Group Leadership Project

The Tool 

Our group used Camtasia Studio to produce our professional development tutorial. We decided on this tool out of a shared interest in screencasting and, on most parts, a shared desire to try out a new piece of software. Furthermore, it seemed the obvious choice, since Camtasia was the subject of the tutorial and we could all share our learning experiences while producing the video.
Camtasia turned out to be an excellent choice, as far as I am concerned. I started this project with a little experience using some free screencasting software and I was blown away by the differences I discovered in a more professional project. The increased amount of add-ins, like callouts, transitions, and highlighting, the ability to cut and splice existing videos, and the ability to craft audio tracks separately all impressed me. While Camtasia is a little expensive for me to purchase on my own, I plan on speaking with my employer about buying a copy for use in the office.

Lessons Learned 

I learned a great deal in a short time with this project. The biggest, or steepest, learning curve was definitely the software. While Camtasia is set up in a very user-friendly way, I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the options. There are a few that I did not have the opportunity to explore, because the task seemed a bit daunting and I could not see a natural way to use them. I would like to spend a little more time exploring the use of webcams in screencasts (if/when I can find a good reason to do so) and the use of hotspots to make the videos interactive.
As a group, we learned how to use Google Hangouts as a way to collaborate online. We were able to talk face-to-face with a minimum of technical difficulties, which made collaboration much easier. Compared to past group projects,
I took on a much stronger role as a leader in the planning phases and encouraging the group to make solid, actionable decisions on a timely basis. We did have some difficulties with one of our group members dragging his feet, and being out of touch for longer than was comfortable for the rest of us. These breakdowns in communication continued until the last minute (I finally got the link to the final draft at 8pm on the day it was due).  Additionally, this final draft did not include a conclusion, which this member had been assigned (and had agreed) to do.  I think the parts of the project that made it into the final draft work very well, it just would have been nice to have a conclusion to wrap things up.

Changes? 

The main thing I would change about this process, although it was a bit out of my hands, is the communication issue mentioned above. It's very difficult to work on something as a group when one member is difficult to reach and doesn't deliver.  I would have liked to have more face-to-face time with the group in order to produce a more streamlined, together project. In my section of the video, I feel like I did not do the greatest job of writing a script that matched up with the timing on the screen, and the reader was a little rushed in sections. I feel like issues like this would have been easier to work out with more time working together as a group. That said, I do think we produced a solid video by having a good plan of action that everyone contributed to.

Final Product

Here's the video our group produced.

Professional Learning Plan

For my professional learning plan, I made an animation using goanimate.com.  This process, while frustrating at times, was a whole lot of fun overall.  This is definitely something I'm going to mess around with in the future, and I recommend it to anyone out there who wants to throw together a fun little cartoon.  Here it is:


plp by lindjonath on GoAnimate

Make a video easily. Powered by GoAnimate Video Maker.

PART D - Findings and Implications

This week, I was not able to put as much work into the WPP project as I had planned.  I did take some advice from my research, and used a screencast to answer a specific question from one of my co-workers.  She had been scanning multiple page documents using her printer, but when she saved them, she was making a separate file for each page.  I was able to solve this problem for her very efficiently by making a quick screencast and walking through the steps. This whole process only took me a little while longer than writing out the steps, and the real advantage was that I was able to do the screencast using her computer. Often, I have had trouble with my instructions, even ones that include screenshots and other images, because not everyone's computer desktop looks like mine.  Also, even though we may be using the same programs to complete tasks, sometimes I forget when I've changed my settings already, so what is going on in my process might not be the same as someone else.  I got to work a few minutes early, logged on to her computer, and recorded the screen as I walked through the process.  Altogether, it took me maybe 15 minutes, and later that same day she was performing the task correctly.  We didn't have to schedule time to sit down, I didn't have to re-explain anything that wasn't clear in writing, and everyone was pleased with the results.

The verbal feedback I've been getting around the office is very encouraging.  I think people have probably been waiting for me to do something like this for awhile, and they are thankful that I'm finally getting around to it.  I also dug into some of the features of the Google form I initially sent out, and got a really nice readout summarizing the results of the original survey.  This will serve to provide me with direction for the rest of the project.

I did notice that there were quite a few employees that did not respond to the survey.  I think there are probably at least a few who don't even use the company email addresses.  Since the survey was anonymous, I'm not sure who's who, so I plan on sending out a one-question survey asking people to write in their names in order to figure out who I need to remind.  It is totally possible that there are a few that don't even know they have email addresses,  Ninety percent of our employees are part-time, some working for us as little as six hours a week, so who can blame them.

So, next steps are

1. Make sure that everyone is on board and knows what resources are out there (survey)
2. Add some links to outside resources (specifically, there were a good number of responders who wanted to learn more about Microsoft Word)
3. Add content to the web page
4. Reaction survey for the email screencast

Mobile Technology

Classroom 2.0

Here's the comment I posted on Classroom 2.0.  It was in reply to a discussion about getting around cell phone rules in the classroom.  I understand why schools ban cell phones, but I don't agree with the practice.  It seems backwards to me to try to stop these things.

