I have been busy as heck trying to get my Final-Year Community Project done for two classes at San José State University for my Master of Social Work. I want to do a good job and am trying to plan things for this blog as best as I can.
Two Birds with one Stone
I am producing four psychoeducational videos for my Community Project. I have chosen to conduct a program evaluation to test their effectiveness (measuring efficacy) for my Special Study Research project.
The Need For This Type of Intervention
To make a long story short, there are two reasons I came up with this intervention:
- Distance psychoeducation is important to implement, as many college campuses are wired to the internet and this type of intervention can be delivered with minimal cost and on-demand.
- I could not find anything similar to this on YouTube or through careful perusal of various college counseling center websites.
What I have been working on
The planning process has been quite tedious, as I have been incredibly ambitious with this project. To be quite frank with you all, this has been a logistical nightmare.
Random Frustrated Guy by Sybren A. Stüvel (click picture for link to his Flickr)
These challenges include
- Filming and planning for eight people to be on camera – many of which do not have public speaking experience
- Writing a script that has a natural voice and presents facts in a naturally flowing manner
- Building a teleprompter (link is to the prototype) to house this script, utilizing my iPad (and trying not to break it from a possible accidental tumble)
- Breaking one camera and acquiring a second one (a point and click) to record my colleagues
- Spending more money than I had anticipated, such as a $40 tripod and a $25 roll of mirror-film (for my teleprompter)
My next challenges include
- Recruitment for participants for my study
- Credibility (i.e. will people get over the amateurish-looking video?)
- YouTube’s compression of my videos (affecting their quality)
- Engaging the audience with material that can drone on
My Legacy
I am hoping that my videos are of use to the center where I am completing my internship. I believe that they will outlive my tenure there (as I am scheduled to leave in May 2011 prior to commencement). I’m hoping that the information remains contemporary and not dated and that the counseling center where I work can use this for many years to come.
Everything Has Gone Incredibly Right
First the most trivial: My technology (so far, and knock-on wood) has not failed me. My camera took 99 clips the previous week from my colleagues (and myself) and editing in iMovie has been tedious, but very manageable.
Though I mentioned that planning for my project has been a nightmare, I can honestly say that those above me, my clinical supervisor and the program director, as well as my colleagues, have all bought into this project. This was most important for my success. I appreciate their generosity very much, as my shooting day went by much more smoothly despite my high anxiety.
My colleagues all looked at their part of the script and some offered revisions and went as far as rewriting much of their parts to put it in their voice. I gave ownership of their part of the presentation to each participant. Some chose to modify, while others were happy with their part.
Preview
For you, my audience, I will preview the first clip of my project, although it is in draft form. [If you happen to be an employee of the University in which I am completing my internship, I would ask that you wait until my videos are done so that you can (please) participate in the study I have carefully planned].
I hope you enjoy! I would appreciate any comments or feedback!
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