Short Films Documentary

Below is a short documentary about the short films that were created in my COMM 445 - Video II class this Spring. Coti and Jill also tell a little about the process of making a short and provide tips for aspiring filmmakers.

Stay tuned for a slightly more comical look at filmmaking by Lazy Bear Productions in How To Make Your Movie: Part Deux. I have a small cameo in which I play a nervous professor on camera for the first time.

NASA Videoconference

"Did you know the shuttle transporter crawler gets 35 feet to the gallon?"

Facilitated a videoconference today for the Riverbend Technology Institute with 2 classes from Brown Academy and the NASA Digital Learning Network. This school has a magnet curriculum and has become a NASA Explorer school (more here).

This interactive field trip involved a studio at NASA with a Chromakey backdrop from which teir instructor presented a variety of multimedia and hands-on demonstrations (liquid nitrogen and the balloon trick!). This guy was awesome and he officially is doing my dream job (probably a little late for me to get on with NASA). On our end we had two classrooms connected in Fletcher Hall, and students were able to ask questions, perform tasks as examples, and even see the other classroom here on campus when they asked questions.

Prep for this involved teacher's preparing their students for the experience with lessons, setup and test of the videoconference (nearly had issues even after successful tests, but cool-headed troubleshooting prevailed), and making contact with the folks at NASA.

NASA provides these experiences for free, but they only ask for students and teachers to fill out a feedback form online in order to better their program an to report back on what they are accomplishing. (Good assessment!)

I'm going out to buy a telescope tonight. Woo-hoo!

Ellumination

Facilitated tech for and observed a webinar today featuring Dr. Roblyer on a panel of experts in curriculum and instruction design for virtual schools. The meeting was conducted with a web-based java app that I was skeptical about at first, but pretty impressed with after seeing it live.

About 40 particpants joined in this webinar by clicking on links sent by email. The link pulls up a session in elluminate, which is basically a chat room with everything but the kitshen sink thrown into it. It offers live audio (one person at a time to avoid confusion), video, slides, polling, hand-raising, chat (as backup for audio problems), and active weblinks in the slides. They also did followup with all the participants via a survey in Zoomerang.

There is probably more I am missing and I hope to get a demo of this somehow because I want to see what all the moderator was looking at, since they were able to do the online polling, presentation of that data, and on-the-fly Q&A.;

This may just be enough to get me excited about online and distance learning again..

UTC Athletics steps into the digital age

After multiple meetings with Rick Hart, UTC's new Athletics Director, I see a new vision for the program here that involves innovative uses of technology.

First, their football program has stolen my summer intern (with my permission and training) to use video more heavily in their training. Michael shoots practice footage every afternoon and edits and delivers DVDs with highlights of various drills for analysis and presentations to the players in the classroom that same evening. This practice will be used more heavily in other athletics programs as well.

Second, the Athletics program will be taking advantage of the web to deliver content to viewers on campus and around the world.

"Fans will be able to choose which team's audio feed they would like to listen to during the games, which also will be archived and can be downloaded onto a portable device, like an i-Pod." The Stamford Advocate

I will be helping to develop a workflow for live production and streaming of games, packaging highlights reels of past and present UTC sports, and delivering in-game entertainment to the jumbotron at Finley stadium and eventually in the McKenzie Arena.

Will keep updating here as we continue this partnership, but as I said to Hart in our first meeting, it's great to finally see someone with a vision in his position.

More here: Small-Conference Football Hits the Computer Screen

AIDS movie

Worked with these girls from Upward Bound to help them produce a short film about AIDS entitled The Domino Effect: How I got AIDS. Pretty impressive, they came up with the idea, wrote the script, directed and acted, and made editing decisions. Leslie Smith with Upward Bound does an awesome job with these kids and that program seems to have a big impact.

Chattanoogan.com wrote up a good article here.

Spectrum University

Worked in the studio with a group of 24 teens with autism and other developmental delays yesterday. Spectrum University kicked off the last week of their summer camp by producing a movie trailer entitle: Spectrum University-Mission Totally Possible.

