Digital Videos Reflection

Wow, what a learning experience.  I got a lot more out of this than I anticipated. Did I say that at the beginning of each of these media reflections? Well, this one led my learning in two directions, firstly the obvious one of learning to create digital video but the second, legal practices, which although it applies to all digital media, was much richer in this case.

I thought I was flying along creating my movie and then I had a bit of a realization that I needed to consider legal practices a bit more deeply and was introduced to creative commons.

Legal and Ethical Practices with Digital Movies

I created my movie in moviemaker 2.6 by selecting group of family photos and trying out all of the effects, transitions and included text on my introductory image. I then decided that I needed to add some music with an audio file. I uploaded into moviemaker a Deep Forest music track from a cd that I have at home. It sounded great and fitted in with the photos well. I was very happy with my progress even though it had taken me a few hours of tweaking and playing around with moviemaker.

I was now ready to embed it in my wiki. My first problem was with plug-ins but that turned out to be fairly minor. My solution through collaborating on my university forum was to upload my movie into youtube and then embed it into my wiki. Problem solved except that I started thinking about my music. Am I allowed to use the music on my cd even though I paid for it and it is mine? Back to the forum I go!

I haven't ever posted anything on the web, not even in facebook so it was a new question for me. The answer was that I couldn't use third party music without their permission as I would be distributing it on the web by embedding it in my wiki. However, a solution suggested by a fellow university student was to check out the creative commons web-site. Well there went another night!

I have to say, initially I was very confused about the creative commons web-site but by the end of the night I had chosen a music track uploaded it to moviemaker and then you tube and finally onto my wiki. I had also checked out what I was allowed to do with that track under the specific creative commons licence attached to it and included a link to that as well. So now I can comfortably enjoy my movie on my wiki knowing that I haven't breached any legal rules in relation to distributing third party media.

The other consideration I had to address was the use of photos of my children in my movie and consequently on my wiki. As the photos were ethical and I don't believe endangered them in any way I had decided it was okay to include those photos in my movie and consequently my wiki. However, considering the context in which I am using my wiki, that is in the capacity of a student teacher, I also needed to make sure that people viewing my wiki know that I have permission from the parents of the children in the images even though I am their parent. In my future as a qualified teacher I do need to be aware of putting photos of anyone's children on the web and ensure that I do have the correct permissions from parents and guardians of those children. In addition to that I also need to mindful of the children's wishes as well. For whatever reason they may not want their photo on the internet and I feel that we as teachers need to respect the wishes of our students as well.

These requirements of distributing third party material and receiving permission to put photos of students on the internet must also be passed down to the students themselves. Students when participating in learning experiences involving digital media and on-line learning spaces must be taught to take into consideration legal and ethical practices as well. One way of doing this is to engage students in activities such as I have just done and have them work out what their options are when including third party material etc on the internet. Introduce them to creative commons web-sites and let them look at the licence keys attached to each music track. Maybe they can create their own music and include it on the creative commons web-site, selecting which licence they think is relevant for their piece of work. This would certainly help them respect the wishes of other creators who are sharing their creations as well.

Finally, I embedded my movie on my wiki. It has a sound track from the creative commons web-site with attribution. I have also embedded it below for easy viewing.

This movie has been created using windows movie maker 2.6 and uploaded to you tube as an unlisted video.   The audio file was sourced from sound cloud which was a link on the creative commons website. The name of the audio file is "The Night Off" by Forest Lake. You can find the licence terms here.  Permission has been received from the parents of all persons under 18 participating in this video. The digital images shown are the original creations of myself and my mother-in-law Margaret Russell.

Now that I have experienced creating a video and considered the legal and ethical implications of sharing it, I need to think about whether this technology is of any use in a learning context.

How can Digital Videos be Integrated into my Learning Design Framework?

My first idea is that videos can be used in several ways by teachers. They can be used as a presentation tool to present ideas and concepts, to motivate, to inspire or to spark a thinking process, but they can also be used by the students themselves to think, enquire, collaborate, critique and create.