Poll everywhere

This was actually a really cool experience.  It was neat to see the votes come in live.  I also learned a little about writing a poll: don't give too many options, especially if your audience is limited.

Experience

Different tools

While I liked the experience with polling, I can't see a really great way to apply it to my situation of one on one teaching.  It was a struggle to get the 10 responses I got in the poll.
I looked into flash drives as well, but I kind of think they're obsolete these days.  They're easy to lose, and they're static.  Why carry around something when you can store your files in the cloud and access them on any number of devices?
I also have trouble seeing a good way of using straight audio tools like podcasts and mp3 files for mathematics instruction.  It's very difficult to do anything useful in math without some kind of visual.
Ipods, Ipads, e-readers, smartphones, etc. are all great tools, but I don't really look at them as anything more than access to the internet, and I probably wouldn't consider producing any material specific to a device.  It's all about software and access for me.

My thoughts on integration

I just started a new project with one of my students.  He is really interested in economics, and since he's a freshman, he can't take the school's economics class yet.  We did some research, and found a free microeconomics course that he could work through on his own online.  The course comes from Saylor.org, and seems to be put together pretty well.  He's going to try to do most of it on his phone, using voice apps to write papers, text-to-voice apps to read him the material, and the web to watch the videos.  I'm excited to see how this works for him, and I hope to encourage more of my students to find self-directed ways to study things that they're interested in.
For me, and for my environment, this is what mobile devices are all about: finding ways to meet the needs of diverse students.  Mobile devices are all about opening up the world of information to anyone with a device and a connection anytime and anywhere.  I will continue to help my students figure out how to do what they want to do and do better what they need to do using mobile technology.

Challenges, inspirations, predictions

I think mobile devices are going to keep getting more and more ingrained in our everyday lives.  In a few years, it is going to seem ridiculous that schools tried to keep them out of the classroom.  Actually, it's probably going to seem ridiculous that we all carried around these bricks to keep connected (Google Glass, anyone?).  Again, it's not the device that's important to me, it's the access to information.  The main challenge, I think, will be keeping the infrastructure robust enough to deal with the ever growing amount of information that is flying around out there.

PART B - Storyboard and Script

Progress on the Camtasia Presentation

This week on the group project was spent working on the storyboard.  We have been using a Google Docs Presentation as our storyboard, which made it relatively easy to collaborate.  Each group member took a section of slides to work on, and they will be working on the production of the final product for those parts as well.  Bob, Sharon, and I had a hangout on Saturday, where we finalized the workload assignments for the storyboard as well as the final project.  We basically split the presentation into four parts.

Workload Assignments

Part one will be an introduction to what Camtasia is and what it is used for.  Bob will be handling this part of the presentation.

Part two will be some brief instructions on using Camtasia.  Sharon will be responsible for this part.

Part three will be some examples of uses specific to our audience: educators and education technology leaders.  I will be handling this.

Part four will be a short conclusion.  This will be Eric’s responsibility.

Everyone will be producing video for their respective sections, and then Eric will be putting the whole thing together at the end, and handling the voice over work.  This will give us a nice, cohesive final project.

Storyboard

Here's a link to our Google presentation.

PART C - Implementation

Here's a podcast detailing the early implementation of my Wicked Problem Project, which is creating instructional videos for my colleagues and creating a new page on our website to display these videos. I wanted to try something a little different, so I embedded the Podomatic player.



Here's a snip of what the website looks like

Here's a link to the survey I created to get some feedback and suggestions from my colleagues.

And here's a snip to show my podcast in itunes.

PART A - Brainstorm Session

Web Conferencing Tool

Our group used Hangouts from Google Plus to brainstorm about our project.I found Google Plus Hangouts to be a useful tool for web conferencing.  It was nice to be able to get together with people across the country and talk about the project.

Advantages

The number one advantage of using hangouts is that it is a Google product.  I like having everything (email, blog, documents, Google+ for networking, voice, etc) under one username and login.  Hangouts incorporate some features from the Google family of products, like docs, right into the interface (although when I tried using docs during the hangout, I couldn't figure out how to get back to the video screen).  Hangouts also have a wide variety of other apps or plugins that we didn't really have time to get into, but will be interesting to investigate further in the future.

Disadvantages

I didn't really see many disadvantages to Hangouts.  I could do without the presenter (person talking) having a larger video in the middle of the screen, but I can see how that might be advantageous for larger groups.  I think Google+ as a platform is also still trying to figure out exactly what it is, and so are its users.  Most people I talk to, from my family to colleagues to students, aren't really sure what to make of Google+ yet, but I'm trying to use it and encourage others to do so.  As I mentioned above, it's really nice to have all these products under one login and connected together so well.

Content of Session

 Here is a recording of our full group session. All of our members were present for this session.  We chose to create an instructional presentation on using Camtasia screen recording software, which will also be our method of presenting the instruction.  Bob also used Camtasia to record the session.  Two of our members had had a bit of experience with Camtasia, but it will be a new technology for Sharon and me.  We agreed that Bob was going to start a Google doc for some preliminary storyboarding, and set up another time to meet the next weekend.