It was very interesting preparing the curriculum for this activity. The first problem and the biggest was the number of students, counselors, and press crammed into our facility. 24 kids, 15 counselors, 6 studio employees, 1 camp director, and a couple cameramen from local television. I set up three learning centers and used the three groups of eight previously decided upon which helped, though I should have spread around the work a little more. Kids acted in front of the chromakey: climbing up the side of a building, swimming underwater to plant or defuse a "bomb", and skydiving. They shot more dramtic scenes in our control room including my favorite line, "Which wire? WHICH WIRE?" Or, "I'm going to hurt your camp counselor." Also they did some exterior shots and recorded voiceovers in our edit suite.

Was a hectic couple hours, but I think the kids got a pretty good perspective of how a film gets put together and they will love the final product. Dealing with their disabilities was much easier than I had expected, though I had planned on treating these kids just like anyone else (inclusion?) which went pretty well. Rachel Salomon-Sadowitz, the camp director, does an incredible job motivating these kids, and the counselors all seemed pretty proactive in working with their assigned students. We only had a couple of situations where kids didn't want to participate or took a lot of encouragement, but as my editor Ryan pointed out, "There are college kids who wouldn't have handled the situation this well."

I WOULD LOVE to post the final product up here, but that will not be possible. However, with permission of the program, I can probably show anyone interested if you want to come by the TV Studio. It's going to be awesome!

Ongoing projects

Language Learning videoconferences with Mexico - These monthly conferences take place with local elementary school children from The Bright School and with children in a suburb of Mexico City. The kids speak back and forth in each other's language and are able to ask questions about each other's culture. Read all about it in this article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

MIT Enterprise Forum - a satellite downlink brought to UTC by the Riverbend Technology Institute and yours truly. "'Talk to an Angel: Crucial Connections to Early Stage Capital' is a look at how entrepreneurs and angels can find each other for funding opportunities, and work together after the deal is done." More info here.

Girls Inc. - helping students learn basics of the communications industry, particularly in helping them create a public service announcement for Breast Cancer awareness.

COMM 400 Documentary class - provided technology and storytelling advice and served as a judge for awards given at their final presentation.

Back Row Film Series and Workshops - coordinated and planned curriculum for three free filmmaking workshops for teens concentrating on screenwriting, shooting, and editing independent films. Also on planning committee for the Back Row Film Series.

Chattanooga Film Commission - invited by local filmmaker Jarrod Whaley and Missy Crutchfield to serve on the local projects committee of the city's new film commission. This committee's purpose is to support and encourage local filmmaking.

Youth Documentary Project - sponsored by the Association for Visual Artists, this project partners local filmmakers with teens at afternoon rec centers to study and create short documentaries.

The Enterprise Center - Created promotional video materials for the Maglev train DVD, edited from existing and computer simulated footage of magnetic levitation train footage to educate Chattanoogans about the potential of a high speed magentic levitation train from Chattanooga to Atlanta.

Camp Spectrum - organizing a one-day workshop for teens with autism to learn various aspects of television and video production.

Curriculum Design Activities - Filmmaking Workshop

So, for whatever reasons this spring semester I commited my student workers and myself to putting on a series of free filmmaking workshops for teens that took place at the Hunter Museum. Was a pretty big success in my book, since we got kids from very diverse backgrounds and schools including UTC, GPS, Baylor, McCallie, Red Bank, and Howard (thank you Ms. Lyon!)

The purpose for me was to try to do everything possible to promote local film submission for the Back Row Film Series. The other reason I guess was to make use of the amazing resources of two of my current student workers who are into filmmaking in a big way, as well as to get other local filmmakers to come out and share their expertise. All of this took place with degrees of success ranging from better than I could have expected to OK, let's just get this over with. All-in-all I think everyone involved had a good time and enjoyed the events.

