On May 19th I received the above direct message in Twitter from Ed Cabellon. After asking some questions, it took me about 10 seconds to jump at the opportunity to work on this project with him. As a young professional, fairly new to the “social media game”, the opportunity to work with someone I look up to was too good to pass up. Add in the fact that I would get to help him interview someone he looks up to in Dean Kenn Elmore, and I was going to do anything to get there. Since been, I have able to work with Ed on his other interviews with Mike Petroff and Rey Junco as well.
Production behind the scenes at these video chats has come along way in two months. While interviewing Kenn Elmore we were outside of a large auditorium space using a single computer with a wireless signal and an internal microphone (you can hear me typing on the social stream throughout the interview, sorry!). After going back and looking at this video, Ed and I talked a lot about what we could do to make the quality of these interviews better. We have improved production by using a better webcam, a wireless microphone, an HD camcorder (for video replay on-demand), and a LAN connection.
The production value of these interviews are so important to me because the message being shared is so good it deserves a great vehicle of delivery. What Ed is doing is not just creating a video of an interview with someone he knows. He is creating an interactive, free learning experience for anyone with an internet connection. Viewers get to watch, ask questions, and interact with other viewer all from their home or work computers.
Technology allows for so many opportunities to do amazing things. All you need to do is have the vision and drive to want to make something happen, and most likely it can be done. Ed is someone who is on that cutting edge and best of all someone who is willing to take others input and incorporate them into the ideas he is working on. When he asks for suggestions for questions on these interviews or suggestions on whom to interview next I know that he takes that seriously and works to make it happen. That is a characteristic that I think makes any visionary even more effective.
I know that Ed will continue to work on these great videos and try to find even more creative options to help continue the creative learning process in the future. If you haven’t been able to join one of the live interviews catch the playbacks below.
Live Interview with @reyjunco | Live Interview with @mikepetroff | Live Interview with @deanelmore
So what do you think could make these video productions better? And do you have any thoughts on this whole video chat series and where you would like to see it go?
Speak Your Mind & Add a Comment Below
Mike, I haven’t had time to watch them all yet but I was able to tune in to the last little bit of Rey and Ed. I’d like to see these continue and grow into something more. I’m looking forward to seeing where this whole things goes. I think there are some ways to let these grow into something even more, and to serve as not only cornerstone content for Ed’s blog but also as a clear connecting point to a wide variety of other innovative, free or low cost-of-entry professional development opportunities for higher ed professionals. This is model program kind of stuff, and is only going to get better. Like many other innovations in the social media space in higher education, it raises the bar. Ed is so good at this, and those of us trying to do similar things would be wise to study his approach. I know that I am.
Also, give yourself a little credit, too. You may be comparatively new to some of this, but you are an active learner, and always have been. I remember when you were setting up your blog, and we had some conversations about plug-ins and other random stuff I had just recently been learning about. I was impressed by how quick a study you are, and how engaged you are in giving things a try. You understand collaborative learning, and you put it into play.
I’m looking forward to seeing where this all goes. But in the meantime, I can only say “Great work. Give us more.”
Sean
Sean, thanks so much for your feedback and insights. I appreciate it greatly! I enjoy trying new things with this media to deliver free professional development. In the end, I hope people learn from it. Thanks for reading and commenting!
I like the information. It’s pretty interesting. It seems that you were able to cope up immediately even if you are just new in the field of social media game. Technology is truly amazing since it provides lot of opportunities and developments.