I finished my project today and I was thinking about how difficult it was for me. It was difficult in a few different areas 1. because I have no real skills or knowledge when it comes to technology and utilizing it and 2. because presenting my “research question” visually was a very complex challenge. When it came to creating my actual project, I found myself panicking because I couldn’t figure out how to use my software or any other types of software…after my panic attack ended I began to think logically and called my cousin who is a tech guy at West Liberty University. Using our Apple computers, he was able to log onto my computer, take it over, and then speak to me via our MACs to help tutor me in the iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand applications…I found this amazing! How cool was it that since I didn’t understand a thing about any of those applications, but suddenly my cousin (who is in West Virginia) was able to come save me through the very technology that I was frightened of. Of course, this was a brief tutorial and I was still left my own for a large amount of the applying the applications, but I did it and it was a wonderful feeling. Now, I’m not really sure what my point is, other than the fact that technology and multimodal tools can work no matter who a person is, and I will remember this lesson when I am teaching multimodal presentations to my own composition class…
My second realization during this project centered around the entire assignment. I had no idea what to do! It was daunting to think that I had to visually represent a topic and also learn how to use the software to make it available for presentation. I never realized how much I relied on the “old way” of teaching and presenting, and how much I have fallen into a comfort zone…I type and discuss teaching with technology and I am almost always an advocate for it, but then when it came time for me to actually apply my skills and do it myself I discovered I was scared and lost. This was surprising to me and I just wanted to make note of it on here because I wondered if anyone else suddenly found themselves in a position like me? I guess I haven’t had a lot of chances to use technology in graduate school, but I definitely find it challenging but also thought inspiring...it made me think about what changes I could make in my own classroom and pedagogy…also, heads up, this is my first movie on a MAC and some of my images are grainy—I just couldn’t figure out how to fix up my pictures in enough time…
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I was in the same boat. My presentation would have been 100% different, had I just been up in front of everyone talking for 6-10 minutes about what I am going to write/compose/create later this semester. I can DO that. It's easy (it's probably easy for all of us here...it's why we are here, or at least part of why we are here).
This presentation became more than just my paper, but rather a "let's see what we can do with this...let's play with it!" Now that I have had some experience fiddling with different video editing programs, and with being part of a video, it will be easier the next time...and the next time...and the next time...
E.
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