MAC Week 4 - Post 5 - Final Media Project Post

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Course
http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launch/16670/Course30901/Launch.html

Facebook Companion Page
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=397412000630#!/group.php?gid=397412000630


Here is my final post to my media project. I would like to thank my classmates, friends and co-workers for, once again, being so supportive and helpful in this process. I do not know of many other people that would read my thesis multiple times or have to listen to my voice doing narrations over and over but you! I am grateful to have met you all and worked with many of you. I would also like to thank the staff and faculty at Full Sail for being so informative and fun. This program was a blast, and I am sad to see it come to a close. See you on May 7th!!!

MAC Week 4 Post 4 - Response to M Bahrani on Social Networks

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Post by Mohamed Bahrani Social Networks! The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Before 2008, I could not understand how and where social networks, like Facebook, MySpace, etc, could be helpful or beneficial. Then, I started using it and realized the good part about it, to communicate, connect, collaborate, and more importantly to share.

The Bad thing about these networks is that it could be addicting, and time consuming, especially if you want to follow-up and respect social communication protocols. (Reply back and forth).

The ugly part of these networks is that it could be a hunting ground for child predators and sexual molesters.

The future of these networks will depend on its developers, specifically, the kind of terms, conditions, restrictions, and more importantly, a secure and protected environment were it is safe for all.

Response:
I totally agree with you Mohamed. When I started this program and learned I was going to have to get a Facebook account I was questioning what I had got myself into. All I had heard were the stories of how Facebook was a recruiting ground for hate groups and other such offenders. Yet here I am a year later having written a thesis on the educational aspects of social networking and how it should not be banned from schools. I also agree with your statement about respect. That is why I built a course to support my thesis that teaches users of social networks and other forms of Internet communication how to be safe and respectful of others. Behind every avatar, or screen-name is a real person.
While I do believe that the companies who build social networks sites have some responsibility to watch what is done and said, I think it is us the users that must be trained and shown how using such tools makes us global citizens and we need to act accordingly. With a little respect and responsibility these are remarkable tools. Since social networking is a tool that is widely used in higher education and increasingly in the workforce, it is time that we as eduators step up and begin teaching students the benefits of these sites and the most appropriate manner in which to use them. That way they will be safe, fun and enjoyable for all and still a powerful place to collaborate and connect.

MAC Week 4 Post 3 - Video Streaming, etc Tutorials

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Today I went through the tutorials for streaming movies, etc. The first area was video hosting resources. Most of these were sites that we have heard of and used. They were places like You Tube, Teacher Tube, Viddler and Blip. I had not used Viddler before being in this program and found it to be faster for uploads than You Tube by a mile. Since it was faster and easier to use as far as my experience went I switched my student film account to Viddler. Unforeseen consequence, my students were not happy with that decision. In their view, You Tube is the dominating supreme commander that leads the market. Therefore they believe that their films will have more exposure and more viewings on You Tube. I was not sure how to respond to that and am still not. I asked them to research the various sites and find which ones will not only create a viral effect, but will actually allow their work to be seen and responded to in a more critical light. They are still getting back to me.
The next area was video streaming tools. Here there were a few I had heard of and an few I had not. One I had heard of was Ustream. Come on, these are the people that brought you the sickly sweet puppy-cam. One I had not heard of was Stickam, another version of the Ustream idea. I played with both for a while and found that I tend to prefer Ustream for live vodcasting with the Ustream producer tool, but I found group chat to be much easier with Stickam. Both were very fun to play with and gave me an idea to have students try both and write a compare and contrast review and then vodcast it.
The second part of this section was tools like Screenflow. I have been looking for a good Screenflow alternative, but have found few until Jing. This was really fun and worked great on my PC, which is all the district is ever going to buy. The only limitation is that it is limited to five-minute sequences. The upside is that it is limited to five-minute sequences. This will be a great tool for my students to create projects with showing their work on the farm or their latest Spore creation.
The third area was on YouTube download tools. As a class we played with a few of these previously but the extra references for other types of video downloads, plus some other great features for adding video into a blog. The one site that I found missing from all of these references was Youddl.com I really like this site because you have the option of downloading the video as an mp4 or an flv. When using tools like Udutu, being able to download as a flash file means a very fast upload and no conversion time. This tool saved me many hours on my project.
The final section is video creation tools and one area that I feel I can comment the least about. You see I am some what of a snob in this area. I was trained to edit film using Avid and video using Canopus. Tools like Movie Creator, imovie, Premier Express and Final Cut Express are so inferior and useless to me that I abhor using them. I will freely admit that tools like Adobe Premier are extremely complicated. However, they are complicated in the same way as Microsoft Excel. There are hundreds of tools in Excel that most people do not use, but they can still get it to add columns of numbers. Same with Premier. You may never use all the functions but you can still crank out a good quality, well edited media piece with just the basic knowledge. Overall this was a great batch of resources and tools that I intend to keep and use.

