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My Free Inquiry Culmination: Recording and Editing Video

December 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

(Photo by Roven Images on Unsplash)

Bear with me! This is going to be a longer post discussing how I have progressed with my video recording and editing. I want to discuss my main video project that is the culmination of my inquiry project this semester. Through the process of doing several video projects throughout this term, I have learned a lot of new skills and found an editing software, Davinci Resolve 16, that serves all of my needs and offers a lot more to learn and explore. In attempting to figure out how to do each of the little edits and ideas I had for this short video, I learned a lot about the different functions of Davinci. I still have so much more to learn about recording, editing, and using Davinci to its full potential! Before I go any further, here is the video:

I’m so happy that I was able to pursue this inquiry as part of my education. I can see these skills coming in handy in a number of different ways in the classroom; from pulling clips together for visual and auditory texts to helping students with their own creative pursuits, these new video skills will pair well with my existing knowledge in audio and music production.

The actual process of recording the clips for this project taught me a lot through the mistakes that I made. For starters, all of the clips of me driving and travelling took place long after the actual skimboarding session. While I enjoyed filming and planning this part, it was a creative afterthought that I thought would enhance the video experience. However, it would have been a lot more practical to do this BEFOREHAND to keep continuity.

(Photo by Bradley Howington on Unsplash)

Continuity is the other area where I made several mistakes. As a consequence of the scattered filming above, if you look closely, my clothes change in strange ways. I’m also rather damp throughout all of the scenes that I filmed afterwards and it is much later in the day, which caused some strange differences in lighting that I tried to correct through Davinci.

Ugh. My least favourite mistake is the several shots where you can see bits of my hand or my keys, as the GoPro that I was using has an extremely wide field of view. This is a consequence of my amateur filming and not having a mount or stand other than my hand to support the GoPro for all of the shots filmed after the skimboarding (as my actual stick mount gets snapped during the video).

Despite my GoPro stick being snapped in half, that moment is actually one of my favourite parts of the video. As the video progresses and my instrumental track accompanies the visuals, the abrupt audio cut, in which we hear some of the only actual GoPro audio, is one of my proudest moments. For that few seconds, I had to do a lot of meticulous editing that I am probably most proud of, syncing the beats of the music to the strike of the skimboard and then syncing everything back up again with the next video clip. Even now, as I reflect on the process of creating that section, I’m already coming up with new ideas, like adding a record scratch as the skimboard hits and then doing a slow BPM acceleration to start the song again, like a DJ spinning up the tempo of a record with their hand.

(Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash)

Overall I am really proud of the progress I have made throughout the duration of this inquiry and I plan to continue to build on the skills that I’ve learned, hopefully creating a lot more of my own original video production to accompany the music that I produce!

Group Inquiry: Google Classrooms and Data Privacy

December 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

For our Group Inquiry Project, Esther, Mat, Derek and I decided that we would spend our time figuring out how to use Google Classrooms. Knowing how widespread the use of Google apps has become in classrooms across North America, we figured that this would be a worthwhile inquiry that would prepare us for the inevitable.

(Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash)

Through discussions in EdTech class this year and through resources like the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, I have come to learn that whenever an application or software offers its product for free, in reality, you have become the product. It is your data, the digital information that makes up your interaction with the internet, that is being bought and sold by companies that have commodified human futures and decisions (from The Social Dilemma). I have always considered targeted advertising to be a sort of harmless, convenient way for brands to tailor ads directly to me. Of course I would rather be bombarded with ads about video games, music gear, and other products that actually interest me, right? I have had this creeping feeling that this is not right. As tech companies climb higher and higher and have increasingly more influence over all social aspects of society, we have to consider how this affects our world.
Google Classrooms is no exception, and there is no doubt that they are collecting and storing student data.

(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)

The allure of the Google Suite of apps is undeniable. Cloud-based information can be accessed from any device, broken devices do not mean lost work, and teachers are given unprecedented abilities for collaboration and information retrieval (Ahlfeld, 286). Students are also drawn in at younger and younger ages, with students as young as second grade using the apps. The integration of Google apps into all aspects of education has made it nearly impossible for parents to opt out of using a device entirely. In choosing Google as a “free” option for students, the education system is “a generation of loyal customers to the cloud in general, and to Google in particular, as they migrate their school accounts to personal Google accounts upon graduation.” With all of this information that Google is collecting, when students graduate they are already a part of the target market for their products.

(Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash)

In New Mexico, USA, as well as in many other places, officials like attorney general, Hector Balderas, are filing lawsuits and conducting investigations into how Google tracks student data. His revelations are terrifying: “my investigation has revealed that Google tracks children across the internet, across devices, in their homes, and well outside the educational sphere, all without obtaining verifiable parental consent,” Balderas wrote. “Google has used this access to collect massive quantities of data from young children not to benefit the schools you have contracted with, but to benefit Google’s own commercial interests,” (Climer). Many government officials have expressed concerns that Google is building market profiles of children that will be manipulated when they hit maturity.

(Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash)

Given the troubling questions that this cloud-based, google-driven educational platform presents, there aren’t any clear solutions. Any administration using Google’s platform should focus on educating students and staff about the inherent privacy risks and how companies are using our private information and internet activity to build market profiles for each individual in society. Students should be very familiar with how “free” translates to value in data for the companies that offer these services. I think educating students on the dangers and potential for market manipulation is critical. I also believe that if companies can offer competitive alternatives to Google’s cloud-based software, the competition in the market could make a significant difference in protecting student data. However, given the educational response to Covid-19, school systems are more reliant on Google Classrooms than ever. It will be interesting to see if the future markets for cloud-based technology will become more competitive, or if Google remains the clear, dominant, data collection superpower in the industry.

Resources:

Matthew Lynch. “How Does Google Classroom Manage Student Data and Privacy?” The Tech Advocate, 2020. Online. https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-does-google-manage-student-data-and-privacy/?fbclid=IwAR05D89SzYOd6vo5xWAx0Ps-8vWvSmJaPVAz-16hCcBZEb3P3mOAVr5Aaj4

Siobhan Climer. “Privacy With Google Classroom: Use Rises, Critics Claim Risks.” Mindsight, 2020. Online. https://gomindsight.com/insights/blog/privacy-with-google-classroom-education-industry-news/

Kelly Ahlfeld. “Device-Driven Research: The Impact of Chromebooks in American Schools.” International Information & Library Review vol. 49, no. 4, 2017. 285-289

EdTech Workshops: Learning About Twine and Canva

December 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Through my Multiliteracies and EdTech courses at UVIC, I have been able to participate in several workshops where we learned about technologies that can be used in the classroom. These two tech tools,  Twine and Canva, are especially cool because both teachers and students can use them to create visual stories and to present information.

As described in the screen capture above,  Twine  can be used for creating interactive stories of varying complexity. The story can follow different pathways depending on the choices of the reader, allowing them to choose their own adventure and actively participate in decisions.

Twine is very accessible for both for first time users and those with advanced computer skills who want to make a complex project.  I could see students using Twine as a fun way to express their creativity and learning, while teachers could use it as an interactive, multimodal tool for presenting material to students.

Canva is another tech tool that has an enormous range of useful design tools. From presentations, posters, infographics, social media posts, and much, much more, Canva is a tool that I will be using over and over again to create visuals and handouts for my classroom.

Here is a sample of an infographic that I made for a handout:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KLdc2apIZkBm8jpOO_
MeY9WcATHK9oONmOtmj3l7Rp0/edit

I highly recommend either of these tech tools for your own use!

Working On Davinci Resolve 16

October 18, 2020 / / 0 Comments

After exploring quite a few different video editing options for my free inquiry project, Davinci Resolve 16  is the best free software that I’ve been able to find. It offers an impressive amount of features  and complexity for a free product. I watched several Youtube videos reviewing different video editing software and found this video breakdown of the different software by price and feature  to be very helpful in my research.

One of the EdTech instructors at UVIC put on video editing workshop focused on building basic skills in Davinci Resolve and IMovie. The timing on this workshop was perfect! It was very useful for getting started on my first project, which was my introductory video assignment for EDCI 352 Multiliteracies.

Part of my process for creating this video assignment was combing through all my old family VHS tapes that are beginning to deteriorate and attempting to salvage them. This involved painstakingly digitizing hours and hours of precious memories to save on the computer, as well as on hard drives for all of my immediate family to keep safe. Despite how time consuming this task was, I found some incredible footage from my childhood that I had never seen before and I learned a lot about converting VHS tapes into functioning computer files. If you’re ever tackling a similar recovery project or just want save some of your old VHS tapes, the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus  worked perfectly for me. The process of editing some of that footage and thinking about my experiences in high school was a meaningful opportunity to reflect on why I decided to pursue teaching in the first place. If you’re interested, check out the results of my project in the video below!

Stop! Look Away From This Post!

October 2, 2020 / / 1 Comment

Hey you! How long have you been staring at your screen, huh? Your eyes need a break. Perhaps a regular reminder could help? I certainly need one these days. We could all use a reminder to take care of our eyes and brains, which is why I’ve taken our EdTech instructor’s advice and installed this Eye Care Extension for Google Chrome.

