POCKET

On Tuesday I finally uploaded an XML file of new content onto the Open University LabSpace. The content is the first unit of the Customer Service Skills module and is a very draft version at the moment! Although the content still needs a lot of changes, the process of uploading to the LabSpace has been very useful in increasing my knowledge about how to do this. I gained experience in writing the XML file. I chose to associate the XML file with the latest OU Schema as this looks like it has the most flexibility for the content (see the OU site for further information on this). I found it useful to download a file from the LabSpace (one that was already associated with this latest schema) and use the XML content file as a kind of template. This also provided me with the other files I needed to include in my own material, such as the XML file list, metadata file and the schema file and also the help documents like the ‘Hints and Tips for Using OpenLearn XML’ and the Creative Commons License. I downloaded a few different files as different units contained different media and content and I wanted to see the correct way to include video files and how to name them. I found the French unit ‘French: Bien dans sa peau‘ very helpful for this purpose.

When it came to uploading the files I hit a few problems. At first the folder uploaded without any error messages but was just displaying on the page as spearate files and not appearing as the other units in OpenLearn. From communicating with the OU’s Jenny Gray in the Help and Support forum I discovered that this was because I was zipping up the whole folder and not the individual files. I also needed to make sure that the content XML file was labelled ‘content.xml’. I got one error message because I’d associated the CSS file contained in the folder to my XML file. After communicating again with Jenny Gray I discovered that this style sheet was only meant to be used when previewing XML files, Jenny advised that:

“…the upload process will complain if you try to put anything other than the schema xsd declaration in the xml file, as you saw.”

I think there could be more detailed instructions for uploading onto the LabSpace, but the Help and Support Forum is a very helpful feature with swift replies from the OU staff.

Last Wednesday afternoon filming took place in the Devonshire Spa at the Buxton campus. The captured film is planned to be used for activities in the Customer Services Skills module for POCKET.

To prepare for the films the module content author (Louise Buxton) and I coordinated to:

• Create a flyer to recruit students to play the actors in the film. This flyer explained the project, where filming would take place and where the films would be used.
• Book the locations that we needed to film in. This included the small salon, the hairdressing salon and the main reception. It was important that no members of the public would be in these locations as we would then need their permission to film them. It was also important that the locations would be quiet and that was why we chose to film on Wednesday afternoons as this is when the salon is closed to the public.
• I wrote the scripts for the films and Louise then read over them and checked them.
• I wrote out a film plan, which included all the shots I needed to get from the different scenes. After discussing the films with our university AV department I decided that to have the most choice when editing the film I should get a number of shots from each film, including establishing shots (that would place the film in context) medium and close up shots and also cut-away shots.

On the day of filming, Louise and I:

• Bought refreshments for the students to keep their spirits up during filming
• We used the small salon as a base for all our ‘actors’ so that the people being filmed would not get self-conscious about being filmed in front of an audience and also to make the scene as quiet as possible.

I edited the film I shot the next day so I was aware of any scenes that we needed to film again next week and any films that were completed. Having different shot angles was very useful when it came to editing and made the films look more interesting. One problem that I had was that the angles from where I had filmed in the salon reception broke the 180 degree rule in filming so I will have to re-film three films (Good Customer Service, Bad Customer Service and Buying a Product).

I found that the films shot in the hairdressing salon seem to come out a lot better than the films shot in reception. I think this was down to the lighting and the amount of space that we had to film in, in the hairdressing salon.

On Friday 2 May I had a catch up meeting at the University of Derby with content author Louise Buxton. We discussed the progress of transforming Louise’s module material, including activities like films and animations, and also copyright issues. Last week we discussed the possibility of using existing photographs from Louise’s department, but as the permission of students must be cleared to use these photographs and many of the students have now left, this looks unlikely. Instead it was agreed that I will take new photographs in the Buxton salon to be used in the units.

Although I have discussed a lot of the copyright queries relating to the Customer Service Skills module with our university copyright department already, I have arranged to meet with them again the week beginning 13 May. This will give me the opportunity to check: material we have changed; material that is being kept in; and some specific queries, such as can we refer readers to Maslow and Aldefer for further reading or will this infringe their copyright?

We also filled in the needs analysis questionnaire and the POCKET pro-forma.

Louise still has some material to re-write - particularly in the areas where quotes from other websites and text books have had to be removed due to copyright issues. It has been agreed that she will send me the re-written version by the end of May.

Filming for the short film clips to be included in the units has been planned for Wednesday afternoons of the 14th and 21st May, 1pm till 4.30pm. I have designed a flyer that advertises POCKET and the filming that is taking place at Buxton and Louise will circulate this among students who she thinks would be suitable as actors. It has been agreed that I will write out scripts and a list of props for each film clip before the 14th and email them to Louise so that she can circulate them among the students who are recruited as actors. Louise will also get the university release form, that we can get signed by any students who appear in the films.