Group Leadership Project

What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial?  Why?

Our group chose to go with iMovie for the final delivery.  A couple members of the group wanted to learn more about using iMovie and we all had access to it.  iMovie is a great tool for compiling videos and images.  The voice over feature is really easy to use and the themes, transitions and title features can really make a presentation look professional.  The only trouble we had at the end was that we all had different versions of iMovie and were not aware of this when we started.  Another downside to using iMovie is that it is not a collaboration tool in the sense that multiple people can work on the same project easily.  So Margaret needed to compile our videos or slides together since she had the role of doing the voice over for the video.  

What did you learn during the development process of the final product?

In a group project it is essential to coordinate project details and keep communication open through out the process.  We struggled to find a tool that allowed us to communicate effectively and worked well for all members of the group.  Google Docs was a great tool for us to do the initial coordination of the project and for us to all access and store our work.  However, we had a little trouble finding times to meet up as a group and when we did get together we struggled with our conferencing tools.  One thing that is great about working with students in my classes is that I know that they all have the same software and hardware capabilities.  We plan to collaborate with students in Alaska, but we plan to use Skype and Google Docs.  We have tested these and know they work, so we are off to a good start already.  
  

What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?
If I could do this again, I would probably focus more on making sure our group used tools that helped us communicate effectively and that when we did connect we had a plan for each meeting.  We each were pretty busy with our different schedules and being in different time zones.  Our conferencing did not need to be long, but because we had so much trouble with the technology, I felt we wasted valuable time.  I was happy to work with such talented teachers though, even with our set-backs we were able to create an interesting and informative PD tutorial.