Our group utilized technology to move beyond being a cooperative group that has a set of rules preventing us from getting in each other’s way to a collaborative group. We chose to use Google Docs as our collaboration platform. Google Docs allowed use to upload, store, and share the Pre-Production Planning Document. The chat feature is another benefit of using Google Docs to share and edit the document. Before the first live chat, group members started volunteering for roles through email. Then we utilized the live chat feature in Google docs to allow all members to participate in the pre-production planning.
During the production process we recorded our voice over or narration using Audacity. The small size of the audacity audio files allowed us to email the files for inclusion in the edited video. All group members were allowed to listen to and evaluate the quality of the finished audio. Video footage and still images were used for different shots. We used one free video clip from Stock Footage For Free and two royalty free images. The footage shot by the camera person was shot with a flip camera. Transitions and effects were used to create the desired effects. While the camera angles are varied the PSA could have been better by incorporating live footage of a teen in a car texting. Knowing that “learning is better with animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text” (Shank, 2005) the only onscreen text we included is the title and the ending credits.
To share the video we used a shared Drop Box folder. This allowed all members to play a role in quality control. To test the quality of the final product we used Format Factory to convert the DVD image created by Adobe Premier to an AVI file and a FLV file. Our final video was converted to an AVI file because of the higher quality. The video was uploaded to YouTube and shared on the discussion board for all our classmates to view.
Resources
Nelson, R. (2008). Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model
for the workplace. Edutopia. Retrieved September 9, 2010, from http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video
Shank, P. (n.d.). The value of multimedia in learning. Think Tank. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/valuemedia/