Great intentions: I started out trying to make life easier for myself by getting out of a non-contract day "obligation". I was asked to attend a Learning Fair by my principal, but it coincided with my 15th wedding anniversary. I offered to create a vodcast which we could show as a video presentation at the learning fair and then upload to our school website for promotional purposes afterward. She thought it was a great idea.
If you don't use it, you lose it: As a technology coach and a tech specialist in two other school districts, I ran in-house broadcasting studios. I didn't get to do that for a year when I went into the IT (technical) department. I spent this past year coaching teachers for the state math and science state-mandated student assessments. So, I ran into some video difficulties. I was able to capture the video and edit it with MovieMaker, but sometimes it imported at the wrong speed...and I didn't know how to fix it. Chipmunk problems.
Podcasting: I was able to edit the audio using Audacity...I taught myself as I went along. Maybe I could just create a podcast. Wait a minute. These are all principals who will be in the audience. How many of them are going to want to sit there and just listen to some audio with not pictures? That will not go over well.
I ended up having to mix still photos will the audio clips and inserting them into PowerPoint.
Self reflection:
What did I have to go through to get this done? What did I end up with? What did I learn? What impact did it have? I tell you what...I sure did learn a thing or two about empathy. If I were a teacher at an elementary school, and I didn't have a local expert available (just-in-time support), I would have given up on day 2. That was the day I had a problem finding the right cable to upload the video from the camcorder to the computer. (And I didn't even mention that in the above anecdote.) I wouldn't have completed my vodcasting or podcasting objectives. However, I may have still completed my overall objective of creating a presentation utilizing technology.
Implications for the teacher: What are you trying to accomplish? There may be more than one way of getting there? If you want to get there by way of X next time, then what steps can be taken to make it more successful? Preparation, materials, training, assistance, expertise...?
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The amount of time it takes is incredible.
ReplyDeleteHow long does it take to recreate a worksheet into a Starboard document? How long does it take to actually create a *good* interactive powerpoint that people will actually want to sit through?
And it seems that Klein doesn't want us to just *use* this technology, they want the kids to be creating it. I get that. I want that. But it's a lot harder than it sounds.