I basically coordinated the whole thing with assistance from the curators of education at the museum. The idea was to do three workshops, the first on pre-production (writing scripts), the second on production (shooting), and the third on (postproduction). I leaned heavily on my students, Ryan and Kashad, for the first one, since I haven't written the first screenplay. We did cover som other materials that day as well, but for the most part followed the curriculum described here. The next workshop I had more expertise in and planned the workshop accordingly. Tried to cram too much into 2.5 hours, but all in all it was effective. That day's plan can be seen here. Finally we closed with postproduction which was planned during most kids spring breaks and was poorly attended. That curriculum is still in note form but will appear as an article on the Chattanooga Film Blog shortly.

We used a bit of material from the Film Foundation who have two terrific curriculums for teach film appreciation and filmmaking to kids call The Story of Movies and Creativity on Film. These are very rich resources that I would like to incorporate more fully if I ever do this again.

This was a very interesting project because I have some good information and experience to share, but putting it into the form of a 3-day workshop series that would be useful and fun for students who signed up was difficult. Also, collaboratively building the curriculum with the other filmmakers was tough, since all most filmmakers want to do is sit around and trash popular directors and so forth, but we made it, and I think I learned a lot from the experience.

Check out my student's amazing work and a cameo by Mr. Willis at Lazy Bear Productions and Killing Elvis.

Filmmaking Curriculum - Production

So our second workshop at the Hunter Museum on February 18th focused on the production phase of making your film. Quite honestly, the day wasn�t as action-packed as the first workshop on screenwriting, but there were some highlights. One was a presentation of Lazy Bear Productions� �How to Make Your Movie: Episode 1 � Twelve Simple Steps.� Check it out on Google Video here. Another was Jim Burer�s presentation of �Krusty,� which can be seen on his site, www.angusgroove.com.

Other than the above-mentioned highlights we did take time to point out some basic DV filmmaking tips and tricks, starting with the very basics.

1. Use a tripod! It�s much easier to look amateur than professional and usually the main difference is shaky handheld video. When should you go handheld? Only when the action or pacing of a scene calls for it. However, unless you�re shooting a spaghetti western, don�t move the camera, use the zoom, or change the shot mid-scene.

I like to encourage students in my classes to think of shooting video the exact same way we shoot pictures from a photography standpoint. Set up the shots, compose all of the elements, roll the tape, call for action, then try it again from a different angle. It�s a lot of trouble, but taking the time to carefully compose each shot will make all the difference in your final product.

2. Shoot closeups. The closeup shot is essentially the key to connecting with your audience in filmmaking. Lasting images are usually those that were carefully composed (like a good photo) and effectively isolate the subject from its surroundings. Closeups are important visually in this way but are also useful as cutaways in the editing process. For instance, if you shot a long conversation of two friends arguing and decide to cut the scene shorter but you only have a wide shot of the scene, cutaways of hands wringing or on one character�s eyes, or just about anything in the scene, this can be inserted into the scene and allows you to start back further into the conversation without an annoying jumpcut.

How close it too close? A lot of times scenes are shot extremely close to make them feel more intense. While this effect works, it can be horribly overused, particulary in fight sequences--Batman Begins, Point Break, Braveheart (wide scenes are epic, but when the fighting starts you can�t tell what�s going on.)

3. Use good lighting. When shooting outdoors in the sun you can usually get away with natural lighting. Mid-day sunlight is actually much too harsh for most DV camcorders, but by scheduling shoots earlier or later in the day this can be effectively handles. However, when shooting outdoors at night or anytime indoors you WILL NEED lighting. Here are some cheap ways to getting better lighting when shooting indoors.

Turn on the lights. All of them. If you have a halogen torchiere lamp that can be set up in the room out of the shot go for it. Also, cheap halogen work lights can be reflected off of a white wall or ceiling to brighten the scene. Also, take off the lamp shade of any lamps that are not in the shot. Finally, try swapping out the bulbs in lamps with the brightest wattage bulbs you can use in them. Again, it�s a lot of trouble, but worth every bit of it for a better final product.