While the idea of using digital video by the teacher as a presentation of  the content to be learned has a place in learning, I am going to focus on the second scenario where students create the video based around a scaffolded project with the aim of facilitating higher order thinking. The following is a SWOT analysis outlining my ideas surrounding digital video in that context.

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
Easy to make Easy to share Technology such as cameras and phones with video capabilites, ipods for recording sound, movie maker etc are generally easily accessible for minimum cost Incorporates visual learning styles with images that can be still, moving, photos, animated, drawings, mind-maps etc. All can be incorporated into a video. Incorporates auditory learning styles with sound, whether it be music, speach, noises interviews etc	Unless scaffolded correctly some students may not feel comfortable with the media as it displays the students creativity and can also require the student to present some of their personality in the project If weakly scaffolded the time spent on the media may overtake the learning objective
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Encourages creativity Students have an end product that they can visually see, hear and share suitable for collaborative learning If the learning objective is well scaffolded and students are supported where neccesary, students who may not normally be comfortable sharing their personality or being openly creative may grow in confidence Opportunity to teach legal and ethical use of digital media	Easy to breach copyright laws with images and audio. Need to consider closely the suitability of images and audio for students especially in the context of modern culture and ethical behaviour in learning environments.

If I am going to integrate digital video into my learning design framework I would also need to consider where it could fit into Bloom's Taxonomy? 

What do I hope to achieve by integrating digital video? Can digital video be used at the level of higher order thinking?

The following is a prezi created by Joshua Coupal that I found while researching. Joshua's prezi overviews some of what we have learnt about technology and learning in this course and goes on to categorize digital video right at the top of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy as enabling higher order thinking in the categories of evaluating and creating.

If digital video can be incorporated in higher order thinking what learning experiences or scaffolds could I incorporate?

I think that digital video learning experiences that result in higher order thinking skills would need to incorporate inquiry, evaluation and creation of new ideas. As per most learning experiences at this level the type of scaffold and question posed to students is very important. It is also possible to set a project using collaborative learning when integrating digital video. Therefore, projects incorporating small groups of maybe five students would enrich the experience.

For business students, a topic such as the effects on the local economy of proposed measures to import a product that is currently already produced in australia could form the basis of a project. This topic could result in images, interviews, debates and ideas all drawn together into a video presentation.

To manage the scope of the topic, students could initially be shown a web-site about employment in the banana farming industry in Tully. This web-site could begin to generate some thought and enquiry as to possible changes in employment resulting from changes in the local economy. What could the local economy do to protect employment from outside changes, or is diversity in employment opportunities in the local area an option? What other employment opportunities could be created? Can the students create a video recruiting employees in this new employment opportunity?

Another possibly less complex idea that still results in creating new ideas would be to have students consider, enquire, evaluate and create new ideas for a new product that solves a problem and then present a marketing video. The problem may be taking the rubbish out? Is there a product that can solve this problem? Due to my own lack of creativity it may be beneficial to brainstorm with the class some ideas for problems that need solving. In addition, if a student comes up with a great idea, we may need to again look at learning about copyright from the point of view of the owner of the idea.

Again, to assist students to focus on the learning process, the project could include the use of a storyboard or concept map as part of the process of creating the video.

In summary, digital video is generally accessible and is much more than a presentation tool if used correctly. It opens up the opportunity to teach students about legal and ethical practices when using technology particularly when sharing. Digital video also enables inquiry, evaluation and creative thinking all of which are higher level thinking concepts. Finally, digital video complements and encourages learning using visual as well as auditory learning styles.

Digital Media Reflections

This week I have been looking at and working with the following three forms of digital media:

1. Images
2. Audio
3. Video

Let's look at each media individually and then select one for further investigation.

IMAGES

Basically, the message I received from working with images are that they can be very powerful, thought-provoking teaching tools. They are easy to work with in that they are so accessible and easy to share as long as legal and ethical practices are adhered to. Images are not just photographs, they can and do include drawings, digital creations, concept maps and the list goes on.

This week I looked at photographs as images and used Mobaphoto to resize and upload a batch of photos previously taken on my camera and saved to my computer. I uploaded the photos to my wiki which you can view here.

