Learning Journal #6: Celebration!

After some frustrations (refer to earlier post) we decided to localize the project on one single computer to solve the problem of the looming and dooming red X’s. Low and behold it was not the going from computer to computer that was the culprit of the X…..it was something else.

It was either the program we initially chose to do it in (Window’s movie maker) or the way we recorded our narrations because they seemed to be constantly causing trouble. Or it may have been the computer Gods that knew extra practice was needed….so after re-doing the lineup several times the project was finally complete. I have yet to post it or burn it to a disk…so here’s hoping it really it done. In the meantime I am not turning off my computer until the project is safely turned in! No more red X’s haunting my dreams! We’re done!!!!

Learning Journal #5: Frustration!

I can't help but be frustrated right now because saving your "digital" work on a flash drive is seemingly impossible to do when you are working on several different computers. The work we had done on my computer at home showed up on the school computer with big red X's on it. Once we had decided we wanted to work in "Window's Movie Maker" we started over. The next day we went to work again and guess what showed up on the screen? Big red X's! I decided then and there we would stay on one computer for the remainder of the project. So once again I started over on my home computer. And naturally I'm having trouble with having sound and narrative together! It seemed to work at school when a classmate was showing me, but here on my own.....it refuses. Overall, A am frustrated!

Learning Journal #4

This week our digital storybooks starting coming together. My partner and I experimented with different types of media we could use for our project. We finally settled on Windows Movie Maker. The layout appeared to be the most "user-friendly." While finalizing our script for recording, a lot of new and fun ideas surfaced to make our video a little more entertaining. We were set to record! After a few....mistakes we finally got our recordings finished! It took a lot longer than we had anticipated, but we had fun with it. It was neat to see the sound waves on the screen, however, it became apparent that I am a louder person than my partner :( Oh-well. We were a little concerned about how we would add music on top of our voices, we are eager to learn how to piece the whole thing together!

Digital Learners: The power of media

I spent some time exploring the various websites that were given to us in class as tools for our digital stories. The greatest discovery in this exploration was Teachertube. I had no idea there was a youtube for teachers! I did some searching and found some really great videos. What a great resource to have in the classroom! There were various demonstrations, songs to learn curriculum, not to mention an endless supply of useful digital stories to use in my classroom. There are also very informative and enlightening videos on there. Forget facebook and blogs.....I think I have just found my new internet addiction! But I daresay teachertube would be a more productive habit than spending hours looking at other people's photos or chatting on facebook. One video in particular seem to be a testimony of media teachers everywhere. I felt it only appropriate to post it rather than summarize it. Its long, but interesting.




As for class, I'm looking forward to learning how to use Microsoft Photo story....because I have already forgotten how to use power point! Just kidding.....kind of :)