Also, you�ll likely need to perform a manual white balance with your camera. Usually there is a control for this in the camera�s menu, so check your manual about how to do this. Orange-tinted interior shots are another great way to look amateur, so try to avoid them by doing a white balance.

We talked a little further about directing actors and coming up with props and scenery, but most of this you can figure out for yourself. There are several great websites below with tips on how to make fake blood, sugar glass, etc., for very little cost, so check those out or send me references if you know of others or have favorite tips you'd like to share.

Chris Willis

Further Resources
The Complete Eejit's Guide to Film-Making
DV for Beginners
Extreme Indie
The Digital Filmmaker
Cyber Film School

Filmmaking Curriculum - Preproduction/Screenwriting

Screenwriting Resources

As a resource for those taking our filmmaking workshop, and for whoever else stumbles onto the CFB searching for filmmaking tips, I�ve compiled the following information as a resource for beginning screenwriters. I�d like to thank my former intern Ryan DiGiorgi of LazyBear Productions for gathering most of this research, and to a lesser extent my current intern, Kashad Moore (j/k Kashad).

The purpose of the workshops is to promote story-telling with film/digital video, to encourage local submissions for the Back Row Film Festival, and to generally encourage young filmmakers.

The first workshop covers preproduction, specifically, writing your script. Why is writing so important, isn�t film a visual medium? Well, yes, but, that is only the finished product. The first step is getting the idea out of your head and onto paper. Everything you see on the screen starts with the script. And the script starts with a single idea.

Where do good ideas for stories come from? Check out some scripts from films you�ve seen:
http://www.script-o-rama.com/, http://www.screenplays-online.de/

These Hollywood films required months, even years of preproduction, script development, and planning.

But where do story ideas come from? Random conversations with friends, waking up in the middle of the night (a vision from God), locations that evoke a feeling, where else? A good story idea can come from anywhere, but the question is, where is this story going?

Every story has already basically been told in some form. Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self. Any new idea, no matter how original, can be compared to an existing work. This isn�t necessarily a bad thing. It can be helpful to look at previous work to get your ideas in motion.

How do these story ideas then get turned into films? Not just by talking about them! They had to be written down first--then submitted to film companies, completely re-written, then made into Hollywood films.

A lot of the movies you see started with a �what if� statement? From a conversation, someone came up with, What if _____ happened to _______?

What if an alien visitor was left behind on Earth and discovered by a child?
What if werewolves fought vampires?
What if a psychopath designed traps where people had to hurt themselves or others to save their own life?
What if we made a movie about a young rapper trying to make it?
What if toys came to life?
What if a student skipped school and had hilarious hijinx in Chicago?
What if four brothers vowed to avenge their mothers death?
What if two cowboys fell in love?
What if two professional killers were married to each other and didn�t know the truth about each other?

The �Chris Willis� method, as I like to call it is very similiar. Basically I have sat around and heard a thousand converations where someone said, �Wouldn�t it be cool if ______ happened in a movie?� Same concept.

All screenplays have common elements that need to be addressed, but the place to start is with the subject. What is your story about? (Field) Figure this out first, then move on to plot, characters, and endings.

What happens? �The story is NOT an action scene, it�s not a guy falling down the stairs, it�s not �wouldn�t it be funny if we dressed up like ninjas� unless that sentence ends with �and then something interesting happens�� (DiGiorgi, 2006).

What else makes a story? Structure. Hollywood agents for writers have very particular criteria they are looking for. One thing in particular is that submitted stories have a �Three Act Structure.�

ACT 1
Setup
Who is the main character and what does he want?
Why?
What does he intend to do to get it?

ACT 2
Struggle
The hero�s plan goes into action
There are problems
He tries several different methods, meeting new obstacles and learning new things at each turn
Just when he�s sure he has everything figured out, his worst fear comes true. He�s ready to give up.
EVERY good movie has this scene, try to find it.
But WAIT. There might be hope.
One last plan

ACT 3
Payoff
CLIMAX: The hero�s last plan is put into action.
The plan pays off and he has the power to get what he wants.
But was it really what he NEEDS?
He takes everything he learned in Act 2 and applies it to his final decision to accept what he wants or reject it.
Resolution
How did everything turn out for everyone?

