Project time - otherwise known as cool tools stories

Today saw another day to play with toys ==> the digital video camera and mp3 player.
The plan: go to Mt Wilson where the continuing Certificate 3 students were in day 2 of a 3 day camp. The game plan was to video some of the activities being run by the students and to use the mp3 players (1Gb iRivers) to record some of the activity debriefs.
Mt Wilson was surperb - lots of sun, almost no wind and mostly enthusiastic students. Videoing went well but when we tried the mp3 players all we managed to get was the sound of a couple of RAAF Hercules flying overhead and some muffled sounds that may have been people. O well back to the learning board.
Lessons learnt:
the students appreciated seeing themselves on the screen (dvd is finalised in the camera and then shown on the notebook) and they probably handled me filming because most of them were in my group last semester.
need to have a spare battery or 2 for the camera - 108 minutes is not long enough for a day out
need to have really good playtime with the tools before field time
with the mp3 player - Gary and I found the control buttons confusing and did not always respond in the way the manual stated.

Results: still a good day with teachers still interested in the use of technology.

(pictures to come later when I process the dvd)

As another part of the project I intend to plot the locations of the filming/play locations using quikmaps