My hard-working group is number 4. The members include Ariel, Suzanne, Charlene and myself. We used Camtasia, Screenomatic, and iMovie to record and edit our tutorials and then placed them on YouTube for easy viewing. The first introductory tutorial was captured using Screenomatic, then produced and edited in iMovie, while the tutorials regarding creating an account in Google and beginning a Google Hangout were captured and edited using Camtasia. All the tutorials were then uploaded to YouTube for easy viewing by our group, our instructor, our class, and now the planet. The first tutorial was created in iMovie as that is the technology available to Suzanne that she desired to learn more about. It is excited how easy it was to upload to YouTube, so that was a good learning experience. The second and third tutorials were made using Camtasia. We initially wanted to use Jing because, as a group, we wanted to develop a good command over a free technology. But, the final tutorial, which is really the most crucial information, exceeded the time limit, of five minutes, that is allowed with Jing. Initially, when we were planning our tutorial, we realized we would be limited in time using Jing, which is why we decided to break our tutorial into three parts. Actually, I think this "limitation" benefited us, even though in the end we didn't use Jing. As a group, we believe that the tutorials better serve our users by being separated. This way the users can decide which tutorials are important to them and watch just those units without having to sit through an entire tutorial to get to a specific part that interests them. Also, it is easier to watch a smaller tutorial again, if needed later, as a refresher. Please feel free to check out our tutorials. You can watch an Introductory tutorial, covering the overall usefulness of Google +. You can also view one illustrating how to set up a Google + account. These first two short tutorials are available to help those who need this information before going forth to the third tutorial, which demonstrates how to begin a Google + Hangout, record the Hangount and then upload it onto YouTube.
I learned a good deal through this group project. Firstly, I reinforced my love of Google Hangout. Not only did we cover this technology in our tutorials, but we used it to communicate with each other, so I guess you can say we 'practice what we preach'. I have developed a greater command of its functions and am much more comfortable using it than I was before I began this project. Even though I didn't work on the actual production of the tutorials, as I was part of the storyboarding and scripting team, I did learn about Jing. I have never used it before, but have now worked with it since we have started the project. I like seeing the little Jing "sun" peeking out at me from the corner of my computer screen. I also learned a good deal about group work. We didn't hesitate to begin our project, and I am really glad about that. Even though we are all hard workers and contributed equally to the project, we still needed all the time. Part of that is due to our distance from each other and schedules. Some of us can work on MSU projects during the day and some can only work at night...some really late at night. Had we procrastinated, I may have experienced some anxiety relating to meeting the deadlines. So, even though we didn't have to frantically work to meet our deadlines, I still learned that projects like these should never be put on the back burner. At the time of writing this blog posting, one member of our group has no power and may not for a while because Hurricane Sandy blew it out. Because that group member contributed in a timely manner, none of us worried about her work. We told her to just worry about herself and keep safe. She is safe. What a relief. So, in summary, I learned how to confidently use Google Hangout, Jing and how to keep procrastination tendencies at bey.
I did, reluctantly, learn something else from this group experience. I hate to say it, but I learned the benefit of storyboarding. This was a painstaking process in this project, and I'm not sure I would use storyboarding for a tutorial of this nature and duration in the future. I would definitely use an outline, and probably one that was pretty detailed, but not a storyboard, necessarily. If I needed to create a tutorial that was more complex and was of a longer period of time, then I can see how storyboarding would be valuable. Having said that, I couldn't even fathom starting my final WPP without storyboarding because that project is comprised of many elements that I had difficulty visualizing at first. So, the group storyboarding assignment really helped me get working on my final WPP assignment. It was a way that I could conceptualize such a big project and also work on each piece individually. I will keep using storyboarding when I need it in the future.
What would I do differently if I had to produce a similar product in the future? I think I would set some deadlines for each specific task on the "to do" list. After the vision of the project was established, the plan constructed and the work load was divided amongst the members, I would set some "due dates" for the particular tasks. I think this would have helped me in planning my own schedule, for the most part. Also, I would know just when the current phase was ending and the next one beginning. We did give ourselves some soft deadlines, but no hard dates. Even if the dates had to be adjusted for schedules or because we just couldn't get the work done by that particular date, I think this would have helped, me, at least, execute the project with more efficiency. But, other than that, I think all the struggles we had were part of our own learning experience and I don't think removing the struggles would have made the final product any better. The goal here is to learn as much as possible in this short eight weeks of class and I certainly accomplished that while working on this Group Leadership Project.
Group 4 rocks! :)
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