EDLD 5363 - Week 5

I have come to the end of another course. Week 5 is over and what an experience. For the past three weeks I have been working with five other classmates on a public service announcement. This group project was unlike any other group project that I have been a part of. First of all, I have never met any of the members of the team face to face. We are from all over Texas and each teach different subjects and grade levels. I did not know their personalities or work habits. We where forced to communicate in ways that were new to most of us. We used Google docs for live collaboration, emails, and some even used Skype. Overall, the experience was a one of the best learning experiences that I have had.

Week 5 was the post-production of our PSA project. The video clips were put in a meaningful order with seamless transitions between the scenes. Music and voice over were added to complete the project. All of this in one short week. It is harder and more detailed than you might think. It was exciting watching and waiting for the final project to be completed. We didn't always agree on everything, but everyone was

Our completed PSA, Could You?, is posted on the post just previous to this one and on my website, Carol's Class Site.

EDLD 5363 - PSA

The following video is the Public Service Announcement that my group produced during weeks 3, 4 and 5 of EDLD 5363. The PSA, Could You?, is intended to educate teenagers of the dangers of drinking and driving.

Could You? by Rosana Barbosa, Carol Evans, Jennifer Harper, Afroze Jahan, Alfonso Ramirez, Patti Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

EDLD 5363 - Week 5 Web Conference

I attended the Web Conference that Dr. Abernathy conducted on Monday, December 12. During the web conference, Dr. Abernathy was able to answer questions that many of my co-horts had. Some of the questions that were asked were things that I had not even thought of asking. All the information was very useful in finishing up the week's assignment.

I enjoy the attending the web conferences and try to attend every time that I can. I don't always have a question, but attending the conferences give me that sense of belonging to the class. On-line classes are great for busy people like myself, but you often loose that personal touch that you often get when you attend a face-to-face class. Dr. Abernathy has done a great job in making me feel welcome and giving me the feeling that she truly cares for her students. 

EDLD 5363 - Week 4

Week 4 is now over and our group is well on its way to having our first PSA completed. Our group has been working very well together despite the varying schedules we all have. We have a basketball coach on our team and a couple of our team members have had choir practices for upcoming Christmas programs in addition to their teaching duties. We have communicated via email and through Google Docs. Our finished product will be posted on my webpage (https://sites.google.com/site/carolsclasssite/) very soon. I feel that I have gotten to know my teammates and cannot wait until graduation to meet them in person.

EDLD 5363 - Week 3

Our group has started our PSA which is over teenage drinking and driving. This one really hits home since there have been six teenagers that have lost their lives in alcohol related accidents in the past two months just in my county.

Working in groups long distant has been a challenge. However, it has forced each one of us to communicate via ways that we have not experienced before. We have been collaborating with google docs almost every night sharing ideas and just getting to know one another as well as using email. We have also learned how to share our files using dropbox, which is absolutely fabulous if you have not tried it.

On a personal note, I am learning more about copyrights than I ever thought I would know. I've taken School Law and I've looked into this issue before. But, this week I have really researched it in depth. It is more complicated than what I ever imagined. We are so ignorant of the copyright use of music. I found a wonderful article that explains using music for educational use.  Copyright issues when using music was written by Barry S. Britt, a creative and executive producer of music for film and video. Mr. Britt has been educating teachers since 1996 on digital copyright awareness since 1996. This article was very enlightening to me. I think it will be to you also. All educators, at least in my district, need to read this article. I will be sharing it with my teachers in an upcoming staff development meeting.

Now, on to week 4 and the development of our PSA. Check back next week for an update on our progress.