The Punctuation Method (The Screenwriter Within)

ACT 1 ends with a �?�
The premise is setup, what will happen?

ACT 2 ends with a �!�
Holy crap, I did not think that would happen!

ACT 3 ends with a �.�
Well, I guess it all worked out.

If you don�t know your ending, make up three. The real ending is probably a mixture of these:

The happiest possible ending
The saddest possible ending
The most absurd ending
-The Screenwriter Within

Another important point for scripts submitted to film companies is using the proper screen writing format. Eejit�s Guide has a very good explanation of how to write for independent films.

Is the format really that important? Depends on what you�re doing. The main things is to get your ideas out of your head and onto paper. People can�t read your mind.

Storyboarding is another useful tool in preproduction. Check Eejit�s Guide for help with this as well.

So get to work. And if you'd like to post your ideas or get other feedback from area writers, contact me at Chris-Willis@utc.edu.

For more info see:
Books on screenwriting:
King, Viki. How to Write a Movie in 21 Days.
Gilles, D. B. The Screenwriter Within.
Field, Syd. Screenplay : The Foundations of Screenwriting.
Field, Syd. The Screenwriters Workbook.

Useful websites:
http://www.indiewire.com/
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/
http://www.screenwriting.info/
http://www.dvshop.ca/dvcafe/writing/beginners.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/howtowrite/screenplay.shtml
http://worldfilm.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Write_Screenplay_For0962933827.htm

Article

So, here it is. A very good educational toy product that does not work with Windows Media Center 2004, but pretty well with just about any other DVD player.

InteracTV by Fisher-Price: Children�s television you can feel good about.

The Fisher-Price InteracTV DVD-based Learning System is a very simple concept, with very lofty goals. It is essentially nothing more than an oversized universal remote control for your DVD player and a collection of specialized interactive DVDs similar to Scene It? But what it accomplishes is so much more. The product actually has the potential to take one of our worst vices as a parent�allowing our children to watch television, and make it a virtue.

The innovative product uses existing technology, DVD players found in most homes, and programs that your child is already familiar with. These include: Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob, Scooby-Doo, and many more. As the program progresses, the characters ask your child a series of questions. This level of interactivity has been going on in children�s television for years, but now there is a distinct difference. Your child can answer back.

The packaging of the product indicates that the system allows children �to interact with their favorite characters and shows in a fun and educational way.� The curriculum includes about 100 learning questions that are included during each show. This supports the claim that this toy is focused on the child�s cognitive development skills. The box lists a variety of learning objectives that can be achieved as the child uses the toy. Perhaps even more important than these is the way this product can change the experience of television viewing for your child for years to come.

Jackson loves television.
My two and half year old son loves watching TV. He would watch TV all day long, every day! Early on in his television viewing we were amazed at how quickly he learned the names of characters on TV. He often knew names for programs that he had not even seen. Despite our best efforts to ban certain programs we didn�t like, Jackson was learning about them from storybooks, advertisements on other children�s T-shirts and sneakers, and talk amongst children at his daycare.

What is the harm in watching television? I did it. So did my wife. And we both seem relatively normal. We both even went to college and have respectable jobs. Television didn�t ruin our lives. Yet you hear so much negativity about children�s television viewing these days. News programs and magazine articles suggest all types of negative outcomes for children from watching too much TV. You might think allowing your child to watch television was on a par with encouraging your child to smoke cigarettes or drop out of school. But what does the research really say?

Children�s TV Viewing: How much is too much?
In my graduate program I am doing my research on children�s television. In a review of literature on children�s television I found that children�s viewing habits were shown to have effects on subsequent learning patterns. A great deal of research points out that even too much viewing of educational programs such as Sesame Street can have negative effects . This is usually said to be caused by displacing other important learning activities such as reading and social interaction. Another concern that has been heavily researched in recent years is the relationship of children�s television viewing and childhood obesity. Because of these concerns, the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for reduced levels of television viewing in children ages 2 and up, and urges parents of children under 2 to not allow any viewing at all (http://www.aap.org/family/smarttv.htm).

