Video:
I recently finished the final cut of my Capstone Video. I decided to stick with Adobe Spark as my video making resource. It was an easy decision to make as I already started my rough draft using that tool. Improving from my rough draft video was a simple matter of making a few revisions. First, I needed to replace two placeholder images of the digital resources which I am promoting:
The last change I made to my video was a recommendation made by a fellow cohort member. They recommended that I make a direct mention to Touro University and Napa Learns. This was good advice and I determined to include an the logos of these two organizations. After having watched the final cut of my video there is only one change that I would have really liked to make and that is to have used my own students likeness in the video. While my students have signed waivers at ACMS to use their images and likeness, they are covered under Touro waivers, and I did not want to deal with issues of waivers and additional paper work. Poster: Creating the Poster design was not necessarily a difficult task. It seemed a sole matter of deciding where to place my information. One issue I did encounter with the assignment was the fact that the research data itself was from my first semester over a year ago. Which means the focus of the research is different from my current driving question. I suppose I see the purpose of proving my ability to conduct actual research and deliver data. I just wish I could have focused on newer data from my more recent action research. My presentation at Mare Island will address students who I have not seen since last year and I fear my familiarity and memory of the figures will not be as fresh as I would like for such an important presentation.
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Video Production Journey
Creating a real representation to communicate what is in your mind is rarely an easy task. Before I could begin storyboarding my video, I had to first decide what my goal actually was. My goal for this video is that I will help fellow teachers realize that there is both a need and an opportunity to enhance the way we leverage technology in our classrooms. I want to help teachers recognize the value in collaboration as it applies to critical thinking and problem solving. Once I had decided on my goal, I had to decide how I could visually communicate this idea. Firstly, I need to consider my audience. As my audience will primarily consist of fellow teachers, I must ask myself, what kind of video would I myself be interested in watching? What would make it stand out from the countless videos that we as teachers are all too familiar with? Personally, I find that I am more interested in the students. When considering a pedagogical shift, I always consider my students first. How will this affect how my students learn? How will it help and is it right for them? With that in mind, I need my video to emphasize students. Therefore, I plan to use footage of my personal students in our authentic classroom environment. I will likely need to procure permission to use said footage but I feel the authenticity will enhance the video. I know that teachers tend to be critical thinkers by nature, therefore I will present my audience of teachers with two things: A problem and a solution. Problem: I will likely open with a shot of a student working on an assignment alone. The video will show and imply the struggles that many students face when attempting to solve a problem independently. Solution: Then, I will address how well students have adapted to technology both in and out of the classroom. I will show how humans are pack animals and by nature are designed to collaborate with their peers. This will lead into the role that technology can play in education. Specifically, by enhancing collaboration and critical thinking skills. I will conclude the video by inviting teachers to learn more about how they can leverage specific technology to improve learning experiences for their own students. For this video, I will most likely utilize Adobe Spark. I am a big fan of the resource and have used it successfully in the past. The most challenging aspect of this project is the time constraint. I have a lot to say and share with my audience. I hope I will be able to do a sufficient job in 90 seconds. Being concise is the name of the game. I will need to use images to communicate large amounts of information in a short amount of time. When I first started brainstorming my logo, I began by drawing. I quickly turned to seek digital assistance. In class we discussed several potential resources for creating digital logos. The resource that I ended up using was LogoJoy. I found the website to be very user friendly. The site works by building a profile around your personal taste. You select your preferences out of various options such as color schemes and fonts. Then, uses simply enter their company name and tag line. The site then generates several options for users to select from. Each option is individually accessible to edit further. I enjoyed using this resource. It made creating my logo very simple and offered lots of variety.
The first logo I drafted on LogoJoy featured a star. When selecting an initial design, I wanted something that represented the notion of collaboration and coming together. I felt that stars might be a good symbol as it is five different points coming together to form an iconic symbol. Also, there are infinite stars in the sky just as there are infinite perspectives and ideas to be shared. For my second attempt, I focused on collaboration in the natural world. Bees are some of the most well accomplished collaborators. They work together with a common goal. Alone they are weak but together they achieve so much. So I created a logo of a honeycomb with a single bee. I am very partial to this particular draft. I have the logo in Purple. My research would suggest that green would be a more appropriate color for education but I personally associate purple with education as it is has been my school colors for years. My final draft steps away from the natural and looks towards man’s creation. Simple puzzle pieces, using black and white positive and negative space. This seemed like and obvious yet necessary option to consider. Puzzle pieces are appropriate for my capstone project as they need to come together in order to complete the big picture. Unfortunately, I feel like puzzle pieces have been over utilized in branding. While the visual aspect of my logos have changed, I have consistently held on to tag line “better together”. I think students can truly benefit by collaborating and sharing ideas beyond their own classrooms. Humans coming together with common goals has always been the best way to achieve some of our greatest accomplishments. |
AuthorThe best teachers never cease to be students. Archives
December 2017
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