Reflection Week #6: Vidcasts

Events Leading to Self Government in the United States
EDEL 3250: 01
Jason Biggs, Lindsay Farnworth

Our podcast addresses the 5th grade standard 2: Students will understand the chronology and significance of key events leading to self-government; Objective 1:  Describe how the movement toward revolution culminated in a Declaration of Independence.  We chose this topic because it is one of the core curriculum requirements for the grade we were interested in, and it also seemed to fit the assignment.  We did a sequential display of key events leading to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  

    The Declaration of Independence and self government are things that every person living in the United States should know about.  We couldn’t think of a better topic than this to share with students.  If students can understand how important these things are then hopefully they will be more prone to finding motivation to understand them as well as be interested in getting involved later in their lives.  
    Our Vidcast connects to the NETS and INTASC standards.  Some specifics on how they fit in follow.  National Educational Technology Standards 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.  INTASC Standard 2: Planning curriculum and designing instruction to enhance student learning, c. Design and articulate instruction aligned with Utah Core Curriculum standards.
    One potential drawback to our Vidcast is that it is currently in YouTube.  Many schools will not allow YouTube videos at their schools. This would make it difficult to view it in the classroom or to post it at school. Another drawback is that the background music is barely noticeable in some parts and more obvious in others. To make it more interesting we would increase the volume of the background music and leave more time for the music to shine through with no narration over it.
    The future plans for our series would be to create more Vidcasts about the history of the United States. These Vidcasts provide a great overview of the significant events and show students how everything fits together. Some possible topics would be: The Declaration of Independence to The Constitution and The Constitution to the Civil War, etc.