Last May I began screencasting. I had no idea what I was doing and no formal training. I just badly wanted the end result; the ability to make video lessons for my students that I could load on to You Tube. I had a real and tangible goal that I wanted to achieve.
I watched the video tutorials on Camtasia. I tried, I played, and got some basic skills going. I watched the video tutorials again. Through the process of learning to screencast I failed. A LOT.
As in, I failed to have success the first time, or the second or even the third time I screencast. My screencasts at first, were pretty rough, nothing like my mentor’s Paul Anderson (they probably never will be as he is da bomb at screencasting).
Failure.
I failed, repeatedly on my journey to make a screencast of the caliber I wanted to produce.
Did I get sent to AI (academic intervention), did I have to give up lunch hours to complete worksheets on screencasting, did I have to complete an I package in June? Was I told you are no longer responsible for your learning, “we” will take it from here, cause you, Carolyn Durley are a failure? Did I receive a zero on a piece of paper with my name on it, cause I had not yet mastered screencasting?
Failure is not an option?
You know the answer already.
I kept screencasting. I kept failing. Each time I failed, I learnt, sometimes it took an hour, sometimes five minutes, but I always came back to the problem.
Why?
Because I wanted to experience success. I wanted to learn how to screencast so I could make video lessons for my students that I could load on to You Tube. I had a real and tangible goal that I wanted to achieve.
A year later, I am still not a master screencaster. I still want to grow my skills and this summer when I have time again I will come back and grow my skills a little more.
Embrace failure, like a dearest and “bestest” friend. Hold her tight. Then let her go.
Learn to fail. Or. Fail to learn.
