EDLD+5363+Course+Reflections

Respond to the following questions on your wiki.  1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?  2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?  3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?  4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?  5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?  ** Reflection 1 ** When I first endeavored to take EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology I didn’t have a clear idea of what would be presented. I knew though that I wanted to bring more multimedia lessons to my classroom and acquire enough knowledge to share techniques with my colleagues. Since I had few expectations entering the course I have to say that I was not disappointed. In fact this course has offered the opportunity to create two of the most useful assignments for me in my current position. The digital storytelling assignment in week one was such a wonderful experience for me. I have already implemented the techniques I learned in my own classroom and have shared with several other teachers who are also having their students create video diaries. The other assignment that I truly learned from was the collaborative PSA. Not only did I acquire the necessary skills to produce the PSA but having the opportunity to work in a collaborative group was wonderful. In essence I believe that I achieved my objective in taking this course. ** Reflection 2 ** The relevance of EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology to my assignment was immediate for me. Not since 5306 have I used so many techniques immediately in my classroom. As soon as I finished my own video storytelling project I assigned it to my students as well. The storyboarding exercise allowed my students to organize their story into paragraphs and I will most likely use this idea in my students’ writing in the future. As my students finished their video diary it was a powerful experience for them and me to have the students share their work with other teachers and to publish. I will also use the idea of collaboration for my students in the future. It was an enlightening experience to work with people from different parts of Texas. In my district we have several smaller campuses such as my own that could utilize wikis to do group work. ** Reflection 3 ** The one thing that I did not achieve in this course was becoming more than just a novice at audio and video editing. Though I had several opportunities to work with such programs as Audacity and Movie Maker I don’t feel that I could teach this beyond just basic instructions on what to do to produce a product. Now that the course is over I will try to spend the off week doing a little exploring in these programs as well as the Adobe products I purchased several years ago. The audio editing using Audacity really gave me fits. I appreciated the step-by-step tutorials. I have to admit that I lacked a desire to learn Audacity well. My 13 year old daughter played with it more than I did so using it in my classroom will be of great interest to my students. It seems that the lack of time to truly “learn” the products well was my biggest impediment. ** Reflection 4 ** The assignments in EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology were stimulating and at the least doable. I enjoyed the digital storytelling assignment more than any that I have done in all my courses at Lamar. One of the things that I became more adept at was transferring media into different files. It could be that I didn’t have as much trouble with this aspect because this is my forth class but I gained confidence by realizing that even if I don’t have the knowledge immediately I know how to look for the answer. My second course covering web design was very frustrating. I needed the success in this course. As I have mentioned in some of my other reflections, the one aspect that did give me a little trouble was the audio editing. I was able to complete the assignment but I would have liked the audio portion of my podcast and PSA to be a little better quality. This will come in time. As I said I was able to complete the assignments so I didn’t get overwhelmingly frustrated. ** Reflection 5 ** The main thing I learned about myself in EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology was I can succeed. Working in a collaborative group was extremely fulfilling for me. I have not always been the best partner in group work because I would usually take over and do most of it myself. This is not collaboration. You miss out on ideas and relationships this way. As a leader this will be something that I will encourage and participate in more frequently. Learning leadership skills and tricks of the trade have been one thing I have enjoyed throughout the courses I have taken at Lamar. This particular course didn’t offer as many opportunities to learn this as much as I acquired a sense of accomplishment that will carry on throughout my internship. This class has offered me a better understanding of what I will expect from my teachers in the future. Multimedia activities are cheap, useful, and a must for the future of education.
 * Course Reflection Prompts**