Michael Moriconi

Final Project

December 4, 2006

High Tech Learning Experience

Audience: One audience that could be targeted with this learning experience could be teen patrons of a public library, provided that the library has access to Apple computers with the required software (iPhoto and Comic Life). Another equally good audience could be high school students in an English / Creative Writing / or Art class. This could also be done as a joint venture between an English department and an Art department.

Need: Graphic novels have become increasingly popular in recent years. In fact, graphic novel sales were up 18% in 2005 over 2004 and that rate of increase reflects a slow-down in growth.[1] Many serious topics are covered in graphic novel format. Recently the 9/11 Commission Report was released in the form of a graphic novel and it has received excellent reviews. Students can learn about the craft of storytelling, dialog, photography, graphic design, computers, and the collaborative process all at the same time if designing a graphic novel becomes a class project.

Technology Effectiveness: This learning experience utilizes a number of wonderful technologies. First, a weblog will be used as the instruction delivery system. This allows the target audience to access the information from any Internet computer. Whether at home, school, or the library, students can participate in the learning process. They can also learn at their own pace and review items as many times as necessary. Another advantage of using weblogs as a teaching tool was described by Mike Wells and Elizabeth Maurer in Weblogs Help English T.A.s Spark Online Discussions with First Year Students. They observed that, “When students contributed to discussions online, they quickly realized that they weren't just writing for the teacher.”[2] Students seem to set the bar higher for themselves when they realize that their peers will be seeing some of their work.

Another technology component will be the use of screencasting. I’m using the shareware program iShowU. This program was chosen for its ease of use and reasonable price. It captures as video everything that happens on your computer screen, and simultaneously records your voice narration through your computer’s microphone.

I then use YouTube by uploading my screencasts and then placing them from YouTube into the weblog posts. This process is facilitated by YouTube and acts as free server space for the screencasts. The YouTube processed video embeds nicely in the weblog with easily visible control buttons.

Other technologies used in this project are iPhoto, digital photography, and Comic Life.

Technology Issues: My two main concerns involve whether our not students will have access to the proper technology for this learning experience, and whether or not the screencasts will be readable once posted to the weblog. For the purposes of this assignment, I am assuming that I am working with an audience that has access to all of the technology that is necessary for this project. Needing to make that assumption does illustrate one of the drawbacks of this technology project. Few classrooms or libraries are equipped with Apple computers, and this project is exclusively linked to Apple computer software.

My secondary concern is more problematic for this exercise. The first screencast that I have uploaded to YouTube and placed in the weblog is not readable. The encoding that YouTube has done has reduced the video quality substantially. According to the weblog Notes, links and conversation there may be free servers available that would host my screencasts with better resolution. Jim Thompson and J. Kevin Tumlinson compare Vimeo and YouTube. Their comparison suggests that Vimeo would be a much better choice for hosting my screencasts.[3]

Implementation:

  1. Create a weblog on an service that you like. Customize it for your audience and the graphic novel subject.
  2. Make entries about graphic novels, storytelling, digital photography, use of iPhoto, and Comic Life.
  3. Create screencasts of some of the more technical elements. Upload them to YouTube or a similar video hosting service and post them to your weblog in the appropriate entries.

Addendum: After some research and much experimentation, YouTube has been given the boot. The resolution and processing delays are unacceptable. A few other services were explored, and the results strongly favor using Blip.tv for serving video. Rather than rewrite this paper, just know that the process is exactly the same other than that I have used Blip.tv instead of YouTube.

[1] Dominoes and superheroes: graphic novels pressing forward. Publishing trends.com. April, 2006. http://publishingtrends.com/copy/06/0604/0604DominoesandSuperheroesGraphicNovelsPressingForward.html

[2] Wells, Mike and Elizabeth Maurer. When students contributed to discussions online, they quickly realized that they weren't just writing for the teacher. UBC’s E-Strategy Update. August, 2004. http://www.e-strategy.ubc.ca/news/update0408/040825-weblogs.html

[3] Thompson, Jim and J. Kevin Tumlinson. Video quality at Vimeo and YouTube. April, 2006. As read at the weblog Making Movies.