First Podcast - June 7

Once again we had a lot of work today. The consultants held up very well considering. They worked hard. We wanted to get them familiar with iMovie and editing as well as writing a script/storyboard and finding ways to document what they were talking about.

We spent some time discussing what makes a good game lab. We, really they came up with what they thought a great game lab needed to have. Here is what they came up with. The first thing is that a game lab needs to have many different games and game consoles to play on. A comfortable environment is also important and we have bean bags and chairs and cool colors and lights. Having others around is important, older, younger, doesn't matter but some your same age. Snacks are important and nice teachers too. A nice teacher will be helpful and not yelling all the time. Organized schedules are important so we know what is coming and we like a variety of activities and a lot of game play. We like evaluating and we like blogging and paper evaluations more than the video closet. We like to have a choice. We also like giving input and playing games that are being developed.

Each consultant took a topic and Jenny helped them to storyboard and come up with ways to document their ideas. This didn't take as long as we thought. They spent about 15 minutes working on their storyboard. There were three cameras set up, one in the video closet, one on a tripod they used for interviews and one hand held to video action in the lab.

We probably spent a good hour getting video. Each consultant had a tape and carried it with them to the different cameras. They each spoke in the video about their topic and they interviewed the others. A couple came up with showing their topic in action for example, having a couple of the kids sitting and playing games on the bean bags to represent the comfort in the lab.

We spent the next hour editing. Jenny gave them a quick introduction to iMovie, most of them had some experience with it. We let them view and edit and hung around to help with any questions. Some of them added effects and got really into it and some just put in basic transitions and title slides.

finally, from about 4:15 to 5:00 they played games. The day went well. It was very busy but a lot got done. They really enjoyed the process. A couple of them really showed excitement and interest which doesn't always happen.