The first and final group activity for this unit was creating a power point, video essay, and survey about each topic. In my group was Jane D, Justin C, and Emily F. Each person contributed to my overall knowledge of the topic. Jane, for example, explained the force behind the rubber boom; she taught me that the Industrial Revolution created a growing need for rubber, which was also the time rubber was discovered by Charles Goodyear. I learned this information while Jane and I were making the power point presentation. Jane also helped me understand Congo’s position before European Imperialism. She explained that Congo was considered a free state before and during Belgian rule. Emily also added to my understanding of Imperialism in Africa. Emily clarified why the Force Publique dismembered natives’ hands. I previously assumed that dismembering the hands was a form of intimidation, but she explained that the hands were also proof that the Force was killing people. She also told me that the hands became a sort of currency in Congo. Justin expanded my technological intelligence during the group activity. He showed me how to import pictures into Google Docs, rather than pasting them in a document. Collaborating with others in a group is always beneficial in understanding information better. The group I worked with was extremely organized and truly helped me understand Imperialism to the fullest.
Despite my group’s effectiveness, we did have a long and bumpy process of creating the photo essay. We first decided which pictures to use in the video. That needed a great deal of collaboration and searching in all of the sources to ensure we all agreed on the same pictures. Next, we decided the order of the pictures, which was unanimous. After a script was written for each picture, we filmed the essay. This was where the problems began. Each picture on “Videolicious” can only have around 7 seconds of recordings. The original script was far too long to fit into the video, so we had to shorten it down. Despite our improvements, the script was still a bit long, and we found ourselves rushing through it to fit all of the information into the video. After multiple tries, our group got a system down and recorded the final video with no extra seconds. Creating the video included an assemblage of different steps, but my group was able to get everything done in time. Overall, our script was succinct and provided enough information. My group did well with making the subject clear and concise. The pictures we used are not very clear, though. It is somewhat difficult to see the pictures, but that was out of our control. I feel like I contributed a proficient amount during the assignment. I could definitely work on spreading out the work better, rather than piling myself with most of it. I liked my group and I think we all worked well and had equal amounts of participation.
Emma Loves History! 