Thing #4

Creating the product. I spent a lot of time making photos to create the background. Ended up taking the same photos and duplicating and altering just a little. I happened upon a show on TV about taking digital photos apart and creating multiple pictures from one photo...so that's what I did. If you look closely, you will see that the same pieces are put together over and over to create different backgrounds. I played with Keynote and Powerpoint to see which one would do the best job...you can't tell which one I used for what background. I would not encourage students to play as long as I did (several days) but it allowed me to learn and compare the two programs so that I would know how to suggest things to students.

I found a lot of videos through YouTube and Discovery Education that I could use on the initial product, but decided that instead of putting them all into the end product, I would post them on the wiki for extra research. The purpose of my product is to just give students a taste of what they are to do and to get them started on the research.

1. Briefly describe what the creation process was like. Were there bumps along the way? Did it come out like you wanted? Bumps - oh my yes...converting the video from the website, I first tried AVI...then MP4. Taking photos. Next time, I think that I will look for copyright free photos on flickr. I wanted to see if I could create, I did...but it was very time consuming and I had stuff everywhere to take the photos. Also, lighting was difficult. Finally ended up with lights all around the table to get rid of shadows. Once I had the raw materials in the folder, the final product went together rather quickly.
2.What did the "pair of fresh eyes" suggest to you about your project. What were the high points for your reviewer? The pair of fresh eyes saw the same things I did - the lettering is not too good. That ended up being a problem with using Keynote - I could not figure out how to outline the lettering. But in mixing with PPT...they had to look the same...so I didn't outline the letters on PPT either. The extra eyes also helped me to know not to add all of the video I had collected...it was TOO long and TOO much information for the audience. It is most important to have someone else look at it before you get to the final step. And...always keep your raw materials and your rough drafts.....I went back several times and made corrections...thank goodness I had a folder with all of my "stuff" there.

I think in creating the type of project that I did - short and simple is important...this was only to get the thinking started. The most important thing is to START with the END in MIND! If you don't know where you are going and what the end purpose is...you can't get there. I am hoping the students will enjoy this and will create something similar at the end of their study.