Week 1 Reflection

I really enjoyed the week 1 assignment.  The self-evaluation confirmed that I have very little knowledge about multimedia concepts or applications. All of the week 1 readings encouraged incorporating multimedia into the curriculum. Our 21^st century learners crave the engagement and excitement that multimedia can offer.  The personal digital story we were required to create was an excellent way to be introduced to a multimedia program.  The sample digital stories that we viewed on the Center for Digital Storytelling’s Web site were great examples to help get us started.  I’m not a creative storyteller, so I just stuck to telling a personal story.  I had already used Animoto in my Concepts of Educational Technology course, so I had to choose another program. I was unable to download Microsoft’s Photo Story 3 because there wasn’t a download for Windows Vista.  I used Windows Movie Maker since it was already installed on my computer.  It was fairly simple to learn to use.  When it came to embedding it into my blog I did have a little trouble.  From reading the internet, I learned that I had to save it as a movie and not just a project before I could embed it. I would be unable to incorporate this type of assignment into my dyslexia therapy class, but I could see that students would have so much fun with this type of assignment.  I’m glad that I am now knowledgeable about this program. I hope to be able to create movies with my personal photos of my son. I’ve wanted to learn how to do this for years, but haven’t taken the time to learn.  Without this class, I’m not sure I would have ever taken the time.