3rd Web Conference - Internship Course

This is the first web conference that I participated in for this course that did not leave me completely overwhelmed! YAY! That is progress!! I’m glad to see that I am completing the reflections properly in the assignments, makes me feel like I am catching on and making progress.  I’m still quite concerned about the amount of work, reports, and logs that I still need to start and complete … not counting the regular assignments.  I still have no idea how I will get this all done but Dr. Mason keeps saying “yall will be fine” and I have to remember we are not the first group to finish this course and actually graduate!  I feel like there should be an entire separate course for all the requirements outside of the assignments for this class.  I’m glad Dr. Mason talked about the LCE and how to register for it, it is on my to-do list now!  For now … it is back to writing!! I’m thankful to have a full day off work tomorrow to work on the requirements for this program!

2nd Web Conference- Internship Course

While this web conference was helpful and had a lot of clarifying information, I am still just so overwhelmed in this course.  Just completing the assignments each week and getting them turned in has me almost drowning, I cannot even begin to dive in to all these other forms and logs.  I really do not know anything else to do other than to focus on the assignments right now and getting them done, then after February 21^st spending time focusing on all these other aspects. The most beneficial part of tonight’s web conference was Dr. Mason and Dawn clarifying my APA questions.  I have used the book and searched the internet but still end up partially confused.  I am glad to know that the references are double spaced, no extra line in between entries, and need the hanging indentation.  Amazing I’ve tried all of these separately but never all together J  Also, I got clarified that the citation in the paper DOES in fact include both authors names when there are two.  It was also reiterated the importance of going back and fixing the papers from the previous week.  My comments from Dawn were to go back and format my paper to have the clear three sections required by the reflection.  At first, I was excited thinking this writing format would be easier but after doing half my reflections this week in that format it is actually taking me twice as long and my papers are now twice as long.  My brain formats it by assignment in the course, since there are usually two or three we are reflecting about.  I really hope this format becomes more user friendly to me and very quickly! I often feel like I already answered the questions of the last section in the previous sections, etc.  For now, I’m just trying to get things done one at a time and somehow keep my life going at the same time! J

1st Web-Conference Reflection: Internship Course

Tonight was the first web conference for the final course: The Internship.  This week I made sure to attend the web conference as I was so confused and overwhelmed for this course.  I do not feel much better after the conference and may actually feel more overwhelmed and confused but I’m trying to keep myself on track – if so many other people have finished this then I definitely can do it also!  The conference clarified many things for the internship hours and Dr. Mason is so nice and helpful, I love that I feel comfortable emailing her and that others call her, I think that is going to be one of my life lines to actually get all this work finished.  I’m very scared, overwhelmed, and confused.  I’ve tried numerous times to wrap my mind around this internship, all the course reflections, and other requirements we’ve known about throughout the program but I’ve just never managed to get a clear understanding.  After this conference, I really still don’t have that confidence level I am looking for but I am just going to dive in and start getting things done and hope it all comes together. 

Week 5 Web Conference Reflection

Tonight's web conference was very helpful in clearing up things for me this week. I am so busy that it is hard to make these meetings but every time I attend or listen later I am so much more confident in my understanding of my expectations.  When I start to get confused or frustrated, I know to go to the latest web conference.  I hate to say it but I kind of wish there was more requirements for me to attend them in the other classes.  My groups is pretty much done with our video I believe, looking at the requirements for the rest of this course, I am getting excited because I feel like I am almost finished with the work already.  I had kind of been assuming this week would be a stressful week trying to get everything finished with the course ending on Friday instead of Sunday as I usually do all my work on the weekends.  Fortunate for me, my group meshed great and our project went extremely smoothly so I am in good spirits about this course right now.  I wish they would have a web conference JUST about what we are to have completed for the Internship Course.  I always have been confused and remain confused, when I read the emails and letters about the requirements it makes some sense but it is overwhelming and harder to keep my fingers wrapped around the concept than it would be to see/hear in person. I guess it is all about to become extremely clear either way!

Sharing Files Online while Creating a Movie!

This week's project was awesome.  Last week was mostly planning and using our group google document to collaborate on the project.  This week we actually got to dig in and start creating.  At first I was confused and a little anxious about how my partner would record the video shots from many miles away and get the files to me.  I was very excited to get learn dropbox.com is the solution! I loved that it was free and thought it was so cool that it was a "cloud" and I could access it from any computer and even my iPhone! I did have some issues getting my partners video files though, I'm still not sure if it was a user error of mine or my computer but I was very happy when I got it working and started editing the video. I thought it would be so hard to record the narration and then upload it to the video editing software but surprisingly it made the project easier to edit! The movie was so easy to make, and fun to edit.  I am amazed at how easy collaborating onlnie with partners across the state was to create our movie.  I actually found it easier than meeting and working in person because I could work on it on my own schedule mostly.

My Video Spin Tutorial Podcast

Podcast Link : http://kcb1681.podbean.com/

Since I have used MovieMaker before, I chose to try a new video editing software in order to fully experience what this assignment intended.  I was excited to try something new, as in the past when using Movie Maker I have had repeated issues with the program freezing or the video being corrupted and un-viewable when finished.  I found the program Video Spin, by Pinnacle and after reading reviews I chose to try this software.  Once I got the program downloaded and started to explore, I found the program to be very user-friendly and it even reminded me of Movie Maker with its drag and drop features and easy to edit time-line.  My biggest problem was finding video clips to use to edit for this assignment.  Usually, when creating a video, I would be using photos or videos that had been taken using our school flip cam and would be importing them directly to the program to work with.  Here at home I do not have a flip cam so I had to search the web to find clips to use and make sure I was following copyright.  After searching for a while I found videos to download that were free and legal from PBS. Converting the file was extremely time-consuming and frustrating; I wanted to give up and use a different program but then realized that all video-editing softwares would require this step as well. When using this program in the schools, for the most part I feel we will be uploading directly from the video camera the students or teachers used to record so this frustrating step would not be a problem often. This problem I encountered will be helpful though in case another teacher or student encounters this problem as well, I will be able to help them solve the problem and save them the time consuming trial and error solution finding process. I tried numerous videos, converted them to numerous different file formats, tried numerous converting programs and was ready to drop out of school. After finally solving the conversion problem and getting videos into the program to work with, I watched the tutorial provided by the program to get myself familiar with the layout and components and was ready to start editing.  Overall, I found the actual video editing process to be very simple with this program and feel it will be easy to teach to any teacher or student. I especially liked the “Make Movie” tab which offered extensive output options; I felt this made publishing the video to be a simple process.  The movie can be output as a .avi file, windows media file, real media file, .mov file, and even a ipod compatible file format.  Creating the recorded tutorial in Audacity was extremely easy as was uploading to Podbean and linking to my own blog.

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Web Conference Reflection

One thing I liked about this web-conference is how Dr. Abernathy focused on the importance of us using multiple softwares and technologies so we are prepared and able to be facilitators for every teacher on our campuses.  This refocused me to remember that my goal in this program is to not only prepare myself to be able to create technology integration projects with my students but to also be prepared to assist all other teachers on my campus.  This program has done a very good job of exposing us to numerous softwares and especially freeware.  I like that the program requires us to learn and use freeware softwares, ironically our district is more than happy to provide technology tools but not the software needed to make properly use these tools.  I also learned in this conference more about the week 3 through week 5 PSA assignment.  I feel less anxious about this upcoming project now and am excited to see what my group decides to make a PSA about. I am still anxious about creating a video with my group, in my experience creating videos are extremely difficult and time consuming, I feel that adding the group element as well as us meeting online and not in person will add a difficult element to the project.