For the Remix 4 assignment I decided to choose the How To Tutorial. I have never made a tutorial or  a video and broadcasting it to the world. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore. At least  I know the process of how to record, edit, and upload. My remix 4 was a tutorial of Microsoft PowerPoint 2011. In the tutorial it’s mainly for beginners, especially for individuals who are not familiar with PowerPoint 2011. It was not as in-depth as I wanted, but it’s just a quick overview to get the point across. Microsoft has definitely added more tools, styles, and effects to PowerPoint 2011. There are so many things you can do with the slides, content, graphics, and images on the slides. I must say I really like the direction Microsoft is headed in their products.

Back to the how to, well I am an Apple user, I have  Quicktime Player pre-installed on my computer, which is the program I used to complete a screen recording. Once I opened QuickTime, there are three options “New Audio Recording”, “New Movie Recoding”,  and “New Screen Recording”. So I chose the latter option, from there  you click on the recording button. Whatever the tutorial you are doing, you just  do what you normally do.

I found this out the hard way, so that brings me to the challenges I had with the assignment. The assignment itself isn’t difficult, but managing your time to be within  a 15 minute time limit (I suggest timing yourself, and writing a script beforehand to  be as concise and efficient as possible).  However, it can be longer , but  you must do some editing. My video went over 40 seconds, I had to do some trimming and I think it is obvious towards the end. I suggest if your video is going to be over 15 minutes , then do multiple videos or just complete the video without any audio and once the video is edited maybe go back and do a voice over the video.

Overall I am pleased with the video, I think I will do a second part of the tutorial. It will mainly discuss creating custom backgrounds, using the various tools to create effective presentations. This assignment was most helpful to me because I am an active participant on the web, instead of just “liking” or  ”sharing” links and websites to other people on the web. I was able to contribute successfully, actually having knowledge of a specific software/program that others may not be as familiar with.

I would consider this assignment applicable in the classroom. Instead of students completing book work, critical thinking questions or any other type of work sheet, it is a hands on approach for students to demonstrate their knowledge of a specific topic/content.  I think this tutorial  can show students’ multiple intelligences; students are able  to convey their  creativity and leadership or role (if tutorial is a group project). This would make a great final project that could highlight various concepts taught over the academic year. Click on the link here, to review an article on a 4th grade teacher’s reason for students creating a tutorial.