I was concerned about the possible negative effects that watching too much television could have on my child. The literature I reviewed led me to the summary that any amount over two hours each day may be too much television. With that general rule of thumb in mind, my wife and I have decided to do �No TV� nights, in which we plan activities that would otherwise have been replaced by sitting in front of the television. Of course these don�t completely counteract �Movie Nights� where we purposely all watch television together, but at the end of the week we believe our average viewing time is lowered to about 2 hours per day or less.

What kind of viewing is taking place?
Other research into children�s television has shown that it is equally important that we pay attention to how our children are watching television. Does your child slump back on the couch and barely blink or do she jump and down when something funny happens? Does he clam up when Dora the Explorer or Steve from Blue�s Clues asks a question, or is he calling out the answers? Does your child seem to be interacting and engaged, or catatonic? These behaviors may indicate whether a child is an active or a passive viewer of television.

This is where Fisher-Price�s InteracTV system shines�in creating a more interactive learning experience out of an activity otherwise referred to as being a couch potato. The system encourages a more interaction with the content of the programs and compels the child to think critically, rather than just viewing the content hypnotically. This new way of viewing television can develop into patterns of engaged viewing that last a lifetime.

Engaged viewing is when your child is plugged in and engaged while watching a program. When a child is actively engaged in watching a TV program, he uses the same cognitive skills as are used when reading a book. In cognitive learning theory, knowledge is thought to be created when a child is actively involved. Jean Piaget, renowned psychologist, emphasized that children aged 2 to 7 need new concrete experiences upon which to build learning cognitive structures�the building blocks of knowledge (http://www.funderstanding.com/piaget.cfm).

The Fisher-Price InteracTV system causes a child to be more engaged while viewing. They do this by periodically pausing the action during which the characters ask questions. Your child must then press the appropriate button on the InteracTV controller before the program will continue. If wrong buttons are pressed the question is either repeated or advice is given on getting it right. This series of questions is repeated each time the game is played, but they are randomized and the answers are never in the same order on the screen. In this way, the experience is never the same for the child.

What do children learn while watching television?
When children watch television they learn quite a bit more than just what is presented on the screen. They learn patterns of viewing behaviors that will last for many years to come. If the pattern that is learned is that of a �couch potato,� it is very likely that the child will not be interested in challenges and critical thinking opportunities that appear in other media as well.

In a study of the effects of children�s viewing of learning-based programs such as Blue�s Clues it was found that viewing such a program can affect how a child watches other shows (Crawley et al., 2002). For instance, if children begin watching television that is entertainment-based, they will more likely watch other shows passively. This is true even of educational shows which present material in a straightforward manner, but do not ask the child to participate in meaningful ways. If the child is not encouraged to interact with the material by their parents, they will likely zone out, and not construct new knowledge with the presented material.

On the other hand, if children watch shows that are learning-based first, they will be more likely to be engaged, interactive viewers of many different types of programs�and of other types of media as well (van den Broek, 2001). This is particularly encouraging for Fisher-Price and other toy manufacturers, as well as television production companies, because they would like to use children�s television to help build reading and literacy skills, rather than taking away from them. Rather than allowing television to displace activities such as reading and play that promote learning (Wan, 2000), TV can actually be a source for all of the above.

InteracTV has the potential to take this to a whole new level, largely due to its most important selling point�it�s fun! The product is a game, and it is a game that kids will want to play. Yes, children can learn by playing with it. They can learn math, vocabulary, and observation skills as the packaging suggests. But most importantly they are learning to be active, engaged viewers. This is a learning behavior that will be important for them in years to come as they encounter other forms of media. Will they be mesmerized by the screens of videogames and dulled to sleep by textbooks? Or will they interact with television programs and dig deep into books to find the answers their brains are wired toward figuring out? I believe that InteracTV has the capability to expand a child�s capacity for critical thinking, for developing a curious mind, and for making the most of their entertainment-time�teaching them that learning can be and is fun.