Lately I’ve been spending upwards of ten hours a day on a screen between zoom classes, zoom meetings, course readings, assignments and when I unwind on my own time. Between this extension and taking regular breaks for fresh air and exercise, I want to take the proper steps to maintain my health during this unprecedented technological experience. As a rather tech-focused individual myself, the screen fatigue that I have been experiencing is a rather unexpected obstacle!

Hopefully this post serves as a friendly reminder to take care of your eyes and to  get some fresh air. I certainly needed it this week!

Behaviour is Communication

October 2, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The idea of behaviour as communication is a concept that has been very interesting to observe in the classroom on Wednesdays during our in-class observations. In this post, I want to discuss an example that really stood out to me during an  English 11 class.

To get through the pandemic, students have a morning and afternoon class that are roughly two and half hours each, with reduced class sizes. During the class, one student near the back of the room was noticeably less engaged than their peers and could be seen showing clear signs of fatigue, yawning periodically throughout the activities. What I found really powerful was the way in which the teacher approached this behaviour. From my own high school experiences,  I can recall similar situations in which a teacher might call out a student for appearing fatigued in a rather negative way. In one case, a teacher even gathered the class around a student who had fallen asleep in a lecture, in a rather humiliating spectacle. Instead of singling out the tired student in a negative way or speaking about it openly to the class, the teacher approached the student one on one while the rest of the class worked freely on an assignment.

What was immediately admirable about this exchange was how sympathetic and understanding the teacher was. It was clear that the teacher did not feel disrespected by the behaviour and was legitimately concerned about the well-being of the student. In being addressed this way, the student’s response was forthcoming and respectful, clearly receptive to the teacher’s sympathetic approach. This led to a really healthy and respectful discussion about the student’s two jobs outside of class and the six days a week they are working! The teacher asked questions about the work and expressed her concerns in a way that was very positive and genuine.

I found this interaction particularly touching, as someone who usually feels tears welling up at the slightest emotion. The teacher handled this situation in a way that made me understand the concept of behaviour as communication in a new way. The way that the teacher interpreted that communication and chose to communicate back was inspiring. In a situation that could have been handled very differently and negatively (as I have seen from my own experience), the teacher was able to connect on a personal level and build up mutual respect with the student.

This interaction was a great example of how behaviour acts as communication and how every student brings different dynamics from their personal lives to the classroom that can affect their engagement. This interaction also showed me how a potentially negative situation can become an opportunity to build positive relationships with students outside of course material. Rather than interpreting the behaviour as boredom or disinterest, the teacher was able to gain insight on the student’s personal life that would improve the teacher’s ability to assess the student’s performance. While the result could have been different depending on the student’s response, the approach that the teacher took was inspiring.

No Red Ink and Kahoot!

September 24, 2020 / / 2 Comments

During Wednesday’s in-school observation I learned about a few tech tools that teachers are using in the classroom. No Red Ink and Kahoot seem like excellent tools for incorporating technology in education. 

With No Red Ink, teachers can design or choose from thousands of existing quizzes that work on building students’ grammar skills. The application is highly interactive and can be accessed from a phone, allowing students to practice independently with unique instructions based on their results. Questions are then adjusted by what students are getting right and wrong, allowing the application to show students tutorials when stuck on a particular concept. Teachers are also able to track this progress and get a better understanding of where students are struggling to move forward. The teacher that I was observing noted that students must correctly answer three questions of a particular section in a row to move forward and No Red Ink would notify her if a student was stuck. No Red Ink also generates questions about popular culture and current events, keeping kids more engaged than a traditional grammar worksheet. 

I am very impressed with how intuitively this application addresses the learning needs of students struggling with a particular area and how teachers can track trends in student learning behaviour throughout the term. Having a tool that struggling students can learn from interactively, rather than having a teacher giving constantly them extra attention, could be useful for students who fear being singled out when stuck on a particular concept. I also can also see how modern learners would find activities like this one much more engaging than the traditional grammar worksheets I remember from my high school experiences.

Kahoot is another technology tool for student engagement. Students can participate in highly interactive multiple choice quizzes that track points and have leaderboards associated with them. Students can use pseudonyms (if they are appropriate) and are encouraged to participate and compete with one another. Kahoot runs like a student-operated gameshow, with music, sound effects, and  interactive visual participation. The teacher that I was observing helped make the interaction fun and rewarding by giving out prizes to the top three scorers at the end of the 15-minute competition.

From when I was a high school student, I can remember my Social Studies teacher creating a jeopardy game for unit review and how much fun we had playing together. Kahoot brings that kind of experience to students in a more timely and engaging manner by giving them access instantly through their electronic devices.

