happened. I was extremely intimidated by each assignment when I first started five weeks ago. I have learned so much and feel that I could really use what I have learned in both the classroom as well as in my personal life. The course went into things that I really had never dreamed of, and I learned more than I had ever thought possible. The outcomes achieved in this course were right along with what I had envisioned and had been looking for. They simply went further than I had imagined that they could. It was also a great opportunity to practice using many of the tools that we established early in this program. Using the blogs and wikis that we had previously set up will help to form those uses into habits as we move forward. Some of the other students in this program may have already been using those things on a regular basis before beginning this program, but I had not. Continuing to use those things more and for wider purposes in each course is helpful to me.//

//The outcomes that were achieved in this course are definitely relevant to the work that I do in my school. There are many applications in the classroom for what was learned in this course, as well as applications for professional development and team collaboration. Students can work on projects like these, and now I actually feel as though I could help them do it. Things learned in this course could also be used to liven up professional development sessions in our school. The collaboration venues are those that we do not normally use in our school, but they are something that could be very helpful and productive ways to collaborate. I am excited about using a wiki for people in my department and in my grade level for collaboration purposes this coming school year. I am still trying to get into the habit of blogging on a regular basis. The more we use these tools, the more of a habit it will become.//

//Videography is not something that I have had much prior experiencewith. This is still an area in which I consider myself a novice. One of the benefits of our group project was being able to have each group member work to their own strengths so that the final product for the group was the best that it could be. The down side of this was that there are things that I wanted (and needed!) to learn, but because there were other members of my group that already had a level of proficiency with those things, they did those them, rather than my having to do those things as a rookie and stumble my way through them. I appreciate the expertise of my group memebers, and I learned a lot from them. This fact also prevented me from learning some things, though. I still want and need to know more about editing video and about laying multiple tracks over one another. These are specific things that I have had exposure to, and will get more practice with in the future now tha tI have had an initial introduction to them.//

//I was successful in completing the assignments for this course. The week 2 assignment, though, was barely passable. Thank goodness it was not graded. I struggled quite a bit with the video editing aspect of this. I was able to edit video that was not already published on the internet (that I had shot myself). When I was trying to edit the video that was already published, I had issues. When I got the visual kinks worked out, I ended up with audio problems. I know the problem was with me, rather than the software or anything else, but I still have not been able to figure out the source or cause of those problems. I had problems with software, but that was because of my inexperience. That was discouraging. I did end up with a finished project to turn in the second week, but it was extremely rough. All of the other assignments were successful for me, as well as for my group. The first assignment was a joy to work on. That is something that I can apply in so many ways, both at school, as well as in my personal life.//

//During the course, I learned that I have more aptitude and enjoyment for this subject than I thought before. I learned about technologies and uses for those technologies that I I had no idea existed. This opened up a whole new world of possiblities for me. As a result, this also opened those things up for my students by extension. Leadership skills were seen as we began working in groups. Our group worked amazingly well together. We communicated well and ended up with a great product that we are proud of. I have been confident in my leadership skills before this course, but it was good to have a way to use them in our group work. We were able to use our skills, leadership and otherwise, together to make a great group dynamic and ultimately a great project to turn in. My attitudes toward videography have changed quite a bit over the course of this section of our program. I have more confidence in my ability to tackle videography projects, whether or not I am previously familiar with the technology or software that is involved.//