I found the process very simple. By resizing the photos they uploaded as a batch very fast. I also believe that there has been no noticeable loss of detail in the images  as compared to the originals.

I also uploaded images direct from a google search into my wiki with attribution. If you first have a look at the image on my wiki you can then see the beginnings of how an image may begin to be used within my TPACK learning design. This area of my wiki is still in the fledging stages of starting to develop my own personal learning design principles but you can see how the beginnings of teaching content knowledge, for example changes to the local economy in a business context, can start with an image.

It is also important to note that images need to be correctly attributed to the owner or source from where they came. I have included a link below the image in my wiki to show where that image was sourced from indicating that it is not my creation. This is also important to teach students to do the same when using technology in learning.

AUDIO

This was a surprising form of media for me. I believe that my personal learning style tends toward visual learning and as such I personallly find listening alone boring. I did believe that audio as a media tool would be boring and difficult to integrate into my personal teaching learning design.

However, I have been proven wrong. Audio was actually quite fun to do and although creativity is not my strong point my mind is starting to wander on ways that I can integrate it into a TPACK learning design.

Starting firstly with my audio experience, my first attempt at creating an audio file was through voki. I used a voki to record my voice in two different ways and then embedded the voki on my wiki. Please check out the audio files in my wiki here.

To start with I created a voki and recorded my voice directly through the voki. This is the first voki embedded in my wiki. I found it fantastic that firstly, I didn't sound that bad and secondly that there was a talking head with my audio which I found kind of cool. It was just plain fun. However, the playback from the voki was a bit disjointed.

So, I had a look at recording my voice through Audacity and embedding just the sound file into my wiki. It did sound better than the voki and I was left with the feeling that because Audacity made it so easy to record an audio file that the accessibility of audio for teaching was fantastic.

Going back to my voki, I decided to create another one and upload my audacity audio file into my new voki.   I then embedded this second voki into my wiki. I think this voki sounded much better than the first. It did have a bit of background noise but I think with a bit more experience in Audacity that could be fixed.

In summary, I would be the type of student who would cringe if my teacher told me I had to record an audio file using my voice. However, I actually found it fun and have had a hard time not going back to audacity and playing around some more with it, purely due to time restraints and making sure I experience everything in this course.

That being said I now believe the use of digital audio in teaching and learning could be very beneficial in a number of areas. I think it would require a degree of creative scaffolding by the teacher to ensure that the focus is on learning and not on student insecurities in using the technology. Obvious choices for using audio may be recorded interviews incorporated into learning experiences, but I think it can move further than that. Audio doesn't have to be a voice, it can be meaningful sounds, music and creations. Audio can also be integrated into visual experiences as well, possibly making both richer.

Going back to the exercise of using a voki, there are other options such as typing in the audio. I haven't had time this week to venture into podcasts but that is another door obviously that opens when integrating audio into learning.

DIGITAL VIDEO

I have decided to investigate digital video further and have provided a separate reflection on this.

Wiki Learning Space Reflection

My choice of learning spaces to further explore is wikis. I have been spending quite a lot of time in my wiki and love it. I like to be organised and although I previously said that wiki's were messy I have found that a wiki is providing me a wonderful space to organize my own learning. It is also providing a space for me to catalogue ideas for my future teaching career. My personal learning wiki for ICT can be found at this link.

Included in my previous reflection on learning spaces I created a PMI chart on wiki's, along with blogs and websites. As a starting point it would be great idea to have a look at this PMI chart for wikis prior to discussing how wiki's can be further used in learning, so I have recreated it in this posting.

However, my initial reflection on blogs, wikis and web-sites as learning spaces also discusses legal, safe and ethical practices when working in any learning space. 

PMI charts on all three learning spaces are also included, which will further enrich our discussion on how wiki's can be used in learning as we will be able to make connections to other learning spaces.

