Finally, reflection time

"Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated"

During these summer courses, I’ve reviewed and learned about at least six web 2.0 tools: Schoology, WeVideo, Bubbl, VoiceThread, KwikSurveys, and Jamendo. Some of them are new to me, while some are the tools that I use regularly. Truthfully, it’s very difficult to choose which tool that I like the most, since each of them has their own special features on their categories. However, the one that I think will be very useful for my profession in educational field is Schoology. I’m planning to use this LMS as the platform for creating learning materials in the future.

Aside of getting to know about new tools (web 2.0 tools), I’ve also learned that there is a vast opportunity of researches related to technology and education, and some are seemed doable in a very short time with little budget. Still related to research, I’ve also written five research plans within less than two months, which is an unbelievable record for me. After all, it’s a very enlightening experience!

For future courses, here are my suggestion:

·         Limit the number of tools to be reviewed per category. Let the students select whichever tools they wish to review, not on first come gets the first pick basis. There are a lot of tools reviewed in the linked courses. I’m not sure about how many tools others have learned, but I only learned about the tools that I reviewed and commented. I understand that the large number of tools provided is to accommodate the number of students enrolled in the courses, however providing tools with good reviews and reliable is better than putting up all of the tools that are available.

·         Security is one of the main concerns for educational institutions when applying technology in the classroom. Hal addressed it so well in his final presentation. Is it possible to add this topic in future courses?

·         During the courses, I wrote five research plans. As I mention above, the experience was enlightening; I had to stretch my creativity, writing skill, and read more journals. However, I got only a few feedback that could help make the idea work. so, here's my suggestion, instead of writing five research plans, how about just one? One that will be perfected over the course, and presented at the end of the course. 

Creating a Scribe Video: an Overview

For the final assignment, I created a video describing about the process of creating a scribe video. The tool used is Videoscribe.

The goal of the presentation/video is to give an overview of the process of creating a scribe video using Videoscribe.

The target audience are Digital storytelling & New Technology MOOC participants (It is expected that most of them will be teachers or educators).

Here's the video: 

Feedback is welcome. Thanks for viewing.

Script: 

Creating a Scribe Video: an Overview

There’s a saying that everyone has a story to tell, and for the case of educators every educator has a lesson to share. One of the best ways to convey a lesson is through video. In this video I will give an overview of the process of creating a scribe video or a white board animation video using a software called Videoscribe. The desktop version of this software can be downloaded from www.videoscribe.com. It allows a seven day free trial.

Just like any other videos, the process of creating a scribe video begins with a topic and a script. A script is very essential in creating a video. Robin once said, “Without a good script, there will be no good story. Without a good story, there can be no good digital story”,   which in our case is “no good video”.

After writing the script, it’s a good idea if you also create a storyboard. A storyboard is a graphical representation of all of the elements that you want to include in your video. This will help you visualize what the video look like in advance. As soon as you’ve got your storyboard, you can begin working with Videoscribe.

We can add images, text, voiceover, and background music in videoscribe. We can insert pre-animated images from the built-in library or import our own images, which will be automatically transformed into animated images. Although Videoscribe recognizes various image formats, such as JPEG, PNG, or SVG; in my experience, the most-fit image format is SVG. The animated images created from this format looks more realistic that the others. Videoscribe has three types of animation: hand-drawing, move-in, and morph. When used properly, the combination of these three can produce a very unique animated video.

Although Videoscribe offers a variety of fonts that can be used for the text, I prefer using the default font since it looks more realistic. The hands, the color of the fonts, the drawing tools, and the background can also be changed depending on the video projects.

The audio can be added either by recording it directly in Videoscribe, or recorded separately then imported into Videoscribe. Personally, I prefer recording my voiceover separately, because Videoscribe doesn’t have voice-editing features. My favorite tool for recording a voiceover is Audacity, a very handy and free audio-editing program. It can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .

From the whole process, adding voiceover is the trickiest part. Creating or importing a voiceover is very easy, but syncing it with the visual elements is not. We need to ensure that our audience will receive the visual and audio elements simultaneously. This requires us to go back and forth. Patience is the key here.

If necessary, we can also add background music into the video. We can either use the music tracks from Videoscribe’s music library or add our own music. When using a background music, please try to match it with the mood of the scribe and pick a track that complements your voiceover. Make sure that the volume of the music is adjusted to a proper level so that it does not distract the audience from the voiceover.

The final part of the process is saving the project and exporting the video. The scribe video projects that we’ve created can be saved either on our computers, or on the cloud storage online. Videoscribe offers unlimited cloud storage space for its premium users. The finalized scribe video project can then be exported into movie files, which you can share to your students or audience either online or offline.

