Group Leadership Project - FINAL

Our group has finally completed a video tutorial demonstrating how to use Vyew, an online meeting, discussion, and collaboration tool. As a group we chose to create a professional development tool about Vyew because it is a free online tool comparable to Adobe Connect without the associated costs. As we ourselves were learning to use the program to facilitate our group meetings, we felt it would be an awesome resource to share with our colleagues.

In our brainstorming session all group members agreed that we would like to teach about Vyew. We also agreed that we wanted to use a video to do so. At the time, three of us were familiar with Jing and felt that Jing would be an awesome tool to record a presentation on Vyew. As a group with complex and limiting schedules, we agreed that the easiest route would be to divide up the topics for the video and each record short two and a half minute segments that could be compiled in the end. However, we were not aware that Jing does not provide a way to combine the videos into one longer video. We turned to our TA Chuck for help and he suggested using Camtasia to compile the videos. I immediately downloaded the program (as did Brian) and I was very excited to see all of the options that Camtasia provided. During a group meeting it was decided that we would use Camtasia to compile the videos.

Once I downloaded Camtasia and began to use it, I now understood why we were asked to explain title slides and transitions in our storyboard assignment. While Jing is a great and simple way to record videos, these things are not an option. In Camtasia however, you can record using the program and then add in title slides, sound effects, transitions, etc to spruce up your video and allow it to flow between topics better. I experimented with the title slides and adding sound effects. I also liked how I could use the zoom option to zoom in on a particular button that I was pushing, to better show our audience exactly what they needed to know. Brian seemed equally (if not more) excited about Camtasia and he volunteered to do the final compilation and final edit of the video. He took all of our inidvidual videos and made one final, complete video. I must say, he did a great job!

I have learned a tremendous amount through this project. First and foremost, I have learned a lot about two new software tools that I can use in my classroom. I love the options that Vyew can give me to help students in my class collaborate. I was very excited about all of the editing options in Camtasia. It was easy and fun to use. As I was editing my video, I truly did not feel as though I was doing class work. I plan on inquiring about purchasing Camtasia for my classroom. I think it is truly something my students would be excited about using.

Secondly, I also feel that if I ever decide to make videos to help train teachers in my building (like I am doing in my Wicked project) I would love to use Camtasia to do so. I would even love to teach my colleagues about Camtasia. It is something that I am considering purchasing myself. (Maybe I can even write it off as a classroom expense.)

Finally, I have learned a lot about troubleshooting with group members through this project. Schedules and communication were sources of stress for me during this project, especially when I was on the road and out of town. But I told myself not to let it stress me out and to do as much as I could do during the short times that I could do it, and it all worked out in the end. I think I worked harder and with more focus while on the road than any other time during this class. I have learned that I am capable of working around whatever life throws at me.

I also have learned that trying things out with group members ahead of time can solve a large number of problems down the line. For example, before our first group meeting to brainstorm, Courtney and I met in a Vyew room to try things out. At that time Courtney was unable to click buttons in the room or add to the room. We weren’t sure if it was because she has a Mac or if it was a problem with the settings in the room. After trying everything we could think of, she and I also tried out other online collaboration tools. Those also proved to be unsuccessful or have too many drawbacks. Later on I was able to find an article in the Vyew help section for Courtney to update her flash and that solved her problems. I remember that feeling of accomplishment and it will serve as a reason not to give up too soon. Looking back, I wish that we had done that same trial with Jing as a group before deciding to use it. We discussed using it, but we did not try to link videos together, with live chat and feedback going on. I think if we had, we could have solved that issue a lot sooner and we could have avoided lost points and having to do revisions on our storyboard blog. I now have both a positive and negative example of why live collaboration can be so helpful.

If I were to do a project similar to this in the future, I would definitely insist on trying to accomplish technology tasks during a live session. In an online class, group meetings in person seem out of the question. But live meetings where members can talk and/or chat, can save a group a lot of time and effort. Had we done so with Jing, we could have spent more time on perfecting the video instead of struggling to put it together. I would also ask group members to download and try all new software/programs before scheduled meetings. I would also provide links to tutorials and help centers about the program to help alleviate as many problems as possible before the meetings. I would also push to use an online calendar to better coordinate group members. Brian had set one up in his Vyew room but he and I were the only ones to use it because group members could not access his room without hi there to pull them into the room from the lobby. I think I would create one in Google and also set up an easier way to share documents (like our PowerPoint storyboard) using Google docs.

Below you will find our video "Getting to Know Vyew". If you are interested in Vyew, you can sign up for a free account at www.Vyew.com.