Reflections about the conferences for EDLD5363

Reflections about the conferences for EDLD5363

By Eduardo Arias

As I reflect about the conferences I attended and reviewed during this course, I realized Dr. Abernathy’s positive attitude, knowledgeable guidance and constant advice, were vital for my successful of this course. Her constant reassurance and wise words, especially when I felt I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish the assignments, guide me through the toughest times.

From the beginning she explained the level of demand that the course required. In the first conference, she provided us with a complete overview of the entire course and mentioned the requirements one needed to meet. She explained us we were going to focus on a specific multimedia competency each week. This helped me a lot since I was able to mentally prepare for what was coming ahead.

Another thing that I found very helpful about the weekly conferences is that Dr. Abernathy scheduled several conferences almost every week. This gave me the confidence to work at my own pace especially during those weeks when I couldn’t start working since the beginning of the week.

The first conference of every week focused on explaining the assignments for the period, and in the rest of the conferences of the week Dr. Abernathy spent most of her time answering questions and doubts we had, once we began doing the assignments. This forced me to be prepared and plan accordingly so I could be ready to ask questions and to follow the conversation as the conference was happening.

I found it reassuring listening to her explaining about the different multimedia tools we could use during the week. She was very thorough in her explanations about the software programs we needed to complete each assignment.

During the conferences we also reviewed how to collaborate with each other. There were many explanations about how the way we could get organized to alleviate the work load and fulfill the requirements of the projects. This helped all the members of my team to get involved in the process of creating the instructional video for week five.

In summary, the way Dr. Abernathy organized and conducted the weekly conferences, inspired me to continue through the course and gave me the guidance I needed in order to learn how to use and apply multimedia tools in an educational setting.

A Movie Maker Tutorial

The following is a Movie Maker tutorial I have developed under EDLD 5363 Multimedia Video Technology. The assignment originally asked to use the editing software you were going to talk about to edit your tutorial. However when I tried to edit my screen capture clips with Movie Maker, I discovered it downgraded the resolution of the clips, so instead I created the tutorial using Microsoft Expression Screen capture and Encoder 4. Microsoft Expression 4 has an unsteady interface and crashes a lot. The version I used does not allow for transitions between clips. At the beginning it was hard to get to understand how it works, since  does not allow to copy and paste clips. On the positive side it does maintain the resolution of the screen capture, the process to encode is fast and it supports various media formats.

Creating a Personal Digital Story

This project helped me understanding the value of Digital Storytelling and its roll in a Multimedia learning environment. By using both audio and images I realized how the process of creating a multimedia projects requires of a lot of retrospection in order to select the topic and develop the story and how it also involves a lot of creativity to express your ideas not only through audio, but also to represent and match those auditory ideas into images.

The first part of the project is to develop a script based on the Digital Storytelling Cookbooks, which is guide to "prepare" a digital story. The script was then revised and used to create a storyboard. From there, I selected the pictures that would go along with the script and created a 2:00 minute movie using iMovie.

The project's goal was to create a personal digital story. My story is a reflection about a moment in my life where I evaluate most of the important decisions I have made. In this digital story I use symbolism to represent my self, my feelings, my life and it's decisions. This story is also intended to be an exercise of reflection on the amount of blessings that one can find when taking a moment to meditate about how you got to the point in your life where you are now.

Action Research Plan

Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template Goal To learn in what ways will the use of technology through the implementation of the TLC3 framework impact 5th grade student achievement on the STAAR tests (Math, Reading and Science) Action Step(s) Person(s) Responsible Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation 1.      Analyze the use of technology by 5th grade students and teachers at the beginning of TLC3 program. E. Arias Nov.12-16 -          Survey (to be developed) -          An Educator’s Guide to Evaluating the use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms by U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement Completed surveys and weblog entry  by Nov. 18 2.      Monitor the implementation of the TLC3 framework in each class. E. Arias J. Ibanez C. Corns D. Moya R. Quiroga Nov. 26-30 Mar 4-8 May. 6-10 -          Interview (to be developed) -          Student work -          Digital camera Interview summary and weblog entry  by May 12 3.      Analyze the use of technology by 5th grade students and teachers at the end of the first year of implementation of the TLC3 program. E. Arias May 13-17 -          Survey (to be developed) -          Student work -          Digital camera Completed surveys and weblog entry  by May 18 4.      Compare and  analyze use of Technology at the beginning and ending of the implementation of the TLC3 program. E. Arias C. Trevino May 20-24 -          Surveys -          Interviews -          Student work -          Digital camera Summary report of surveys and interviews, and weblog entry  by May 24 5.      Analyze student’s level of achievement on the 2011-2012 5th grade STAAR Reading, Mathematics and Science tests. E. Arias C. Trevino Feb 19-22 -          Field notes -          2011-2012 5th grade STAAR Reading, Mathematics and Science scores Report of analysis and weblog entry  by Feb. 22 6.      Analyze student’s level of achievement on the 2012-2013 5th grade STAAR Reading, Mathematics and Science tests. E. Arias May 20-24 -          2011-2012 5th grade STAAR Reading, Mathematics and Science scores -          Field notes Report of analysis  and weblog entry  by Feb. 24 7.      Compare and  analyze student’s level of achievement on the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 5th grade STAAR Reading, Mathematics and Science tests E. Arias C. Trevino June 3-7 -          2011-2012 and 2012-2012 5th grade STAAR Reading, Mathematics and Science scores -          Field notes Summary report of field notes and weblog entry  by June 7 8.      Evaluate effectiveness of research E. Arias S. Pitchford K. Buentello June 10-14 -          Summary reports with surveys, interviews and field notes Principal’s feedback   and weblog entry.   9.      Draw conclusions and determine actions to take based on the results of research E. Arias S. Pitchford June 17-28 -          Summary reports with surveys, interviews and field notes Principal’s feedback and weblog entry.