DLCT Final Project

This workshop activity is designed to encourage discussion relevant to the use of novel media productions
in the online environment, while learning how to use the equipment and software necessary for their
creation. The attendees of this face-to-face workshop will produce a short video clip introducing
themselves to the online classroom audience. The ultimate quality and use of the clip will be addressed in
a future workshop. Attendees will work in groups of two or three, at computer workstations equipped
with the appropriate software and devices, and will take place in a computer classroom. This will be
considered a “hands-on” workshop, as compared to a lecture format.

In anticipation of the workshop, attendees will be encouraged (but not required) to peruse the current professional literature that addresses the purpose of building a sense of community in the online classroom environment. Click here for a sample bibliography compiled as a function of my own participation in the UWG DLCT program.

Please click here to view a short video that demonstrates the product that the workshop attendee will create. The video was made in the Windows VISTA environment, using the Dell application WebCam; no conversion was necessary to store it online. Windows Media Player is required to play the video.

Occassionally, it is necessary to edit a video clip. This can be done relatively easily (with a little practice) using the application Windows MovieMaker that travels with Window VISTA. (Other, similar applications are available on other platforms. This workshop will take place using the VISTA environment.) Please click here to view a six minute video "handout" that was created with Windows MovieMaker about making an on-demand video with Windows MovieMaker. This particular video was made in response to a colleague's quest to create a video without a camera -- it is an example of a "quick and dirty How-To" (in other words, be kind :-))

Working with the premise that, generally, as natural actors, faculty require an audience in order to perform, all video production will occur in groups of at least two workshop members. The group cohorts will assume the dual roles of student and audience member for each other, effectively creating a stage on which the other can perform. It is expected that all members of the group will "compassionately critique" the others, helping each to "make themselves presentable". Cohort feedback will serve the function of immediate assessment throughout the exercise. The workshop attendees will be asked to assess their own learning using a workshop-specific questionnaire. The questionnaire is a "paper and pencil" instrument designed solely for the purpose of guiding the attendees through a review of their own learning at the workshop. The act of having uploaded a video clip to the intranet will serve as evidence of having accomplished the objective of the workshop.

Workshop attendees will be asked to complete an anonymous online evaluation of their workshop experience. Attendees will be encouraged to sign up for a second workshop before they leave, with the spoken purpose to practice the skills that they have learned, and to make the opportunity to hone a few new tricks for their online repertoire, for example, the inclusion of an electronic whiteboard to the "show". In addition to being encouraged to sign up for future workshops, attendees will be asked to schedule an appointment (before leaving the workshop) with the information resource specialist for a one-on-one review session to take place within two weeks of the workshop. The review session will consist of "finding" the video clip (if its creator has lost it), and an opportunity for the faculty member to ask questions that may not have occurred to him/her at the time of the workshop. Sign-up sheets for both the second workshop and the one-on-one sessions will be available at the workshop.