Ahhh, finally.
I had huge hopes and dreams for this project, as soon as it was assigned, I knew that I wanted to interview Shalin Hai-Jew, Instructional Designer for Kansas State University. She is such a wealth of knowledge. After scheduling the interview Shalin respectfully declined to be video recorded, so I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity and use Xtranormal! I bought a new app for my phone, because I had seen a multi-media presentation where this app was being used to interview people out in the field, for those of you that know my line of work, that is the real field, with dirt and in this specific case, sorghum. So that was probably my first mistake, as I am fortunate enough to have some great audio recording equipment that I use with my program and should have gone with what I know, so strike one!
Strike two arrived once we started the interview and Telecommunications showed up looking for ports in her work area. We had already started the interview and I wanted to respect her time, so I didn't stop the interview and was hopeful that I could "clean" up the audio in Adobe Audition after the fact, so what you will hear is some background noise of the Telecommunications.
Strike three arrived on Saturday when I had effectively cleaned up the audio to the best of my ability and went to include my own interview questions and found that I couldn't clean them up, so using the tools I had, I tried to record my audio independently. Xtranormal doesn't like the Mac OS, so here we are, a day late and more frustrated than proud of my project with several different levels of audio in the presentation. Regardless, it was a fun way to present our interview.
Overall, I really enjoyed the experience, I learned some valuable lessons, and SoftChalk is a great tool that I would like to integrate into some future courses. Here is some additional information regarding SoftChalk, including a link to the game that Shalin created.
Creating an Online Global Health Course and Game (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE.edu
SoftChalk
Hi Brandi! So glad to see you...I was a bit worried. Sorry to hear you had so many challenges with this project. However, I think you end product is great! I have played with Xtranormal a little bit, but I have not done a recorded voice instead of one of theirs. I liked the sound of your characters. I'm intrigued about SoftChalk and will check it out. Referral is the best way to navigate through all the technology options out there. Several classmates have recommended Camtasia through this assignment. My ears perk up when I hear that software is designed for more mobile devices. I think that is something we have to pay attention to as we explore technology. Again, great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Vianne! It was fun, I actually use Camtasia quite regularly and have for several years, it is also a great tool.
DeleteI was very excited to learn about SoftChalk and can't wait to start "playing" with it!
What a great interview! Xtranormal is fun to use. I used it in another class, but used the 'xtranormal' funny voices. Your own voices worked out great. Sounds like I have some homework to do investigating all these great tools out there like SoftChalk. I always wonder how technology people keep up with it all. It can seem overwhelming!!
ReplyDeleteGood try Brandi! I echo with what Katie said about your use of human voices rather than the xtranormal funny voices. Very well done. I believe they presented that Global Health course at several conferences and I attended one. It's a great course. Very well designed. Scaffolding again was one of the strategies they used in that course if I remember correctly. I have forgotten most of the questions raised by the audience but one. That was when one audience asked about the cost to design this course. It turned out that it was a little bit expensive. Maybe out of a grant? I don't remember. But softchalk is a useful tool so is camtasia. I have camtasia studio, snagit, morae on my computer just for exploration purpose.
ReplyDeleteBrandi, I think the interview presentation turned out great; you probably notice the background noises and stuff a lot more then anyone else (we're always our own toughest critics). I have seen a few xtranormal videos, but yours is the first I heard using normal voices; I have to say I like the real voices better. I'll have to check out the SoftChalk software.
ReplyDeleteSorry you ended up having trouble with the project! Overall I think you did a great job with the audio you had on hand and I love that you were able to use your own voices instead of those that are provided within xtranormal. Shalin is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI work for SoftChalk and can attest that it is a great platform for creating and sharing engaging learning content. Hopefully you'll get a chance to check it out!
Brandi,
ReplyDeleteWOW!! I loved your interview. I really liked the xtranormal with the human voices as everyone else has stated. I appreciated the comments that Shalin about how it is the pedagogical aspect that is most important. A point, that can easily be lost when playing with all this cool technology.
Now, I have lots more to learn such as xtranormal and softchalk. I need to get busy so that I can incorporate some of this into my class that begins next week.
Great job overcoming the adversities; this was a nice presentation.