Since my previous posting on the web conferencing process, our group has made a little more headway.  Sharon and I "hung out" briefly on Saturday morning to sort of recap what we had due and where the group was.  Bob was also hard at work, and put together a shared Google presentation with the beginnings of a gameplan for how the final product might look, as well as posting all of the different parts of the project to a shared calendar, so that we can keep on top of things and distribute responsibilities.  I added to the presentation some of what Sharon and I had discussed, as well as my thoughts on an outline and distributing responsibilities.  I think the coming week will require a great deal of collaboration and planning as we  put together a storyboard and script.

Part B - Application of TPACK

Application of TPACK

How does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?

Screencasting supports the lessons I am teaching because it allows the viewers to see these things worked out on a computer screen, rather than a list of instructions.  In my past experience using written instructions, I usually ended up having to sit down and walk some of my colleagues through the processes on their computers. This, of course, may be due to some lack of clarity in my instructions, but I feel like seeing these things done will make picking up the skills more intuitive.  

 How specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?

I have found in my use of screencasts vs. written instructions that it's invaluable to be able to pause a video, do what it just told me to, and then move on to the next step.  It also eliminates problems caused by technical jargon.  Although I try to keep this to a minimum in my written instructions, it does come up sometimes.  Not only will viewers not need to know the technical jargon, they might potentially learn what some of the terms mean if they see me using it on the screen.  

How specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?

One huge advantage of screencasts over one on one instruction or face to face group instruction is that it makes the instructions easily repeatable.  Especially when using software, I often need a few runs through a process to really get it.  Sometimes there's a process at the beginning of something that I'll forget how to do by the time I need to do it again. With screencasts, the instruction is always there and accessible, whenever learners need it.  

 

 Further Research

To add to the brief research mentioned in part A, I logged on to EbscoHost and did some browsing through their database of journals and periodicals. Here are some quotes from some of the resources I came across:

 " ...screen-casts are a great format for online tutorials that students can refer to for remediation or enrichment."

 -Preparing to Teach Digitally. By: Ferriter, William M., Educational Leadership, 00131784, May2010, Vol. 67, Issue 8

Regarding making "one-shot" screencasts to answer specific questions:

• Explain what you are about to do.
• Have one goal, and answer one question. Don't clutter the screencast with unnecessary information.
• Pace yourself; don't go racing through. If possible, let the patron control the pace.
• If using audio, speak and move the mouse slowly to allow the patron to follow along.
• Summarize the reason for the screencast near the end.
• Have a starting point. This is usually the front page of the library's website, but it could be anything as long as the patron knows how to get to it.
• If the patron seems interested, teach her or him how to use the tool. Wouldn't this be a great way to get help requests?
• Don't worry about making it perfect. These are meant to be quick and dirty, so mistakes are fine.

Screencasting for an Audience of One. By: Jacobsen, Mikael, Library Journal, 03630277, 1/1/2011, Vol. 136, Issue 1

I found this second article pretty interesting, even though it was written for librarians.   The basic point was that the author found making quick screencasts to respond to specific questions from patrons and colleagues to be a useful resource, and not as time consuming as one might think.  This speaks to the way I plan on using screencasts in this project.  While I don't plan on answering every tech questing I get with a screencast, I think many of them, especially repeated ones, present an interesting opportunity for screencast use.
  

 

Further thoughts on Feedback

This week I plan on sending out a survey, or maybe a questionnaire, asking my fellow employees for requests about what I should create instructional videos for.  I also plan on including some kind of survey following anything I put out during this project asking for feedback.  I will use Google Forms for both of these tasks.

Web Conferencing

Ok, so I finally got to try Google Hangouts for the web conferencing assignment.  I'd been looking for a good reason to try hangouts, and luckily, everyone in the group was on board.  The journey began last Thursday, March 29, where Bob and I got to hang out a little bit:

Due to a mixup with email addresses (my bad), Sharon got a little lost in the internet, and we weren't able to bring her in to this one.  Bob and I did try out the chat feature, although we couldn't really see a reason to use chat when you're talking...

On Friday March 30, Sharon and I were able to touch base and have a nice little hangout. 

Again, we were just getting our feet wet, but we talked about the assignment a little, and came up with the idea of trying to use Camtasia as our subject.

Finally, big day, on Sunday April 1st we were all able to get together.  Bob created a video of the meeting.

There were a few pitfalls to this technology, mainly that it's a little bit clunky to get into.  Also, I'm not sure if I'm a big fan of the big video for the person who's talking: this might be more useful for larger groups of people, but I think I would have rather just had everyone the same size (feels like a better format for a conversation to me).  

I can think of many ways this will be useful with my students, especially those who have illnesses that cause them to miss school periodically.  I tried it out with one of my students to check in over spring break, and she liked it, and we were able to complete a mini tutoring session.  I'm sure I'll use this more in the future, both in my professional life and my personal life.