Wednesday, July 9, 2008

DIL: I have a plan, Stan

Here is the plan for my video of midwives talking about their professional portfolios.

The Story
The story will tell the story of New Zealand midwives and their professional portfolios.

The questions
  • Why have portfolios been identified as a key element of the New Zealand midwifery re-certification program (professional development)?
  • What are the key elements of a portfolio?
  • What was your experience of putting your portfolio together?
  • How do you use it on an every day basis?
  • What tips would you pass on to midwives who are just starting to put theirs together, or want to develop it further?
Participants
This is my wish list of participants - they have yet to be confirmed.
  • Member of the NZ Midwifery Council
  • Midwife who has recently gone through the Midwifery Standards Review Process, which will mean she would have just got her portfolio up to date
  • Member of the Standards Review Committee who will have a 'big picture' understanding of how portfolios are used in practice
  • Me-with my view of e-portfolios
Things to do
1. Invite people to participate in video.
  • Sent out a call for participation to the local group of midwives but as yet have had no replies. Will have to ask on individual basis.
  • Will need to make sure that participants agree to having this video used in an open access environment. May need to think about them signing some sort of consetn form.
  • If using this as a teaching tool, will I need to run it pass my colleagues for reveiw?
  • Will I need to run it past the participants before I publish it?
2. Check equipment.
  • I am keen to use my little digital camera because I am so familiar with how it works. The camera produces excellent picture but the sound is not so good.
  • One way to get around this is to use an external microphone but there does not appear to be a way that I can fit an external mic into my camera. So the only alternative is to borrow another camera. I am reluctant to do this because it defeats the object of me using my own camera, and I will have to become familiar with yet another camera.
  • I think what I will do is a dummy run to test how my little camera holds up. If the quality of sound and picture is not good enough, I will see about borrowing a digital video camera.
  • Will need to obtain a tri-pod.
  • Check I have an appropriate size memory card and my batteries are fresh.
Practicalities
  • Allow plenty of time for several 'takes'.
  • Think about how I am going to edit the video after shooting it.
Is there anything else you would say I should think about?

Image: 'self portrait2' matt_cinque
www.flickr.com/photos/7388083@N07/2079393087

2 comments:

Bronwyn hegarty said...

now you're cookin! Your plan looks pretty sound. One question may I suggest you ask - is - how hard do people find it to think critically on "paper" i.e. write reflectively about their practice for their portfolios?

I agree with Leigh, it is more sustainable if you can do the "quick and dirty" video - that way you can create material at any time...or when you have the cam handy.

Will and Sunshine do video shooting and video editing so you could talk to them about some options.

Sarah Stewart said...

I think some people find it very difficult to write reflectively on paper. And I think it's really important that we encourage people to think about reflection in other media other than written text. I am not into painting, singing or writing poetry. But I love my e-portfolio because it allows me to use alternative media to the written word like video. I bet there would be a lot of people interested in media like video if they only realized that it was 'allowed'.