Scripture to Ponder

This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Psalms 118:24


Saturday, September 25, 2010

Multimedia Video Technology

The Multimedia Video Technology course for Lamar was a great experience for me. I collaborated in the past with co-workers on Skype and Google Docs, but never had to create anything. The experience from this assignment was valuable in many ways. Not only was it nice to rely on the experience of others in your group, but the finished product was better than I had ever dreamed. We used Google docs and relied on the chat window to post our ideas, plan and create our video. We had a wonderful director (Deann) for the project who kept us informed, on task, and up-to-date on the activities and deadlines. I will be able to take this experience and share it with others in my district. Thanks!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Week 3: Group Collaboration

This week we met with our group members and decided on the best method for collaborating. We have four in our group: Deann Thompson, Debbie Anderson, Lacy Hobbs, and me. We named our group, DDLP and Deann created a wiki to keep track of our collaborations. http://groupddlp-5363.wikispaces.com/ At first we had been emailing back and forth. Deann and I communicated on Skype together for practice and was able to chat as well as connect and hear each other's voice. It kept disconnecting, but we were laughing through it all.  The next night all of us tried using the wiki, and discovered that it was not letting us type and edit at the same time. Once, Deann thought that we lost all of our work, so we quickly reverted to Google Docs. It was much easier working on the same page and having the chat box nearby. We spent 2 or more hours collaborating on our assignment for this week and was able to create our outline, script, and shot list. We all agreed to help in the different roles so that we can learn from each other. Lacy agreed to do most of the editing with our help. Our topic for the PSA is: Save a Life: Adopt a Pet.

Script Outline:

Save a Life: Adopt a Pet

I. Reasons to adopt a pet
      A. Companion
      B. Security
      C. Playmate
      D. Unconditional Love

II. Where to Adopt

III. Why Adopt
      A. New family member
      B. Health Benefits
      C. Save a life

Monday, September 6, 2010

Web Conference- Week 2

I joined the Web conference for Lamar's EDLD 5363 on September 6, 2010 at 6:00 pm. Somehow, I managed to get my camera working and loaded on the board. We had 30+ members and it was much better than Week 1.  Dr. Abernathy was able to check the questions and kept the conversation flowing and answered questions as they were posted. I was able to receive information about the Group work for Weeks 3-5.  The most important information was that we are to save ALL collaborations that we are involved in.  Suggestions were made to use Skype, wikis, blogs, or google docs. These are suggestions and anything Web 2.0 tools would be accepted. The only activity that was difficult to follow was that some were discussing Week 2 assignments and others were on the topic of Weeks 3-5.  That became confusing since many did not note which week they were discussing.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
Toddlers & Computers by Peggy Hale is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Jaycut Podcast/Vodcast

You can hear my podcast at the following url: http://pnhale.podomatic.com/

I decided to add screenshots and music to my podcast above, creating a vodcast to share with teachers in my district.


Podcast Planning

For my Lamar 5363 course, we had to create a podcast about one of the open source video editors that we evaluated. I did mine on Jaycut. Here is my initial plan for my podcast:

Opening statement (with music): "It's a great day to learn something new!"
Episode 1: Today we will look at Jaycut, a free open source video editor.
Following are the different features I want to point out for visitors:
  1. Login (jaycut.com) Register
  2. Start Demo
  3. Create Video
  4. Go to Help/Support for Getting Started video, Library help, and Timeline help
  5. Most important function: Add Media, next to Help button
  6. Have video saved on computer and Browse for it
  7. Upload
  8. Next Episode-Timeline
  9. Thanks for watching!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Masher Video: Twins Birth




Here's the link to watch on the site: Twins Birth

Editing Software Evaluations

The two open source video editing software applications I chose to evaluate were Masher and Jaycut. I went to my Social networking site called Delicious and did a search for video editing. I knew that I bookmarked several and decided on those two. I have not used either software applications before this course, but enjoyed working in them and creating several short videos that I shared on my blog and wiki. My experience with video editing is very limited and not until I received Camtasia for my office, did I create a tutorial to help teachers in my district learn how to use programs. I have also used the Flip camera software to edit a video I created in Bible class at church. After working with both Jaycut and Masher, I think that my experience with Audacity and Camtasia helped me work through some of the features readily. I don’t think that I would use either one at work, since we have purchase Camtasia, but I think that I’d use them at home for personal use. I thought Masher was limited, however I liked the finished product. It created such a crisp, clear video and I liked their visual effects that you could add such as confetti, or an old movie reel. I think that in my current position, sharing the various video editing software applications with teachers and students in our district would be beneficial. Now that most schools have felt strict budget cuts this year, open source software is a big plus! My two choices are simple enough for students to use. I would recommend Masher for even the primary grades to use in school.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Video Editing with Jaycut

EDLD 5363 - Week 2
This is an open source video editing software program that I was exploring for a Lamar course. I wanted to find a couple that would be easy to use for beginners. Many features on the software was recognizable like the different tracks. They had one for transitions, one for audio, and then one for images.  I wasted a lot of time learning how to use the program. It was fairly easy, but I wish it had an undo feature. I had to recreate it several times while learning how to add text, transitions, audio, and images. Everytime you closed out, you would lose your work and had to start over. You had to make sure to publish it, or you will do like I had to and recreate the entire video again. Learning new technology usually has its ups and downs like this, but it's in your mistakes that you learn the most.          My Jaycut videos
This will take you to two videos. The first one is called Granna's girls and is about my two granddaughters who were born two months apart. Many people thought they were twins, because we would dress them alike. The second video underneath is the remix or one I edited and made changes. I put a new song, changed out the pictures and text. This one is about all five of my grandchildren. I now will decide on a second open source editor to compare to Jaycut. I think that I would recommend this, since the video came out pretty clear and had the same look and feel as a YouTube video.