Video

Group Video Project

            Now that our group video project is finished and I am able to reflect on the process it is safe to say that I had great time learning about video and completing the project.  However, I must admit that at the start of the project I was somewhat guarded wary of how the process might play out.  Going into this project I had very limited experience with making videos and almost no experience with the video editing process.  I was not afraid of the project, because I am always open to trying new things, but I was a little bit anxious of how it might play out and come together.  I think the thing that helped the most during this process was laying down a clear vision and plan of what we wanted our video to consist of and accomplish before we started the filming process.  As the old saying goes “plan your work, then work your plan” holds very true today.  Once we were able to plan out what we were aiming for in our video the pieces started to fall into place.  This eased my nerves somewhat about the video making process but I was still nervous about the filming and editing portion of the process. 

            Once we had our plan of what we wanted to shoot for our video the next step was to actually go out and record our scenes.  For this step I think we went a little over board as a group.  We had a clear plan of what we wanted to accomplish, but I think we were trying to do a little too much.  By that I mean that we had a lot of ideas for different scenes and shot a good amount of footage.  This is a good thing in that it gave us plenty of material and footage to pull from for our video.  But it was a bad thing in that in order to fit within the time constraints of our project length we had to cut some footage out.  We probably could have made a 15 minute video with all the ideas we had floating around at the time.  I think this was due to the fact that our group as a whole only had limited filmmaking experience going into this project.  However, I do not see this as a bad thing because in this case we were able to let our creativity out and have plenty of footage to pick and choose from for our final video.

            The final part that I had probably the most concern about was the video editing process.  Going into this project I had little to no editing experience.  However, I always had the desire to try my hand at the editing process if for nothing else just to see what it was like.  This project gave me the perfect reason to test my skills and see what it actually takes to put a short video together.  Being a member of the Net Generation a great way for me to learn, and in fact prefer learning in this fashion for certain things, is to dive right in and do it.  We chose the iMovie program to edit our video.  We chose this for a variety of reasons but the biggest factor was that I, as well as others in my group, are making the transition to Mac in our personal lives and this enabled us to put our new technology to the test.  I was shocked when we started the editing process using iMovie at how easy it was to pick up and start doing.  This was the part of the project I had the most reservations about going in and it turned out that once we started doing it I realized it actually wasn’t that bad.  I started to enjoy the editing process.  It was fun to start moving things around, adding transitions and sounds effects, and seeing how the final project would turn out.  I don’t think that we are experts in the world of film editing, but I must say that as a group I believe we did an excellent job completing this film.  It is safe to say that every one of us in the group is extremely happy with the way our movie turned out.  I think we may even being looking for excuses to make videos as a group down the road together.  I can almost see it as turning into a sort of hobby for myself and the other members of my group.

Video in The Classroom

            I believe video can be very valuable in the classroom.  Not only does it support working with others, if it is assigned as a group project, but it also teaches students how to be to the point if they are given a specific length that the movie should be.  This is a lesson we learned while doing our project.  We had to come up with ways to be more to the point to fit within the time constraints.  I believe this is an important lesson that a project like this can teach students.  When the get out into the job market and start their careers most employers will not want to waste time with irrelevant banter.  I believe they are looking for employees that are concise and to the point.  A project such as this video project goes a long way in teaching students this lesson, which will serve them greatly later in life. 

            Some challenges that groups may encounter in this type of project are agreeing on an idea for the video, the content of the video, and how the final project should look.  Although these seem like challenges on the surface, I believe that they are serving a higher purpose.  They are making the groups come together as a team.  This is building strong interpersonal skills and enabling students to get a glimpse of what life might be like when they enter the working world dealing with co-workers.  These are invaluable skills that a project of this type can get through to students even if they do not realize during the course of the project.  If students reflect on a project such as this they will see that they had to come together and work with one another in order to complete the task at hand.  You cannot get that type of lesson or training by simply filling out worksheets.  That is why I believe it is important that students encounter this type of project in the course of their curriculum.  I believe that one area that you could incorporate this type of project in the curriculum is in place of the standard presentation in front of the class.  Instead of having students work in groups and present material to the class they could work in groups to make a video to be shared with the class.  Not only will this allow students to work together on a project and share their knowledge with the rest of the class but it will help to build the interpersonal skills that are so valuable to students after their academic career. 

Copyright

Copyright

            Copyright law seems to be an ever-evolving concept.  With the emergence of new technology, such as Napster, the laws had to change to protect material that was now accessible with only a few clicks of a mouse.  Although there are guidelines for what is “fair use” of material, the law is vague and has a lot of gray area.  There are very few specifics on which teachers, or anyone, can base their decisions concerning fair use.  This is somewhat surprising to me, however, I believe it is a good thing as I will explain later.  The guidelines, in my opinion, seem to favor teachers.  They are more lenient towards teachers using material in an educational setting.  In this case I believe the gray area in copyright law are a very good thing.  This allows educators to use pieces of material in their classroom environment to help students understand concepts and also to make learning come alive for students.  Engaging the students in learning is a necessity so that students will grasp concepts and material in a way that is meaningful for them.  It is not sufficient to have students learn material only for a test, after which they forget most of the material that was covered.  That is why even though there is gray area in the copyright law, I believe it is not only a good thing, but a necessity to help educators make learning come alive for students.

