Group+Project+Reflection-Debrief

Was this experience beneficial? How?
Sara Baragona

I loved this project! I found it challenging and interesting. I had previously used MovieMaker and Audacity in a limited capacity. The PSA process really stretched my abilities and comfort zone. I believe that I need more practice with the video/audio editing process. Our team worked well together while forming plans in week 3. We seemed to choose a topic quickly and easily. My students were able to jump into this project as well. They enjoyed being the talent and helping create a rap for the PSA. The enthusiasm of my students helped keep me focused throughout the process. Several members of our group did a wonderful job creating videos using video footage from at least two members and audio from four members. I found that job more challenging and was very happy when others volunteered for that part.

Our group worked very well together during the first week of the project and seemed to lose touch during the second week. If I could change anything about this project, it would have been our meeting/collaboration during the second week. I believe we would have benefited from setting specific dates/times that we would meet online to discuss updates/progress. Several of us were able to reconnect during the last week to bring together a GREAT project. I would have liked to see that same collaboration during the entire process.

I will be able to use this experience in my classroom immediately. My students in English 9 will read the Odyssey and create storyboards daily for the readings. At the end of each book, the students will write a script and video their version of the Odyssey. I will have to enforce a time limit for each video so that the focus remains on the most important aspects of the story. The students are excited and ready to try using Audacity and moviemaker.

Jennifer Michaud

I like the limitations of doing a PSA rather than just creating a video. A PSA has certain qualities and specifications - relevant, concise, appealing and timely. Susan started shooting off ideas and we probably had a skeleton of a plan before Week 3 even started.

Creating this PSA gave me practice in audio and video editing. I have done a little of both, but never to the degree that I did with this project. I used Audacity for layering singing and while some things were not used in the final cut, I spent a good deal of time recreating some music for ambience. For video editing, I worked with WindowsMovieMaker, a product I am familiar with for stop motion animation. Using MovieMaker in this way, was then very different for me. The slides for the movie were created through GooglePresentation and followed the scripts.

One problem I ran into was getting parent permission for the videos. I learned that I needed to get the permission before we starting shooting, in case I didn't have permission from the whole group. I ended up losing some footage because I didn't have the permission from every person in the group prior to filming.

For the most part the synergy of the group was amazing. Having ideas ready and group members actively participating from the start made a great difference. We seemed to have lost some group members and I felt like some members were shouldering more of the work than others. In the end, I believe things came together well.

Susan Mannas

This project was fun. I learned a lot. There were several in our group who really collaborated and that made this difficult project bearable and doable. I thought when we were really clicking as a group and the ideas were flowing we had GREAT collaboration. We gave constructive feedback and people were flexible and creative. At first everyone was throwing ideas, jumping in and producing documents, research and files. It started out as one of the best collaborative groups I have ever been involved in. This was a VERY challenging project – to try and create a multimedia project with only online collaboration was a big request.

I think giving us a purpose of a PSA helped us to focus our project and allowed us to get into it faster. I am not sure what I would change about the project. I REALLY liked that we were given three weeks to build, create, focus and refine our product. This project did give me the opportunity to learn much more about audio and video components.

I definitely think that this project was beneficial. There were many parts of the collaboration portion that were very enjoyable. There were members who really contributed and worked on the project often and that was a lot of fun to be a part of. The sharing of ideas and the “amplification” affect, as Randy Nelson put it, was very powerful. Fun, fun, fun ……… I also really liked that it only needed to be 60 seconds – that took a lot of pressure off and really helped us focus our efforts on the part of the message that mattered. It was challenging to get it to 60 seconds but that really allowed us to sharpen our editing skills. I do feel that our final project shows collaboration by most of our members. We really tried hard as group to have representation from everyone who contributed a piece that could be included. Great job editors!! I enjoyed our group!!!

** [|EDLD 5363- PSA Final Product] - Miguel Leija**
The purpose of the project in EDLD 5363 was to create a public service announcement over a topic of interest/concern that affects many people. The group consisted of Sara Baragona, Jennifer Michaud, Lupe Cruz, Susan Mannas, and myself (Miguel Leija).The pre-production was accomplished over email communication and Google Docs using the offered template for our class. The poduction occurred through Google Docs and Wiki spaces while the final post production is being posted on the team's wiki page. The project ran smoothly thanks to the thorough email communcation. Everybody was excellent in voicing their take on the project and sharing the vision through email, the pre-production document at Google Docs, and Wikispaces.

For the Pre-Production everybody voted on a topic through email and then started organizing our ideas. The plan was to produce a PSA video on cyber-bullying. The idea began with a the Megan Pledge based on the case of Megan Meier and a rap titled Just Think. As a team, we established the possible scenes, a focus, and end credits. For the production Susan Mannas, Sara Baragona, and Jennifer Michaud provided the video and picture clips to mix. I was responsible for editing and dubbing possible introductions. Overall, several videos were recorded for the post-production. The final videos were mixed using Live Movie Maker which posted on Youtube and embeded through Wikispaces.

As far as copyright contribution assets is concerned, the project is available for educational purposes only and credit must be given to the entity listed. The only borrowed information came from the Megan's Pledge site while everything else was acquired through personal means.

Reccomendations for improvement for this project would have to be better audio quality mixing. However, that is a "self" recommendation for myself because the dubbed intro and ending included personal dubbed voice overs. It is as simple as getting a better sound card, good microphone, and taking the time to properly use the Audacity freeware I have. The overall experience in helping produce this PSA was amazing. The communication was smooth and I cant reiterate that enough. The group was wonderful to work with and for any problem quick suggestions for solutions were always available. ** EDLD 5363 PSA Debrief—Mr. Lupe Cruz **

I believe that the course was plan out accordingly, give us an introduction as to what we are going to be involved. Mulltimedia Viideo technology involved some serious planning, design, production, and editing. We were introduced to several editing software products and given the opportunity to look at several video editing programs. Developing of the digital story was fun which gave me good practice of some basic video production, but even though it was a basic production it still involved some planning, designing and developing. The videos and literature helped me understand the concept of multimedia video production. I was amazed with the amount of programs available to do video editing, however one must research the capability and characteristics of the program before using them. When week 3 came around, the team had been formed and all sorts of ideas were brewing among the members. We quickly started communicating and sharing our ideas and finally voted for our topic, Cyberbullying. I believe we all agree that it is a big issue in this age of technology especially among our children. All members had their own ideas as to what they would like to do while focusing on the issue of cyberbullying in getting the message across to the audience. I started with the idea of doing a short video clipping of my students but ran into parental approval problems. Luckily, other members of the group were able to do great video shots of their students which enhanced the value of the PSA. The PSA assignment had some criteria that had to be met. There was a time limitation of one minute which help us to focus on the quality of the video. I noticed that trying to combine images, text and music was a challenge. Luckily in the group there were some that were familiar with the procedure, As for myself, I believe I need to explore and play with the program a whole lot more. From what I understand, several editing programs were tried until finally we found the one that serve the purpose. I believe this type of assignment was definitely a group effort, there is not way a single person can do it. I believe Mr. Randy Nelson sums it all up when he talks about teaching and learning through collaboration, because that is exactly what happen in our group.