Reflection

My “Personal Theory of Learning” developed early in the course is still fairly accurate to my current approach in teaching my video and film classes. I still feel like my students benefit greatly from learning through a constructivist approach; completing projects that reflect mastery of the knowledge gained in the course. I realized through this course that project-based learning is being done on in a number of different courses, and that I can borrow ideas and strategies from those courses more than I previously thought.
Using more advanced features on my Moodle, such as discussion boards and surveys is something I plan to do soon. I can encourage students to interact with one another and learn from one another on discussion boards, and I can use online surveys to get ideas from students and see what is most effective from an instructional standpoint.
I would also like to begin using social media sites for my students to share their videos with others. I have looked at many different sites and I have decided to let my students use the site of their choice and email me a link that I can check from home. This will be for extra credit at first, then I will figure out if I can make it mandatory given our internet rules.
From a long-term perspective, I realized that my approach to lectures using PowerPoints is adequate, but it could be better by involving my students in the creation of the material. By allowing my students to use the internet to create lessons, I can get them to learn research and presentation skills. By teaching my students about helpful sites and educating them about the reliability of sources, I can point them in the right direction. By asking specific questions I can be sure that they will take the lesson in the same direction I would have taken it, and they will have learned a lot in the process of creating the lesson.
I also realized that since my course is project-based and the video projects require the use of editing software I need to incorporate more of the software functionality in my lessons. Many video editing tasks seem intuitive to me, but some students struggle with the software. I am going to start requiring students to complete simple editing tasks not related to their projects so that they can master the software. By having them complete certain editing tasks they will also get ideas for their projects. Things will also run much smoother while students are editing their projects each month, because they will have more practice with the software besides the editing they did weeks ago for their previous project.

VoiceThread

Here is a link to my VoiceThread about a problem I have in my computer lab:
http://voicethread.com/share/786384/

Social Learning

Social learning is the primary way people construct meaning. In my video and film classes this is especially true, but it transcends to other subjects as well. Much like Ms. Casselman (the math teacher in Dr. Orey’s video on Social Learning Theories) I require my students to ask each other questions before asking me. My rule is “ask three, then me.” This is not because I get lazy or frustrated; it is because my students have to collaborate to be successful in the class, and many of them actually enjoy helping each other out. Some positive peer pressure often arises in this situation as well; some students react with disdain when someone does not know how to do something that I demonstrated multiple times.

I have also found that students learn how to be more efficient and effective in creating their videos by interacting with other students. I can lecture them on production tips over and over and they do not follow my advice, but as soon as they ask a peer how they did something the same advice sticks. I have found that competition between groups when creating videos leads to more comprehension of lessons and better quality work, but I would like to create a more cooperative learning environment between groups. “In this setting, not only is the group assessed as a whole, but students are also individually accountable for their work.” (Palmer, G., Peters, R., & Streetman, R., 2008)

One technological tool I would like to use for a more cooperative learning environment is sharing videos via Facebook. The social networking aspect would expose students’ videos to a much wider audience, but they would also be able to leave insights and comments on each others’ videos. Each individual would have different suggestions and viewpoints on videos, and their input could be saved for later reference. Unfortunately, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, SchoolTube, and pretty much anything like them are blocked at my school, so this collaboration is only available from home for the students.

RC