Video Conference 12-5-10

It is so wonderful how encouraging Dr. Mason is for us.
I feel very supported.
Here are a few things we went over this evening.
Make sure you check your email and the discussion board every day.
You will need to browse and upload the final comprehensive exam to the courseware.
Curriculum Vitae goes after references and is labeled Appendix.

These are a few of the questions I asked:
About how long will it take after next week for our sites to be reviewed and we get a final grade? = ) a – about two weeks
So we need to continue to check our Lamar email. a – check it daily
Will you keep us posted about graduation information since we will be done with courses?? a – you will hear directly from the University.

Video Conference 12-1-10

Tonight’s video conference covered the following points:
• Make sure to check the citation
• If it is in a direct quote put the page number
• If there are quotation marks the . goes after the ).
• References need to be alphabetized by the last name of the first person listed as the author
• Headings are bolded and centered
• Week 5 is shorter so make sure to have everything done by the 15th or 16th
• In week 5 upload the WORD document and in the comments put the URL
• Make sure to use the Summary and Appendix G
• Add 3 references to each assignment – you need to have a minimum of 10 for the comprehensive exam
• Try to reference the tech standards in reflections.

Thanksgiving Week Video Conference

Tonight’s videoconference was very helpful. Dr. Mason does a great job for us. I am nervous that I am doing things well and I hope it is apparent that I am answering the questions. I know we are not supposed to list the questions and then answer them so it is challenging to know if we are answering them for sure or not.

It was good to have clarification on citations – I will have to go back and fix my periods I think I may have done them wrong.

Note- it is REALLY hard to have to work over this Holiday week. I have family in starting last night and I am very frustrated trying to focus on all my writings and still spend time with them. = (

Video Conference

Tonight’s webconference (11-17-10) was one of the best ones I have participated in. I really liked how Dr. Mason began with an overview of the assignments and anticipated where we might have questions. This eliminated a lot of the confusion right up front and allowed the rest of the conference for additional questions and clarification.

I found myself taking notes like I was in class. I laughed because this was the first time during this Graduate experience that I have done that. I have highlighted the lecture transcripts as they have been read but I had not taken notes like that in any of my courses or video conferences it just really struck me and made me laugh.

It was good to have Dr. Mason go over the three types of reflections that we will be doing: Course Embedded, Reflections on the Standards and Reflections on the Field-based activities.

There was confusion about how we need to log our intern hours as to whether or not we just need to meet the 8 standards or all 33 indicators. I do not recall ever being told that we needed to address all 33 other than we needed to try and meet them but we for sure had to have experiences in each of the 8 standards areas.

PSA Project Reflection

This was a fun project. Our team was made up of 6 members. We started out well, with everyone on board and participating. My main contribution was to produce the audio track. As a group we chose our topic. After some research I created a rap, found a royalty free soundtrack and got my college age son to record the rap for us. This gave us the foundation to create our shot list. Once the shot list was created there was some video recorded. There were problems getting parent permission but that was eventually resolved. We had a semi dysfunctional group in the editing area. No-one was really willing to take on that commitment. We could definitely improve in that arena. There were three members (Sara Baragona, Jennifer Mihaund and myself) who seemed to do all the work and we were waiting for the others to step up. Our copyrights were all creative commons or original works used with permission.

For most of week 5 there was no participation by the group except the three of us who had done most of the work continued to chat and worry and panic about our finished product in the hands of a few who seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. We felt it necessary to create a version of the final product on our own despite the fact it was not our role because we did not want to get stuck with nothing. We were not going to post it unless we had to. In the end a final product emerged and that is what we have turned in.

This project had moments of great collaboration where I truly felt the “amplification” effect. It also had many moments of total frustration as team members “went dark” for days and days. When we were clicking it was phenomenal. I truly enjoyed working especially with Sara and Jennifer – between the three of us we kept the project moving and together.

here is a link to our PSA on Cyberbullying

Web Conference – 9-17-10

It was good to get confirmation about what was due for the week. This course has been confusing with the different assignment in week 2 and then have a way to submit things this week. This conference gives us the chance to ask clarifying questions and interact with the others in the class. I felt bad that Dr. A was not feeling well.

This weeks video web conference

I am glad that Dr. Abernathy provides the Video Conference experiences for us. There us always some clarification that I receive by attending. This week I shared with Dr. Abernathy that my son who attends UTSA is jealous of our video conferences. He is struggling with a teacher who is not wanting to answer his questions in his face-to-face class and he was telling me that he felt I got more support in my distance class that he did face-to-face. It is nice to always hear Dr. Abernathy tell us that she is here for us. With a distance class it is comforting to know that the support is there.

Easy Video Editing with JayCut

You can find my podcast here on my wiki
http://edld5388internshipmannas.wikispaces.com/Courses

Here is my video edit project.

EVALUATION of free video editing software.

I chose to review YouTube’s editor and an editor called JayCut. I was very excited to learn YouTube’s editor but when I got into it I was not impressed. It took me about 45minutes to actually find it and when I did the tutorial was not working. I went in anyway and spent about 30minutes trying to figure it out only to discover I could not upload within the editor I had to have uploaded video into YouTube first and then it would show up as video I could choose to edit. By this time I was getting frustrated. I did upload video and did get it to crop and then repost. It was pretty easy once I figured it out but the frustration level of getting there was not worth it to me. I also looked at JayCut. I chose this editing software because it intrigued me that it too was a web-based editor but it looked a little more robust. I found this editor very user friendly. Their demo area had clips you could play with as well as songs you could use. It had several video tracks, a sound track, transitions and title screens to create. I found it very intuitive and also found that I spent my time being creative and trying the tools rather than spending my time being frustrated and doing the bare minimum to just get through the software. I think I will definitely use JayCut in the future.

