There is a bit of a delay between my completing the Multimedia and Authoring Toolkit and my posting on my reflection. I completed the toolkit on July 21, 2009; however due to being busy last week with my Multimedia Inventory and my LMS online course I hadn’t had a chance to post my reflection before today. As part of my multimedia inventory, I knew I wanted to add a audio piece. I followed the steps in the Multimedia and Authoring Tools Toolkit and will reflect on my first experience using Audacity. To be honest, I was a bit worried as to whether or not I would be able to use the tool in time to create a short audio piece to include in time for my Multimedia Inventory, especially since I has procrastinated in term so purchasing a multimedia headset with microphone, which was needed for this toolkit. I was quite surprised at how easy it was to create a recording. I chose to record a welcome message to my online course. The purpose behind wanting to add an audio piece was to welcome the learners to the course. It was also to add a human element to the course through the inclusion of a real voice. One thing that I did find interesting was the how uncomfortable I was with the way my voice sounded in the mp3 recording. I guess you are your harhest critic. I must have recorded and listened to my recording and than re-recorded it several times before I got a recording that I felt was “worthy” of placing on the site. By and by, this was the most labour intensive part. It is also funny how many times I just purely stumbled on the words I wanted to say, even when reading from a script. I also noted that adding inflection into my tone of voice was necessary to add to real “welcoming” feeling I was aiming for. From a technology standpoint, I found audacity extremely easy to use. What really surprised me was how apprehensive I was about completing this toolkit in comparison to how easy it was and how satisifying it was to create my first ever mp3 recording with Audacity.

Click on the link to listen to my recording welcome-caa-sco-orientation-and-product-training