What impressed me the most about my in-school observation of this English teacher was not only the use of technology but the pacing of their class. They transitioned very well between the many activities throughout the nearly three hour long class, starting with No Red Ink, twenty minutes of free reading, discussion of figurative language, Kahoot, and much more until the time was exhausted. I found that, in comparison to more drawn out lessons from other teachers, this class transitioned smoothly from activity to activity, never spending more than thirty minutes on a particular one. I think this rapid pace kept students far more engaged with the lesson and gave me a considerable amount of inspiration for my future English classes. 

So far these in-class observations on Wednesday have been incredibly useful for my learning and for thinking about my future classroom. I am excited for next week’s visit!

Multiliteracies Video Begins

September 17, 2020 / / 3 Comments

In my EDCI 352 Multiliteracies Across the Curriculum class, each student is making an introductory video to describe their educational journey and how they came to be in the Secondary Post-Degree Program at UVIC. I’ve decided that I will put my skimboarding video on hold to improve my video editing skills on this assignment. 

I wanted to make a picture and video slideshow presentation with an instrumental backtrack and a voice-over describing my experiences. Instead of using Powerpoint, I wanted to take this opportunity to try out some free video editing software on my Windows computer.

 

Video Editor Studio was the first software that I tried and it was quickly obvious that this wasn’t the one for me. Coming from my experience working with Microsoft Office and with digital audio workstations (DAWs) such as FL Studio, Pro Tools, and Ableton, I was expecting a more complex editing process. 

Through a quick exploration of every option on the interface, the lack of transition and photo options made it clear that this software wouldn’t suit my needs.

 

Next I tried the video editor that is built into the Windows 10 Photo Application. 

This software was much more promising. But once I began adding photos and working on customization, I knew once again that the limitations of the Photo Application would not allow me to build on my editing skills the way that I wanted to over the course of my EdTech Free Inquiry. 

 

I’m starting to think that I should invest in a better video editing software. As I work my way through the list of reliable free options, I realise that the complexity that I’m used to in computer software and the quality of video editing that I want to accomplish might require purchasing the real thing. 

For the EDCI 352 video I’m going to record the voice-over and produce the backtrack on Ableton. Back to the familiarity of my Macbook, I will attempt to use iMovie to put together the video presentation that I’m envisioning, while editing the audio separately. It has been quite awhile since I’ve used iMovie and I’m interested to see the depth of the customization options!

X Marks the Spot

September 12, 2020 / / 2 Comments

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This is it. On this hazy Saturday I will struggle through my first blog post and you’re along for the ride. I said hazy because smoke from a Washington State wildfire blankets Victoria. It smells like campfires. I told myself that the haze would look cool on my first video shoot down at the beach this morning. I documented my trip down to Witty’s Lagoon, where I rode my skimboard with a few friends.

 I am excited to be starting the BEd Post Degree Professional Program at UVIC. Learning through zoom is a technical challenge that will pair nicely with my Ed Tech course. I’m looking forward to documenting my experiences in Ed Tech here on this blog. The Free Inquiry Assignment provides an academic incentive to learn about recording and editing video, a skill that I have always admired and wanted to explore. I remember the slide shows and short videos that my past teachers would make for lessons and to document school trips or events. How could I incorporate these skills into my own classroom one day? Entering this education program was a long-anticipated goal as I worked through my BA in English and I am thrilled to start my journey to become an educator in British Columbia. 

I took my girlfriend’s Gopro Hero 7 to Witty’s Lagoon, filming different shots of the experience to chop up and paste together into a story of my trip. My family dog, Skye, is the true star of the experience. I don’t think she enjoyed walking back and forth with me as I retrieved the camera from various positions, she was too excited to get down to the water. I carefully captured many different clips, parking my car every time I operated the camera or adjusted the angle on the journey there. I hope these shots turn out well so I can use them for my first foray into recording and editing video. I will be starting off with a free video editing software, yet to be determined. I have a little bit of experience with iMovie on my Macbook, but I want to experiment with a new editing software on Windows with my desktop computer. Having a deeper knowledge of both operating systems could certainly come in handy! Once I decide on a video editing software, I’m sure to be watching many instructional videos on Youtube to figure out how to edit the way I want to. 

 Perhaps this post is a little long-winded for my first blog post. Perhaps my writing is a little rusty. This kind of writing is unusual for me, having a rather insignificant social media presence, and it pushes me out of my comfort zone. Accomplishing that is generally worth it. I will be documenting my progress on the Free Inquiry assignment as I develop my editing skills, as well as reflecting on my coursework and later posting about my Resource Development Assignment. Stay tuned to hear more about my first time editing video, to see the steps I take throughout the process, and to eventually see the finished product! 

 

 

 

 

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