Creating a Video Resume Lesson Plan

By Daniela Munca, PhD, Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova

1. Duration:1hour 30 minutes
2. Aim: To involve students in a video making project to develop their oral
fluency and also teach them some life long skills
3. Summary: Students create a video resume

Introduction: benefits of integrating Photo Stories in ESL instruction

Having your EFL /ESL students create a photo story using their own resources, their own
approach and their own voice can provide language teachers with
various opportunities to develop students’ oral fluency, as well as
reading and writing skills. In this activity, each student is asked to
create his / her video resume using very simple tools or programs,
such as Photo Story for Windows and Movie Maker. The result is a
video or a slide show with voice which the students can use further
as an attachment to their paper resume when applying to a job or to a university / college.
The video resume can be posted on YouTube or any other websites (as long as you have
your students’ approval). For this particular activity, my Business English students
posted their video resumes on our class blog.
Reference to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

The activity requires students to “activate” four of

Bloom’s higher order thinking skills, and namely:

• Applying – as the students have to apply in

practice the concept of “resume” by creating an
individual project;
• Analysing – as they are required to compare and
contrast several paper resumes and select relevant
information or organisation for their won projects;
They also have to create a resume plan to organise
their information and present it in a meaningful
way;
• Evaluating – as they have to give feedback to their
peers and leave comments to at least two other vide resumes;

• Creating – the students create an original, creative video project as a result of

learning the concept of “resume” which is going to be published online;
1) YouTube: as a resource for students to watch similar video resumes and
Resources get the general idea how the projects is going to look like.
2) Photo Story 3 for Windows (including the tutorials offers on the official
page) as one of the recommended tools ;
3) Windows Movie Maker (it is free and it works offline, which is why it is
very convenient for students who don’t have unlimited connection to the
Internet)
 1) The students discuss the concept of “resume”,
Warm-Up 2) read several paper examples (see attachment 1) and then
3) watch three sample videos from YouTube.
Video Resume 1, Video Resume 2, Video Resume 3
Type of Activity Description: Student and teacher activities
• Group work: Students discuss the impact videos resumes might
Preparation discussion have on the viewer and come up with a list of
• Compare and advantages of video over paper resumes.
contrast
Procedure 1. Pair work The students work in pairs to discuss the order of the
information they could share about themselves
during the video resume (education, skills, hobbies,
professional experience, professional development,
philosophy of work)?
2. Group work The students explore the two tools presented by the
teacher: Movie Maker and Photo story 3 for
Windows and experiment with various simple tasks:
• uploading a picture
• uploading a short video
• cropping a picture
• adding text on a picture
• adding voice to a picture
• introducing transitions and special effects
• adding a title at the beginning
They can work individually, in pairs or in group –
walk around the class and ask each other question.
3. Individual work The students create a short plan of what their video
resume is going to be about (See attachment 2).
They should include basic information, education,
skills, hobbies and most importantly, a message to a
potential employee or school (if they are planning to
apply to a university for example).
Homework The students create their video resume. They can be
as creative as they want to. They can decide on the
Individual work type of media to be used (their own photographs or
video, abstract images or specific ones they have
collected in their personal database), etc.
Evaluation Each video is evaluated according to the Checklist in
attachment 3. The teacher should run through the
checklist with the students before they start working
on their resumes.
Feedback Group Work The students post their resumes on the class blog and
then write comments to at least two other students.
They could also vote for the best video resume or for
the most creative one (you can come up with any
nominalisation you want: most complete, most
professional, most artistic, etc)
Follow up The students might want to edit or improve their resumes after they watched
their peers’ work, so allow them another week to do that.

Attachment 1: Sample Paper Resumes (From About.com )

Sample Resume 1

Amy L. Cherwin
336 W. Chugalug Way, Sentinel, WY 33666
c: 444-222-4339 e: karmin@southwbell.net

Experience

Dec. '04 - Present Manpower Temporary Services Naperville, IL

Independent Contractor

 Assigned to GE Silicones in the industrial sales division.

