Web+Design+and+Development+Course+Reflections

**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?**  I expected to take away from this course a basic knowledge of different multimedia presentation formats. I feel that the course was structured in such a way to help me achieve those goals. The first week of the course had us creating our own personal digital story. I used PhotoStory to complete this assignment. I have used PhotoStory before, so the most important outcome to this assignment was getting to know my classmates better. For the first time I was able to hear them speak. I think getting to know my classmates on a personal level gave me a better sense of who I would work best with during the PSA project. The assignment for week 2 asked us to make a podcast for video editing software. I had never made a podcast before. I was also unaware of many of the free video editing software options that are available, so the time spent researching those different options was right in line with what I was expecting to get out of this course. I found the last three weeks of the course to be where my expectations veered off from the actual outcome of the course. I initially thought that we would be creating all of our projects individually. At the end of the first week I realized that we would be working in groups. I was a little ill at ease, thinking about working in a group that I would never meet in person. The fact that we had to learn to be collaborative, using the technology tools that were taught in previous courses, brought all of the learning that we have done full circle. I could not have been more pleased with my group, and the work ethic that they all provided. We all worked closely during the three phases of the project (preproduction, production, and post production) and I feel came up with a great final product. I found the PSA project to have exceeded my expectations. I found I have a greater understanding of not only multimedia and video technology, but of online collaboration tools as well.   **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?**  I believe that the outcomes that I achieved during this course are relevant to the work that I am doing at my school at this time, because we are currently a pilot campus for the Power To Learn Grant. This grant awarded all teachers 8 netbooks for use in their classes. I work mainly with the math teachers, and most of them are struggling with how to use the netbooks with their students to benefit instruction. I think the knowledge I gained through this course on creating podcasts, digital stories, and videos will allow me to better help the teachers plan lessons that will use the new technology that they have in their classrooms. Technology has always been “an event” on our campus. You had to schedule time in the computer lab to complete a technology lesson or project. The teachers now can have small groups of students working on podcasts that explain how to perform certain calculations or creating mathematics videos that flow seamlessly with the instruction for the day. I think that my knowledge on preproduction, production, and post production will help the teachers realized all that is involved in making a great piece of student work. Math teachers do not necessarily take the time to think through all of these parts when assigning a project, because they have so much material to cover throughout the year. They sometimes believe that the students cannot create quality work, but I believe they can, we have to give them to proper skills to create that quality. I think it will just take a little imagination and some willingness to break out of our comfort zone before the math teachers will feel comfortable using technology on a daily basis. I am excited to share these new ideas with the teachers on my campus.  **3.** **What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?**  I feel that I did not achieve a strong foundational understanding of the different types of formats for saving files (example: when is it better to save a video as high definition compared to standard definition). I liked the collaborative nature of Google Docs, but I had difficulty sharing documents with my other team members on the site. I had to result to sending the files over email. This unfortunately was not the best choice either, because my files were sometimes too large to be received on school email accounts. I would have liked to have known how to work on editing the video on my computer (using Windows Movie Maker) and having someone else edit it on their computer. I believe I was saving the movie incorrectly, which prevented everyone else from being able to edit it on their end. I have to admit that my pride prevented me from learning about the different saving procedures. I did not want my group members to know that I was struggling with this simple concept, so I did not ask anyone. I believe this resulted in a lot of wasted time on all ends.   <span style="margin: 5pt 0in 5pt 13.5pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: -13.5pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">**4.** **Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?** <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;"> <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I was successful in completing the course assignments. Several times throughout this course I was unsure of what was actually required of the assignment. I never hesitated to email Creighton Gann and clarify what was expected of me that week. Creighton was always quick and thorough in his responses to me. Looking back over the assignments, I struggled most with the assignment for week 2. I did not feel that I had a strong grasp on how to use the Audacity software. I remember having difficulty saving the podcast in the proper format, and then posting it to the wiki. Luckily I had classmates that I was able to contact who helped walk me through the process until I figured out where I was making my mistakes. The only other time that I was truly discouraged was during week 4, when I found out on Sunday night, after the online meeting, that we needed two narrators. I still do not know how my entire group did not know this until that evening. I understand the reasoning behind having two narrators, I just wish we would have known about that detail sooner. Overall, I feel that I was very successful in completing all of the assignments for this course. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="margin: 5pt 0in 5pt 13.5pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-indent: -13.5pt;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">**5.** **What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?** <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;"> <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">This course taught me that there is so much that I do not know about technology. Every time I think I know a lot about technology, I find there are so many new concepts and ideas that I have never even heard of before. I learned that I genuinely like working in a group, but I have to learn to speak up for myself when working with others. When I work alone I have no problems asking for help if I am confused or not understanding a concept. When I work in a group, I seem to be embarrassed by what I do not understand. This was a good lesson in learning how to stand up for my own learning and to not be embarrassed by what I do not know, because I am sure I am not the only one struggling with the same concept. In regards to my leadership skills, I feel that I have an easy time flowing between being a leader and a follower. I know where my strengths are and will not hesitate to jump in and help for the betterment of the team. I can recognize when there is someone with greater knowledge on a subject than I have. I enjoy learning from these individuals, not only about their subject knowledge but how the use their own personal leadership traits. I was excited about this course, so I my attitude was positive throughout. I feel that working with my team helped me keep a positive attitude as well, since everyone was extremely complimentary with each other. This course was valuable in not only developing my technology knowledge in the area of multimedia and video, but my collaboration skills as well.

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