PMI Chart - Wiki

Plus	Minus	Implications
Enables collaborative learning regardless of physical presence. User friendly tool bar. Students can all contribute Information on the Wiki can be continuously updated there are different settings for who can view and edit the wiki There is a history which can be restored if information is deleted and later required. Information can be very well organised by the use of pages, links, table of contents etc Has a comments feature which could be used by either the facilitator or other students	Students can delete other students work either deliberately or by accident Students cannot work in the wiki concurrently as only one of the students work will be saved. Can be very messy and difficult to navigate depending on the students skills in using the wiki Students like to present information differently, so if they are all using the same space some students may feel uncomfortable with the layout contributed by other students.	Very good opportunities for collaborative learning Small group brainstorming is very useful in a wiki whether it be by a scaffold such as debono's 6 thinking hats or setting up a wiki page as a place to add words, pictures, videos etc as ideas in any format that can be later organised and evaluated on a separate wiki page using a different scaffold such as a concept map for example. Wiki's have the capabilites to organise information enabling them to facilitate an extensive research assignment or body of work which has been thought out, critiqued and organised. This can be done collaboratively in groups the members of which are in different locations. Eg it may be students in their homes on the other side of town or class projects sharing with schools on the other side of the world. All with the ability to contribute to the wiki.

As much as I have found that I believe wiki's are wonderful for myself as both a learner and an "organised" teacher, I need to consider how and why I would incorporate wikis' in my personal learning design.

Throughout this course I have found that technology can be used to encourage higher order thinking. As discussed by Wendy Fasso (2013) social constructivism is "learning.... that is founded upon social interactions within a learning community or expert community." One of the greatest benefits of wikis is collaborative learning(Gokhale, 1995) which is where learners work together and consequently enrich their learning through shared experiences.

Individually, learners generally learn within the boundaries of their personal abilities but as advocated by Vygotsky(1978) learners can extend their learning through social interaction (Instructional design.org). This means that based on Vygotsky's theory, collaborative learning, which is possible in wikis can extend the learning of students into their personal zones of proximinal development  with support from peers and/or teachers (Instructional Design.org). That is not to say there is no ceiling on what a student can learn, they are still bound by their personal learning abilities but collaborative learning supports an extension on what normally would have been learnt by that individual.

The "Education Wikis" web-site has a collection of wikis currently being used for educational purposes. A number of the wikis listed have been created and used as resource collections for teachers but there are also class wikis and collaborative class projects which have been created in a wiki. If you do look further at the teacher resource wikis, it is worth noting that in a sense although not focused on student learning they are collaborative professional development as teachers endeavor to share ideas.

One wiki that I believe to be a good example of collaborative learning for students I found within the Education wikis web-site. It was a collaborative project created by students and scaffolded by the teacher. The project and content was based around british romanticism.  The wiki also includes reflections by the teacher and the students on the collaborative learning experience.

My two teaching areas are mathematics and business. I certainly believe that I will be able to incorporate wikis into my learning design framework in these two teaching areas. Being in my first year of my graduate diploma of teaching and learning my creativity in designing learning experiences is certainly in its fledgling stages but already I can see that wikis' would be useful in creating collaborative learning projects based around real-life problem solving. For example, business students may start by being allocated to small groups each with their own wiki. They could then start with a brainstorming page on the pro's and cons of marketing a product. This may be scaffolded by a SWOT analysis. Based on their SWOT anaylsis they may move onto ideas for producing the product. This may include collecting and evaluating information related to the potential product and setting up pin boards or glogsters with ideas which they can embed in the wiki and collaboratively evaluate. The project could go further through the process of product development all through the use of a scaffolded wiki. The process would entail collaborative problem solving and creation of new ideas.

In summary, I believe that the greatest benefits of wikis as opposed to other learning spaces such as blogs and web-sites is that by design wikis enable collaborative learning and the value behind that is an extension on what an individual learner would normally learn by themselves. Higher order thinking and problem solving collaboratively are certainly achievable with wikis. Other learning spaces can incorporate collaborative learning but not by natural design and not to the extent afforded by wikis.


References:


Fasso, W. (2013) A brief overview of learning theory. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491: ICTs for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Gokhale, A. (1995) Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking. Journal of Technology Education Volume 7 Number 1 Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v7n1/gokhale.jte-v7n1.html

Instructional Design.org: website page Social Development Theory (L.Vygotsky) retrieved from: http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html