Discussing a Discussion Series

This week I participated in a small group activity that produced a series of short PSA's related to advocating for daily physical education in schools. The process in many ways seemd to mirror the wrting process, and our group was able to utilize the DEAPR steps in our production methods. This activity seemed to have a lot of potential for some great classroom lessons, yet the biggest challenge our group faced was 'quieting' the background and making it free of other noises that seemed to really interfere with sound quality when recording. The technical aspects of using the audio software was actually the easiest part of the production process. It would seem , that conquering our 'background noise' issue would be even more of a challenge in a high school classroom setting, or possibly that issue could be resolved via the audacity software.......

Podcasting for Visualization

Tonight our class began the first phase of developing our group's podcast, assembling a treatment and storyboarding. As we developed a 'practice podcast', what really came to mind were the days of the 30 minute radio 'shows' of the 1940's and early 50's. The combination of voice influctuation, background music, sounds, and verbal "accents" of the speakers all came together in a 'sound' form to aid the listener 'visualize' the scene they were "hearing". That seems to be the main focus of the 'treatments' and 'storyboards', to decide how the features of the audacity software will be utilized in a way to help the listener not just "hear" the message, but visualize the setting as well......

Advocacy Public Service Announcements

This past week my advocacy group put together our advocacy message, and the process seemed to somewhat mirror our video essay unit from two semesters ago. Yet this particular production really required more technology and software skills, while the video essay seemed to revolve more around the 'writing process'. While both seem to have a lot of potential to serve as a good authentic problem, I can really see the advocacy public service announcement being much better suited for high school students as opposed to middle school, or even k-5 learners. Each has their advantages & disadvantages form a teacher's standpoint, I guess you have to decide which format works best for your individual situation.......