*Team+Debrief+-+Week+5*

Team Debrief for Week 5

From our assignment, we are suppose to post the following information on our personal blog: · clearly analyze the group’s pre-production, production, and post-production process; shot and editing selection; Web delivery formatting decisions. · offer insights into how the group can improve their public service announcement. · identify copyright attribution for assets. · discuss your team’s collaboration and interactions with each other. I thought this might give us a starting point for our debriefing...

From Becky: In analyzing our group’s pre-production process, we started out with just a topic – “Cell Phones in School Zones”. From that starting point, we began posting thoughts to our group wiki http://cellphonesinschoolzones.wikispaces.com/. A rough draft of the script was posted and edits were made by all team members. For week 3, we began working out the order of our video and the shots that were needed for each portion of the video. In many cases, each team member provided their own video or photo, so we had a wide array of media to choose from. An introduction audio of the script was created. Once we started putting the visual media together with the audio, we realized that there would need to be some editing of the audio. The further we got into the production of the psa, the more we realized how little time 60 seconds really was! We went through 4 drafts of the video before creating our final video. We recorded different versions of audio voice over until we got the language just right. We chose to post our final video to YouTube, because it was the easiest to embed in our wiki.

The team dynamic determines the group’s success. For our group, we all had a common vision, to make the best psa we could given the guidelines and restrictions that we were given. I feel that everyone in my group – Katherine, Shanda and Tony and I all contributed equally to our psa. Everyone had an equal say in decision making. Everyone contributed to the audio, video and photographic content as well as to the script. Personally, I felt as though I was a little bit bossy at times to the group. It was hard for me to take a step back and wait for a group consensus before moving forward. Katherine, Shanda and Tony all helped balance me in that aspect. Also, I think our own personal backgrounds helped our team dynamic. We could use our personal experiences and expertise to convey our message. I am lucky to have worked with such an outstanding group of educators!

From Shanda: We worked together well as a group. No, Becky wasn't bossy. She was our leader in my eyes. From what I gathered, we all work and have families while attending graduate school. Our schedules are so busy, and she was able to jump in from time to time with excellent ideas. We either went with them or make suggestions. Our group was wonderful. By using emails, our personalized wiki, some texting, the discussion board, and web conference private chat we were able to communicate effectively. Even though three group members were in the Houston area and one in the DFW metroplex, that did not make a difference. We were able to plan, produce, edit, and collaborate with positive results with the use of Movie Maker and Audacity. Dr. Abernathy wanted us to work together as a team and collaborate. We definitely accomplished this, and very effectively I must say. We were professionals that shared our knowledge and resources to create an effective Public Service Announcement with a strong message. We chose the topic of cell phone use in school zones, and the problems that can arise with their careless use. We had a plan and divided up what was needed to complete this project. We were all able to contribute video, images, and documentation. Our wiki gave us the opportunity to brainstorm and edit along the way. How to make this better? Money.. Give us time and money and I'm sure we could have some higher budget images and effects. Money would buy famous faces and voices. This project went very well with the resources we were able to utilize. I was amazed at all the Open Source software that was available for our use to bring this project together with a budget of $0.00. I enjoyed this project, and I really hope to work with these professional educators again soon. I also hope we are given more opportunities to create these types of learning teams in future courses. Lastly, this has given me some ideas for my own classroom and ways to assist learners.

From Tony: The most important part of this PSA project was the pre-production in week 3. I also, believed we had a very though out plan, which made our PSA project successful. We chose our topic on cell phone uses in zones and came up with a script. From there, we each took part in bring in audio, pictures and video for the production of the project. We posted the information on the wiki and email each other about updates we have done on the wiki. Next, we post our rough draft of our PSA video on YouTube and our wiki by using Movie Maker to create it. We then sent comments through our email and posted them on wiki like adding a credit slide and adding all our voices in the voice over in our conclusion. Finally, the final video was post on YouTube.

The only way I believe we could of improve this PSA was to have more time and/or money. This would allow us to do more things create and uses things we were not able to. Also, we created our pictures and videos, thus we did not have any copyright issues. Finally, I think another key in our success of this project was the on going communication. We would email each other or post on the wiki about any problems, comments or updates we had about the project. From Katherine Kingston: Our group worked well together. From the very beginning its was a collaborative effort. I don't feel that anyone person was bossy (no Becky, you weren't bossy). When we needed a leader, someone stepped up. I think that the leadership role was filled by several people at different times. I do not feel that I ever assumed that role, but I was very happy with the role that I played. Our wiki was vital to our efforts, and was used by everyone sucessfully. I enjoyed working with the group and feel that everyone brought something unique to the table. Our PSA came together quite effortlessly. Ok, there was a lot of work that was put into it, but the group made it seem effortless. Everyone performed the job that was required of them. I do think that we did an awesome job on a shoestring budget. Of course, we could have made it better, if we had had a budget that allowed us to hire the talent. But do I want to do it better? No.