Group Leadership Project

The two major projects proposed to us in CEP812 have been wonderful learning experiences. The group leadership project was an incredible challenge that not only allowed me to think outside the box, but also work completely online, and across the world! My group consisted of Angelica Rocha in Guatemala, and myself in San Diego CA. This presented a whole new dimension in collaboration and group work. Our work together in this project is proof that with the help of video conferencing and other web technologies, it is possible to engage in great work no matter where in the world we are.

Our project was based on delivering information about Google Apps Scripts through a video medium. While we knew how we wanted to make our video available, we needed to work out what supporting technologies would make it possible. We used Skype, Google Chat, Vyew and email to communicate, PowerPoint to create slides and graphics, internet browsers to do our research and collect both static and dynamic images, Jing and ScreenFlow to create our screen capturing video walk through, and Vimeo to publish on the web. With the help of these technologies, we were able to assemble a creative and informative video.

Throughout this project I was able to learn much about team work through trial and error. While we kept in constant communication, Skype's audio, video, and screen sharing abilities proved to be the most efficient way to communicate and get much of our work done. Email, Google Docs and Sites allowed us to share slides and create our script and outline what we envisioned our video would look like, but it didn't match the level of communication and understanding that we could achieve through video conferencing.

It was challenging engaging a subject that I was not familiar with, but I am glad that I was able to be a part of it. It helped me put into practice my research and critical thinking skills. If I were to take on another project like this, I would probably like to do a series of videos. I'm proud of the video that we put together, but I think that dissecting it further and labeling it accordingly in shorter clips might be of more help to those interested in the subject. Perhaps having shorter clips could help those that are looking for specific information jump right to their section of interest. I did enjoy working on the website and having using it as a reference for our storyboard, but I would also like to develop it further and modify it so that it could be of more use to those outside of the project, and not just as reference text for those of us working on the project. It makes sense to us, because we know what direction and context we're interested in, but stray visitors might not catch on to the site right away.

Here is our video, enjoy.

GLP Google Scripts Presentation from Alex Gonzalez on Vimeo.