My quote is:
“Shooting with the Edit in Mind
Editing may be the final step of the production, but to make a truly successful video, you need to begin making editing choices in the concept stage.” (Lonnquist)

I found this quote very intriguing. We are doing a lot with backwards design in my district and to here the concept applied to Editing video really made me stop and think. I had never thought about it. I had always thought of editing video as an art. In art you do not always have the end in mind when you begin. The artistic process ebbs and flows and you can end up with something totally different than what you set out to create. To begin with the end in mind might take out a bit of the artistic element and make it more methodical. If you are shooting part of a scene that you know you will edit I am not sure what the advantage is to shooting it in the first place. Maybe they meant that you need to always keep the big picture in mind – I can see where that concept would be beneficial when editing video.


Lonnquist, J. (n.d.). The Art of the Edit. Retrieved 2010, from School Video News: http://www.school-video-news.com/index_files/Art_of_the_Edit.htm

Multimedia Class 5363

This week we started our multimedia class. I am very excited about this class. This week we were to create a digital photostory. I enjoyed doing this project. It was hard to get started and I was a little intimidated. I just went through my personal pictures and found some from a beach trip I took and chose to write a narrative about bringing someone along on a beach walk. I really wished that that person could have been with me on that trip. I was nervous about making it personal but I felt I was able to do that without really divulging too much. I was please with the results. I know I will use this example when working with the teachers on my campus. It helped to look at the standards and make direct connections to actual implementation. I can see students doing this as part of a video journal or developing their writing skills with a writing prompt that they then need to record, digitize and enhance with sounds and music. An alternative to iMovie that is a little easier is GarageBand. I would probably steer my teachers toward that product, it does not need the fancy affects of iMovie. I particularly liked the Digital Story Telling cookbook by Joe Lambert. I found it very easy to read and full of great ideas. I really helped me get started. It was also helpful to view the examples on the storycenter’s website. Some of those were great.

Here is my photostory.

Reflection for 5364 - Teaching with Technology

In reflecting on the CAST Lesson Builder I must say I was not that impressed. Maybe I missed the boat. I was hoping to be able to put the modified resources right with in the lesson plan. I know there was a way to put a hyperlink that could link to a URL but where were the modification tools to read the directions or to embed a video or attach an image. As I was creating the lesson and keeping all this in mind I wanted to be able to gather and link and attach these things right then while I was creating the lesson. This was frustrating to have to move outside the builder to make these notes so I would not forget them. I would also have liked the ability to link our lessons with in the unit we are creating. That way all the lessons are tied together and you can access them and hyper link them with vocabulary etc in trying to meet the needs of our diverse learners.

In the sample lessons there were the UDL Connections links but I could not figure out how to access that as I created my lesson. I think the plan is thorough though and helps one think through a valid lesson cycle. I liked the Word template and the ability to print it to .pdf.

TX Long Range Technology Plan: Leadership, Administration & Instructional Support

Leadership, administration and instructional support are crucial to the success of the Texas Long Range Plan. Without effective leadership to put it into practice the plan is only a plan. There needs to be a clear vision and expectations that teachers will embrace the change required and with support be able to transform their classrooms and help equip their students to be productive in today’s technological society. Administration is key to successful implementation of the ideas in this plan. They need to be advocators as their teachers work to meet the new “digital” learning styles of their students. They must embrace these ideas and themselves empower their teachers to transform their teaching. They need to model the use of technology themselves.

Administrators must make a plan for technology implementation on their campuses bringing key stakeholders into the process. They need to determine how to effectively asses the needs of their campus developing and motivating strong leaders that will bring about the effective implementation of this plan. “As leaders, administrators must envision, fund and asses the use of technology in schools.” It is important that administrators advocate for and support strong staff development and also put effective technical support in place.

Administration has made progress in these areas. Nationally funding has been provided and standards have been set. Models of effective implementation have been showcased at the state level and districts have been encouraged to write effective execution plans. The state’s recent revisiting of the plan shows the document to be more relevant and executable. It takes into consideration the steps that have already been taken and revisits where we still need to go. At the local level districts and campuses have made great strides in putting the plan into action. In Leander we have developed a technology role out plan for hardware and infrastructure. Our administrators have been a part of the role out plan and have challenged themselves with creating their own EATS (Educational Administrative Technology Skills). They have created a matrix and continually meet in professional learning communities, attend staff development and model these skills to increase their proficiencies. They have started to embrace the elements of the Long Range Plan into their campus improvement plans and have enlisted the help of their faculties to provide input.

Trends in this area seem to be feeling the urgency that we are “not there yet”. It seems that although we have come far and continue to progress we seem to still have so far to go. Change is becoming the constant and it is hard to “keep up” and put in place what needs to be there.

We need to stay the course, continue to pursue funding and hold our faculties accountable for implementation. Without leadership and admin supporting and advocating for teachers to embrace technology the plan will not be implemented. “Strong leadership at all levels can make the vision for technology a reality across all four areas of this plan.”

To access the Texas Long Range Technology Plan
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/lrpt/LRPTCompleteDec06.pdf

Cypress Star Chart

This data lets us know where the areas are that we need to work on. Together with admin and your technical support team we will assist you in bringing Cypress to a higher level of technology use and the result will be a rise toward Target Tech on our skills.

Cypress Star Chart

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