Final Blog #8/Final Digital Story

I present you my Culminating Proposal! I'm ecstatic that my proposal was also approved so that I can now begin the process. :)

I'm happy to say that the process of creating digital stories have gotten easier each week! The process of creating a digital story (using story core, story mapping, and story boarding) to organize the necessary photos, video clips, & audio has made me very comfortable using Windows Live Movie Maker. As I mentioned in my last post, I feel super confident to attempt this process with my students now that I am familiar with the program.

My main challenge was the audio portion. For segments that I used actual video footage, I would record commentary while filming. I would prefer to add audio this way because the sound would already be embedded within the movie. However, this method makes it difficult to edit the footage because each clip would have to be perfect. While putting the digital story together, I realized that some of my prerecorded clips would not match the previous clip, thus I had to use record new audio anyways. Using youtube videos, I learned how to create and save basic sound clips for my digital story using Audacity. I had a lot of trouble with the noise level of recordings, and I spent quite a deal of time recording my audio with and without a microphone. I even had to resort going into my room to record a better sounding clip. Next time, I would like to try a different program (or even a different computer) to record sound.

Overall, I've learned so many new things to incorporate into my teaching practices through the course of this class. To be honest while watching youtube or short videos, I now pay so much more attention to the effects and/or sound/images used in the video so that I can I improve my video editing skills. I plan on creating short videos about certain classroom procedures that I use in my class so that I don't have to "teach" it over and over. My students (and other teachers/parents) can watch the videos to learn the basics in my class. This would be super helpful for new students who enter my class throughout the school year! Ultimately, I'm excited for the other possibilities that DST can do for my current teaching! :)

Blog #7/Video #4

My culminating proposal will focus on how technology lessons will affect my incoming sixth grade class and if the lessons will improve their basic computer skills. My final video will portray a realistic experience that some of my students may encounter since I work in a low-socioeconomic area where not all families have home computers with internet access. Thus, some students' computer skills are not up to par to those with computer access. Although my lessons are not fully designed, I will also introduce the different computer topics that will be taught to next year's class.

Story Core: To explain the problem, I will create a realistic story of two friends who are assigned to work on a school project. They encounter some computer issues because one friend (Student A) has computer access at home, while the other one (Student B) does not. Student A becomes upset because Student B can't help out with the research component at home, while Student B feels embarrassed about not being able to put forth the same amount of effort. The two friends finally ask the teacher for help! Will it be enough?

Story Map:

Storyboard: My video displays a rough sketch of what I would incorporate for my final video. I will be taking actual pictures and using video recordings (of my students) to explain my story core as well as screen shots of my possible technology lesson integration. 

Edit* Now with sound and some revisions! 

Video #3: How to Make Spring Rolls

My love for delicious food (and my obsession for the Food Network) inspired this week's video assignment.

Image: Movie Slate

When I first saw the directions for this week's video, I instantly knew I was going to shoot a video about food. I decided to make Vietnamese Spring rolls because they are delicious and light for spring, but they are extremely complicated (more labor-intensive) to make. Also, it would give me more footage to shoot.

The use of a storyboard was the most useful tool for me this week because videos have more footage that need to be planned. By starting with the "idea" that I designed within the storyboard, things ended up changing when I started video recording. However, it helped to know what "shots" I needed to get to capture the overall concept.

Although I don't plan on being a movie director in the future, other tools that I wished I had include: a movie slate (see left) so that I could keep track of my shots, a tripod to make the video steady, different lighting options (besides my kitchen light), and possibly a better camera lens to capture clearer shots of the star of my movie! I recorded my movie alone, and another helping hand would have been more beneficial. If I was to incorporate DST, I would definitely allow collaborative groups so that students can help each other out. However, I do have to thank Marci for lending a helping hand when she sent me a song through dropbox when I was having issues with iTunes! Lastly, I have to thank youtube for the plethora of "Windows Movie Live" videos to troubleshoot any questions I had while creating my movie this week. Overall, I am proud of my first video with video recordings and music! If I had more time, I would try to make my movie flow smoother with better transitions and experiment with more music.