My reflection will focus on two main aspects: reflection as the “teacher” of the course, and, as a learner.
A quick reminder: the context of my course is a community of interest for learning technologies. It’s for staff to learn about new technologies and, if they want to, try something out in their courses. I can’t make them do any “homework”, but I can provide a platform to support them.
Reflection as a Teacher
Fitting a digital story in the module
The first challenge was to think of an appropriate digital story that would fit in with the content module. Luckily, our March session (run by my colleague) was on video making. It made my digital story on introducing video making rather appropriate for the module. It also provides an example of a video made by a novice video maker, me! So, if I can do it, they can all give it a try!
In the video, I highlighted all the key elements, so even if they didn’t go through the online module, hopefully, they would learn some key points.
In later revisions, I decided to add interactive content to the video. I also asked them to take notes on specific things while they watch the video. We encourage adopting active learning, and it is also one of the seven principles for good practice in education (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). In this way I can model “active learning” approaches for watching a video. We should practice what we preach!
Technology selection for the digital story
In selecting the technologies to use for the digital story, I wanted to use what is readily available on my work computer. I tried anyway. I used parts of Bates (2014)’s SECTIONS model to help with the decision, particularly on the following:
- Student – the tool should be accessible to them
- Ease of Use – I stuck to tools, such as screen recording or using our existing lecture recording technology, which is simpler to use and/or more familiar to staff
- Cost – by sticking with what’s provided at work, or can be purchased through work at a lower cost, we can bring the cost barrier to entry down
- Teaching functions – in the modules, I also asked people to think what the purpose of their video as that’d help them decide which tool may be good for them. I used a range to try out different methods myself
- Organisational issues – if the tools are provided by work, there are less organisational issues we need to deal with
Camtasia Studio has been a popular request from staff, but it comes with a higher cost and ease of use barriers. So, I was trying to do my digital story without using it. This meant I had to reconsider how I did the filming with the tools available to me. I ended up using a mixture of different methods to support my digital story being more interesting and diverse in different scenes. While I don’t expect our staff to do the same unless their video project calls for a mixture of recordings, it was good for me to be able to provide a variety of examples to them.
It also meant that I had to figure out how to make the video by doing only simple edits, that is, cutting unwanted parts of the same video multiple times to make smaller videos. I then combined them with another tool.
I also must confess that I used Snagit instead of Jing as it was easy and available to me both at work and at home. In hindsight, I should have tried the BB Flashback recorder, but I didn’t want to be doing assignments at work. I intend to try BB FlashBack for recording and editing for my next work project in order to familiarise myself with the tool.
Content module design
Anderson (2008) showed different interactions online, the one I focused on is the learner-content for the main content module, and learner-learner for a small module for an upcoming session for the community.
I took time to consider the layout and sequencing, and decided to make them similar to how I laid out the introduction video in order to reinforce the key steps in making a video. Each page is kept as simple as possible, with headings and sub-headings. I also bolded the keywords, hoping to make the pages easier to read or skim if they are time poor.
We asked people to bring ideas for a video that they can make and use in their course later. So, what they work in during (and after) the session can be used, making the activities more relevant and authentic to them (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). We are doing this for the upcoming session on interactive content as well.
An extra small module has been added to provide the context for the additional discussion. For our next learning technology community meeting, the topic is on interactive content creation. Learning is social and distributed (Hutchins, 2000), so the discussion is there to help people brainstorm ideas through sharing and reading each other’s ideas.
I did also have to hold back on putting too many activities in there. I’m more enthusiastic about all these than our staff has time for! Again, keeping it simple and putting in prompts for them to get in touch if they want more support for their projects, seems a reasonable compromise.
Time
While most of our video projects would probably be simpler, it took me a lot of time to complete the module and to weave in the digital story. I definitely can appreciate why many of our staff have great intentions to do and try something new in their courses but lack time to follow through. We will have to think about how we support them better in that regard.
Reflection as a Learner
I have come to appreciate the iterative nature of design and development of course content. Also, the amount of time it requires to think through various aspects in the course, how people would go through and use the content, and, how best to make the content more accessible and easy to use. I am not quite there yet, but I think every additional experience would help make this process easier going forward.
I have also pushed myself out of my comfort zone by trying a range of new technologies. I have never had to make a proper video before, so I’m happy with what I have got. It’s not perfect but is good enough and not bad for a first video, I hope.
I have come to embrace the growth mindset even more after this assignment! I used to leave anything related to multimedia to my other colleagues, as I’m not a media specialist and I thought that I couldn’t help people with these queries. Now I think, I can give it a good go!
Overall, I have enjoyed the assignment and appreciated the opportunity.
Reference
Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
Bates, T. (2014). Choosing and using media in education: The SECTIONS model. In Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/9-pedagogical-differences-between-media/
Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32-42.
Available online: http://edr.sagepub.com/content/18/1/32
Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39(7), 3-7. Retrieved fromhttp://www.aahea.org/articles/sevenprinciples1987.htm
Hutchins, E. (2000). Distributed Cognition.
Available online: http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/Anthro179a/DistributedCognition.pdf