Technical
Use software and other tools appropriately to the task.
Artifact: EDTEC 561 Educational Video
Related Artifacts:
Context
This artifact was a solo project created in EDTEC 561, Advanced Web-based Multimedia Development. The goal of the project was to plan a short educational video program based on helping a target audience enhance specified knowledge, skills, or attitudes. At the time my sixth grade students were having a hard time understanding the historical significance of The Silk Road to China and other countries. Our social studies curriculum only dedicated two paragraphs and a picture to The Silk Road, but our state curriculum standards identified it as an essential piece of knowledge. This artifact was created to supplement my curriculum and enhance my students’ learning experiences.
Demonstrating the Standard
There is a lot of work and many components to creating an educational video. I began by preparing a content outline specifying the main themes and points of view for my video. At that point I knew I wanted to include pictures, music, narration, and animation to both communicate the information effectively and also to keep the attention of my audience. I chose to use Adobe Flash because it was the best tool to accomplish my goals. Next, I drafted the narrative treatment and then wrote a script for my educational video. The final step before making my actual video was drawing a storyboard which incorporated appropriate pictures, sequencing, camera moves and transitions. I then began creating my animations and implementing the script and storyboard, with acceptable sound quality.
Challenges / Opportunities
This entire project was a great opportunity for me to learn much needed technical skills. I had virtually no prior experience in creating a movie or using flash. Working through Bob Hoffman’s Educational Video Workshop helped me acquire experience conceiving and designing an educational video that has served me well in other classes and at work.
Creating and editing the audio was a great challenge for me. I used a headset microphone and the audio recorder that came with my computer. This caused poor audio quality and I ran out of time to improve it. There was such a steep learning curve with Flash that I didn’t have time to learn as much about audio recording and editing as I would have liked.
Personal Growth
It is almost redundant to say that technology is very important in our field and my experience with this project, coupled with my experience in EDTEC 541, gave me a strong foundation on the technical side. I was challenged to improve my technical skills and have since grown immensely in that area. I have since developed my skills in Flash, Dreamweaver, and other Adobe products as well as various other software applications. I subscribe to several technology related blogs, podcasts, and social networks and continue to experiment with the latest technologies. All the while, never losing site of the importance of data, principles, theories, and models.
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