Week 4

I finished my Pecha Kucha, so I am glad to have it done. It took approximately 15 hours from start to finish. I initially uploaded it as a PDF to Voicethread to add my voice, but for some reason the site would not cooperate and my slides kept going over 20 seconds even though I had it set for that. I recorded voice through my powerpoint (just found out it had that ability). Even though I stayed within the 20 second time limit for narration, when I play back the entire presentation, it goes over by approximately 15 seconds. I can't figure out why since each slide is timed at 20 seconds and I don't have any transition time set for moving through the slides. I am so done with it now, though, that I don't even care. I doubt I will be doing this again as I did not really enjoy it.
The readings were fairly easy, so I didn't spend too much time on them. I am still waiting to get my Animoto Education account so I can try that out.
On one hand, I'm glad to have the week off. On the other, I just want to get this class over and done with. Though I am learning some good stuff, I am not actually enjoying the assignments because they are more about the work (and the excessive hours to complete) than they are about trying something new and seeing how it could translate into my teaching.

Week 3 thoughts

I actually learned something from Presentation Zen this week, so that was refreshing.  I really enjoyed the before and after shots of slides as well as the not so good, better, best examples.  It's way easier to make sense of things when you can see solid examples as explanations. 

I still think the homework load is excessive.  I don't believe I've had this much for even six credits of classes, so I'm kind of wondering why it's necessary to have this much for three credits.

I had my guidance counselor come ask for help creating a powerpoint, so I grabbed the Presentation Zen book, and now I am helping her do Zen as well.  After she is done, I am going to teach her how to do her entire presentation through VoiceThread.  I would have her do Voicethread right from the start, but she isn't ready for that yet.  She is excited about the way her slides look and then being able to record all of the words she would say.  I like it when my best students are other teachers.

I had a Hollywood writer/director as a guest speaker today for my film class who talked about many of the elements in the Digitales book, so it's nice that those elements (that I have been trying to teach the kids all semester) are universal and reinforced by professionals.

Week 2 Digital Storytelling

I don't know if it's just me or if there was quite a bit of work to do this week.  I have been sitting here for 8 hours doing homework, and I still haven't had the group discussion.  I probably spent longer on the Voicethread thing than I should have, but I wanted to make sure it was good.  I wish that we could have picked our own topic because I think it would have taken less time because I would have been more familiar with what I wanted to do.  I also would have liked to "kill two birds with one stone" by creating a voicethread that my students could have participated in. 

I understand the essence of Presentation Zen, but I am getting "zenned" out because the videos say the same as the book, and the book spends too much time not being simplistic.  For example, I would like to see an introduction to the topic then a little info, then some examples (both good and bad).  That is how I learn best.  It doesn't help that I think the author is a little full of himself and it annoys me greatly that he flips off japanese words almost like he is saying, "I'm sooooo awesome."  Every time I watch one of his video snippets I want to puke.

While he makes some good points about powerpoints, I keep reminding myself that he is just one opinion.  I agree that powerpoints need to be more exciting, but I'm not sure that we have to go to the extreme he recommends.  Again, I may be biased because I just can't stand watching him talk.  And now it's too late to undo the visual of him being so pompous.