Multimedia Project Learning Reflection:

Q: Why did you choose this particular multimedia tool?

A: I chose Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) to make my project. I have used many of the software options from the Adobe suite of products, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Lighroom, and Acrobat, so I felt this software would be familiar and expected it to be very intuitive. It was both.

Q: How does this project align with your professional goals or context?

A: This project aligns well with my professional goals because it is an instructional video. I plan to make similar videos for the classroom, and this was a great opportunity to practice with software that I can use to make this type of content. I was able to practice uploading images, incorporating video clips, and overlaying text and animations to emphasize specific points. While I will likely use this software to make content more relevant to the subject I am teaching next time, since I’m not currently teaching it felt like an instructional video on a practical skill was a good use of my time and a great way to familiarize myself with the software.

Q: What did you learn from creating the digital story, and how might you apply this experience in the future?

A: I learned so much from creating this digital story! First of all, there are a few transitions that focus on a single image without any changes for a few seconds too long. By the end of the video, you can see my transitions and use of animations pay a little more attention to the amount of time a person is staring at one image, and I try to make it a little more visually interesting. I was able to use stock images and videos from the Adobe Express app in addition to my own pictures which showed me all of the tools available for quick, easy content creation. I also learned a couple things about the audio recording process. I recorded using a headset in the Windows sound recorder, but really could have benefited from a better microphone, higher gain, and a better sound recording app, such as Audacity, which I have used in the past. Windows sound recorder did not have an option to edit audio that I could find and, since I made a mistake in the middle of recording and didn’t want to re-record the entire audio for that one mistake, I had to download Audacity, download an audio pack that could read Mp4 files, and then trim the mistake out. Next time, I will definitely just record in Audacity. I will end up using all of this in the future. It is a great skill to have in a really powerful and simple tool that I can use to create instructional or educational videos for future classes!