Final Analysis
There are just a few drawbacks to this product that a parent must consider. It does heavily encourage TV viewing. If your child is already having difficulty tearing him or herself away from the tube, you may want to consider buying a few more books and investing in a pair of earplugs as you guide them through TV withdrawals. But, if you can incorporate InteracTV into a healthy TV diet of no more than 2 hours per day, this product definitely has the potential to fulfill a variety of learning outcomes.

A quick check of user reviews online will tell you that several people have had trouble with the setup of the DVD remote controller. My tests worked fine with all of the suggested methods of teaching the remote to work with my DVD player. I never could get it to work with my Windows Media Center PC however, even though it uses an infrared remote control and has all of the same buttons as my DVD player�s remote.

The price and flexibility of this product�s being able to work with the majority of DVD players on the market make it a very effective and relatively low-cost educational toy. It is both age appropriate and safe, though it should never be used as a sitter for your child, which is generally the problem with children�s television viewing. If you are in the market for something that will cause your child to tune in to the learning possibilities offered by educational television, rather than vegging out while watching any form of TV, I highly recommend this product.

References

Crawley, A., Daniel R. Anderson, Angela Santomero, Alice Wilder, Marsha
Williams, Marie K. Evans, Jennings Bryant. (2002). Do children learn to watch television? The impact of extensive experience with Blue�s Clues on pre-school children�s television viewing behavior. Journal of Communication. June 2002. 264-280.

Piaget. Retrieved Feb. 01, 2006, from Funderstanding Web site: http://www.funderstanding.com/piaget.cfm.

Smart Guide to Kid's TV. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved Nov. 20, 2005, from http://www.aap.org/family/smarttv.htm.

van den Broek, P. (2001). The role of television viewing in the development of reading comprehension. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved November 17, 2005, from www.ciera.org/library/archive/2001-01/04Oct99-58-MSarchive.html.

Wan, G. (2000). �Barney and Friends�: An evaluation of the literacy learning environment created by the TV series for children. (ERIC Document Reproduction No. ED 438 900).

Podcasting assignments?

I am curious about how podcasting is being used as an instructional tool. Perhaps I can do a paper on it. I know many universities are using the technology to push delivery of lectures and materials, but I am more curious about where it is being used as a portfolio of student presentations and so forth. I have seen several locally from Baylor High School and I know that there were talks between the COMM dept and the Hunter museum about creating a series of podcasts, but I am not sure how well they are being integrated into the curriculum.

At my suggestion (and others) a couple of students I know have started a weekly 30 minute podcast in which they review movies and dialog about filmmaking. It is featured on the PulseBlog and on the Chattanooga Film Blog. Check it out below.

Technology

In areas of technology I feel especially competent, not that I have a vast background in any certain technology areas, but in that I feel very comfortable when presented with challenges in this area and am usually successful in figuring out whatever is needed to accomplish a given task.

In my position as a technology specialist for UTC, I have been facilitating various groups with their technology needs. For students I am constantly doing over-the-shoulder help in the television studio. For faculty I've done everything from compressing video for self-guided, interactive CD-ROMs, to downlinking satellite feeds of important educational teleconferences. For Continuing Education I've overseen the operation of now 7 different videoconferencing classrooms, for which I've spec'd out several hundred thousand dollars of equipment, and successfully obtained funding for through grants. I enjoy using technology to help other realize their vision, whether that is a video, a web project, a TV show, a vehicle for instruction delivery, whatever...

Also, I designed the UTC Television Studio, which I'm fairly proud of.

The Art of Leadership (preview)

Here is a preview of a project my students are finishing for Leadership Chattanooga.

mms://athena.ceca.utc.edu/video/leadership/dance2.wmv
http://athena.ceca.utc.edu/video/leadership/dance2.mov