I hope that this video can be useful, and encourage you to create unique and engaging videos for your class. Enjoy your scribing!

Jamendo

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The Sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus” 

― Alexander Graham Bell

The Web 2.0 Tool that I’m reviewing this week is: Jamendo. You can access it here: www.jamendo.com

I think the category of this tool can fit both productivity and creativity.

Tool description:

This tool is completely web-based.

What do you need to know before using this tool?
 If you want to use it as a music consumer, there’s no specific skill required. However, if you are an independent artist who wants to promote your album, you’ll need music-related skills.

What do you need to have before using this tool? A speaker or a headphone

Please watch this video about how to use this tool:

Here’s an example of an educational resource created using Jamendo (the music track of the video was downloaded from Jamendo):

https://www.coursera.org/course/digitalstorytelling

A scenario of how I might use this tool in a teaching environment:

If I am to use this tool, it will not be the only tool that will be used; and the Jamendo music tracks’ role will be more of supporting role. For example, I can assign video projects to my students, and instruct them to include music tracks that supports the overall of the video. One of the project that I want to work on is a health communication project, which will emphasis on identifying problems in patient-doctor communication. I can begin the assignment by discussing some information related to barriers in patient-doctor communication in a class. Then, ask the students to work in groups to interview patients in various health settings about what the patients’ expectations of their communications with their doctors. The students will be asked record the interviews using video recorders or their smart phones. Then, edit them using an easy to use and free video editing tool, windows movie maker, add music tracks, then present their video and their findings to the class.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this tool in a formal or informal teaching environment?

Advantages: Royalty-free music tracks, and ads free.

Disadvantages: -

Would you recommend this Web 2.0 tool to others? Yes, definitely!

Web 2.0 Tool for Giving Feedback: Kwiksurveys

“Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.” 

- Andy Warhol - 

The Web 2.0 Tool that I’m reviewing this week is: Kwiksurveys. It can be accessed here: http://kwiksurveys.com/

This tool’s primary category is: Feedback Tool.

Please watch the video below for the tool description:

Kwiksurvey is completely web-based, it does not require us to download and install a program or plug-in for it to work properly.

What do you need to know before using this tool? Know your audience, and what type of questions that work best to collect feedback from your audience

What do you need to have before using this tool? No specific tool.

The basic steps to use this tool:

 1. Create an Account.

Kwiksurveys works well with all social media accounts.

2. Decide What You Want to Create. 

We can create survey, quiz, poll, and form with Kwiksurveys. The next steps described about how to create a survey using Kwiksurveys.

3. Select the Template That You Want to Use. 

Although the template can't be customized under free account, Kwiksurveys provides a number of interesting templates for free users.

4. Select the Type of Questions You Want to Use (e.g. multiple choice, dropdown list, matric, etc.)

5. Begin Typing Your Questions

6. Preview Your Survey

After you've added all of the questions that you want to use in the survey, you can preview it by selecting "preview page" on top of the page. You will see the edit, copy, or delete icons if you move your cursor to a question.

7. Launch the Survey.

You can share the links to your surveys using various social media accounts.

8. Check the Result

Kwiksurvey has a chart wizard that can help create customizable tables and diagrams from the responses collected. The table or diagram can then be exported into pdf, jpeg, or PNG format. The data collected can also be downloaded into spreadsheet for further analysis.

Here’s an example of a brief survey with this tool: http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=qwenuxeth30wfti387259. The survey was created for example purpose only.

A scenario of how I might use this tool in a teaching environment:

I think there are numerous scenarios where Kwiksurveys can be used due to its multi-functionality. Using “survey” I can use Kwiksurveys to evaluate the effectiveness of a course or a lesson, or to measure students’ learning satisfaction, or other survey-related activities. I can use the “quiz” feature to do a pretest for a course , or to evaluate student’ understanding of a lesson. The “poll” feature can be used to find the best time or day to meet online with students. 

The advantages and disadvantages of using this tool in a formal or informal teaching environment:

 Plus:

·         Free with NO limitation on the number of questions

·         Very easy to use

·         It creates not only survey, but also quiz, poll, and form.

·         The report can be displayed into interesting tables and diagrams

·         The surveys can be shared using various social media tools

Minus:

·         The surveys created with free version contains ads

·         The free version doesn’t allow open-ended questions

Would you recommend this Web 2.0 tool to others, or suggest that they explore a different tool? Yes, of course. It is a very useful tool, with interesting features even for the free version.