MAC Week 4 Post 2 - Media Project

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Course
http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launch/16670/Course30901/Launch.html

Facebook Companion Page
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=397412000630#!/group.php?gid=397412000630

Here are the links for my media project that is an accompany to my thesis. Yes, there are links, multiple. One is the course on Udutu and the other is a Facebook group page, which is a place for reflection, communication, collaboration and assignments.
The problem that my thesis addresses is that many schools are blocking social networking and banning staff from participating on them, even when they are at home. This trend does not take into account that business is using social networks more than ever, students prefer to use electronic communication and that when students, parents and teachers use social networking communication increases, in-class problems decrease and students have more success.
The reason that schools give most often is that the technology is too new and no one knows how to use them properly. Therefore, people are posting inappropriate content or using material that is not theirs to use. Either way it is too much of a legal risk. The solution to this is easy. Schools need to be teaching Digital Net Citizenship so that students know what is appropriate and legal rather than banning social networks and not preparing them for higher education of the workplace.
This has been one of the most difficult projects for me yet. I have been working so long and so hard on it that is seems that my level of enjoyment of the topic has waned. This does not mean I have lost the passion for my topic. It is more like when you cook a really big meal for friends where you spend all day in the kitchen. By the time the meal is served you have lost your interest in the dinner, but not for cooking. I am sure with a little time I will, again, be revived and ready to enjoy my labors, but for now I am tired of hearing my own voice on video.
Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

Thanks

MAC Week 4 Post 1 - Readings

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per creative commons license

Be the Board

Was anyone else hearing Chevy Chase saying, “see the ball, be…be the ball, Danny” from Caddy Shack when you read the title. The concept seems to hold here as well, the old zen master teaching the young new comer the tricks of the trade. However, my amusement barely lasted beyond the first line when the concept of accountability being associated with blame was mentioned. It became clear that the Zanders were talking about how we hold others accountable and how this practice makes us accountable for everything in our lives.
They discuss how we are the framework for what occurs in our lives. My Father taught it to me, as you are the product of every decision you will ever make. If you decide to be angry, what occurs when you are angry was your choice. If you decide to be happy and productive all that comes from that decision is from you. It is a similar theme, and one I have tried to live my life by.

Creating a Framework of Possibility
In this chapter the Zanders discuss leadership and vision and how in order to present your insight and communicate it to others you must be able to paint a mental picture, a vision, to others. This chapter kept reminding me of a discussion I once had with Dr. Scheidel of the University of Washington, when I was a student there. Dr. Scheidel studied how leaders communicate, what types of rhetoric do they use, what tones of voice, he even looked at body language. He was one of the first to make a distinction between leaders, managers and chair-persons. To sum it up, he believed the biggest difference was in how easily and confidently a leader could share a vision, because that dream, that vision was so perfectly clear and crisp in the leaders head. The dream can be told in a story like manner, rather than the traditional transactional style of managers. It causes people to believe that they can change, rather than what they do will change the company, country or organization. He firmly held that without the clarity of vision, there could be no leadership.
The Zanders spoke of nearly the same thing, even when things go wrong or get off track. It is the leader that must refocus the vision and get the people back to following the dream. The same can be held for the classroom. Why would a child want to learn in a room where the teacher is a central authority and not a guiding force for exploration. It must be about creating a vision of learning or setting a direction for the learning and let the students go in that direction. In this way the learning moves from a transactional approach of I will do what you say to get my grade, to one of I will go in that direction as I am excited about what I might discover.

Telling the WE Story

I was sort of hoping this chapter was about Nintendo, but to no avail. This chapter, as many did, discusses a way to reform the conversation in order to remove blame, fear or anger. This time it is putting the conversation in a context that includes all parties and not just ourselves. It is about trying to realize all the other perspectives that are in the room on the issue. I am not sure how this practice will work in the real world in a conversational tone, but I am interested in trying with a few students. These two students come to school about three days a week and have not passed my class all year. They seem indifferent. There have been several meetings and discussions, but most have focused around the I, the them and the greater institution of state regulations. Not once has the conversation been about the WE.
I think we have all seen the student that we inspired who then decided to succeed and thanked us for their success. I think that is often why many of us stay in teaching, well that and the excessive amount of vacation. I guess right now I am reflecting on those that I have not yet reached or inspired. Can I frame the conversation into a WE conversation and how would that play?