            I can only recall a few instances of copyright law being broken that I am aware of now but was not at the time of the infraction.  I can remember watching movies in school as a reward.  The movies were not shown to one class but all students who were deserving of a reward.  I am now aware that this was in violation of copyright law.  However, I do not believe that the violations were intentional, but rather, they were done out of ignorance of the law.  This does not justify the violation, but it does enable one to understand why the violation may have occurred.  That is why I do think it is our responsibility as educators to teach copyright respect, and law, to students.  Students, nor anyone, should be expected to just know something that they have previously never come across in their studies or in life.  We must share copyright law and respect to students so that they do not violate copyright law out of ignorance.  It may be necessary to take a lesson, or a few, to help students understand what copyright law is and why it is important.  At least if students are informed of copyright law and how it applies in, and out, of the classroom they can make better informed decisions about how to properly use material.

Educause Reading

            Overall, the data in the Educause reading falls in line with what my expectations were about the use of technology by current students and Net Geners.  The study found that the highest use of a computer was in pursuit of academic activities such as writing papers or preparing presentations.  This was followed by the use of the computer for communication.  This is what I was expecting.  All college level coursework is usually required to be typed, not hand written, indicating that students would have to be proficient enough in the use of a computer in order to fulfill this requirement.  It would also suggest that students would have to spend time doing this activity, as it is what is required and expected of them.  Another finding in the study that actually fell in line with what my expectations were going into this reading is that students 1. Tend to overrate their abilities with software and 2. Moving beyond basic functions inside most programs can be problematic for students.  This is what I was expecting because most Net Geners have taught themselves the skills they need with most software as a requirement for their coursework.  In general, they seem to be lacking formal training.  This would suggest that unless students have had to do complex tasks with software they only know the basic functions they need in order to succeed in their studies.  I don’t think this poises a huge problem for Net Geners as most prefer to learn new technology by trial and error.  However, it could indicate a reason why students, and Net Geners, overrate their abilities.  It must stem from the confidence they have in themselves to learn new technology.  Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, because I would venture to say that in most cases they do have the ability to learn new functions inside a piece of software without too many problems.

            One question I would have included in this survey is if students have in fact had formal training with the software they are using or if they were left to learn the software on their own while using a piece of software during the course of their studies.  I think it would be interesting to see how many students actually received formal training and how many learn solely during the course of their studies to fulfill a requirement in the curriculum.  I would suspect that more students learned by trial and error while doing coursework than by receiving actual formal training with the software they are being required to use.  However, in most cases this should not present a problem for the Net Geners as we have seen previously that they are able to learn by trial and error and are usually not fearful to dive head first into a new piece of software.  Although most Net Geners are able to learn in this way, I believe we may be doing them a disservice by not giving them formal training with the software they are being required to use.  If we could figure out a way in which to incorporate this training into the existing curriculum we would help our students in a huge way.  This would allow students to be familiar with not only the basic aspects of the software but give them a more in depth knowledge of the software and a better understanding of the more complex operations they can perform.

Mac v. PC

The differences between Mac and PC’s in my opinion are negligible.  However, at this point in time I believe the Mac has an edge over the PC.  Both Mac and PC’s feel like second nature.  Sure there are some minor differences in the way things are presented to the user on the Mac as opposed to the PC. I feel that I have two advantages that help make using either platform a non-issue for myself.  First, I basically grew up using the PC platform.  Growing up using this technology allows one to feel right at home while using the program.  By this point in my life it almost feels like second nature.  The second thing that I believe using either platform a relatively easy is being a part of and growing up in the Net-Generation.  As a part of the Net-Gen technology surrounded everything that I have done.  The approach that I take to technology, as well as most of the Net-Gen, is to just dive right in and learn by trial and error.  To me, this is relatively simple on both platforms.

            Growing up through the 1980’s and 1990’s technology was becoming more and more prevalent in everyday life including personal computers.  My first home computer was in fact a PC.  In fact, until earlier this year PC was the only personal or home computer I had ever used.  I grew up with the standard PC running windows.  That said, I was able to become proficient in the use of the windows operating system and the common applications that were used in conjunction with windows like Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer.  The advantage of growing up using technology, like Windows, is that it allows you to get comfortable using the platform.  When you get comfortable using a specific platform it allows you to gain a sense of familiarity with the program and with that comes the feeling of knowing what to expect from the program, both good and bad. 

Usually gaining this level of familiarity with a program would mean you would be hesitant or unwilling to change or try something new.  Especially when the program you are using is suiting all of your needs.  However, this was no the case for myself.  A few months ago I had the opportunity to use a Mac.  While I cannot say that I instantly fell in love with the Mac, there was something that I liked about it.  The easy to follow and understand pictorial representations and menus and the easy to use interface where seemingly everything is customizable makes the make, in my opinion, a viable opponent to the PC.  While I still see the value of the PC operating system, about two months ago I purchased my first Mac.  The Mac to me seems smoother, easier, and faster to use because of it’s interface as opposed to the list, or text, based interface of the PC.  Mac has made the personal or home computer a cinch to use and operate, even if you have limited time using the Mac operating system.  Even though there are some minor differences between the Mac and the PC, I feel as though the differences are so minor, and easy to figure out, that it makes the Mac the better option.  The simple to use interface and the way in which the Mac seems to just flow so smoothly due to the parts and software being made for each other.  This has made making the switch to a Mac a no brainer in my opinion.  I am glad I have finally made the switch, even if I am a little behind the majority of others.