 Responsible for analysis of monthly, weekly, and, daily sales reports.
 Responsible for scheduling training classes, seminars, and conferences.

June '98 - Dec. '04 Minnesota Life Insurance Barrington, IL

Administrative Secretary

 Primary responsibility was research and design of sales and training

presentations.
 Responsible for scheduling a three person sales and training staff.

March '98 - June '98 SBC Warburg Dillon Reed Chicago, IL

Facilities Assistant

 Responsible for balancing a $7 million dollar facilities budget.

 Responsible for scheduling maintenance calls, staff meetings, office
relocation's, and construction projects.

May '96 - May '97 KSMR Radio 92.5/94.3FM Winona, MN

General Manager

 In charge of a 36 member staff, as well as a 7 member management team, with

duties that include disciplinary actions, budgeting, special requests, program
scheduling, and hiring.
 Balancing a $15,000 dollar budget, as well as chairing a committee to receive a
grant for increasing station amenities such as wattage, equipment, space, and
music library.
May '95 - May '97 KSMR Radio 92.5/94.3FM Winona, MN

Sports Director

 Responsible for a 3 member broadcast staff, with standard duties that included
scheduling daily on-air sports reports, scheduling all on-air game broadcasts,
maintaining all broadcast equipment, training broadcast team, and making
travel arrangements for broadcast team.
 Responsible for a weekly sports talk show, with duties that include scheduling
guests, doing background research, and running the production board.

Education

1993 - 1997 St. Mary's University of Minnesota Winona, MN

 B.A., Public Relations

Sample Resume 2

Erwin Johnson
2306 North First Street
P O Box 207
Winterset, Iowa 50273
Home 515-462-1593
Office 515-462-3810, Ext. 404
Fax 603-719-0293
erwinj@earthlink.net

Career Profile

Manufacturing Financial Manager with over twenty years experience leading the
financial functions of manufacturing operations with up to 300 employees and $50
Million in sales. Recognized for ability to identify continuous change actions to reduce
cost, enhance quality, and increase margins. Supervised up to 13 direct reports with
responsibilities in financial reporting, planning, forecasting, information systems,
accounts payable, payroll, fixed assets, and general ledger. Led several IS conversions
bringing in new systems on or ahead of schedule and on or below budget. Enjoy
driving new improvements.

Key strengths include:

• Process Improvement
• Leadership
• Financial and Operations Management

Management Philosophy

In today's competitive world, the best way to ensure organizational success is to

delight the customer. Today's customers -- and tomorrow's -- want responsiveness, low
cost and high quality. If a company does not meet or exceed the customers needs, their
competition will.

It's no longer enough for employees to simply "embrace" change: continuous

improvement must become a way of doing business, where people actively seek
improvements and where systems and processes support and drive initiative. Trust is
the key. The work environment must be such that people work without fear, within a
culture that encourages pride in both personal and organizational accomplishments.

Examples of Accomplishments

Process Improvement

• Facilitated team charged with the improvement of

inventory record accuracy: team results included improved on-
time delivery from 45% to 95%, eliminated annual inventory
losses exceeding $200,000, reduced freight costs by 1%, and
improved record accuracy by 83%.
• Reduced new bill of material (BOM) cycle time from
several weeks to one day and improved BOM accuracy to
100%.
• Developed a financial modeling system to evaluate
multiple "what-if" scenarios; system reduced forecast and
budget preparation time by 80%, increased process accuracy,
and improved staff's awareness of actions needed to reach
production and financial goals.
• Implemented automated financial reporting process to
download data, reducing annual overtime by $25,000 and
enhancing accuracy and timeliness.
• Developed and installed automated back flushing system
to support JIT initiative.

Leadership

• Led several cross-functional TQC teams and coached

team members, as appropriate, to develop skills and confidence
in their ability to examine work processes, create solutions, and
measure improvements.
• Participated in management team process to develop
vision and mission statements.
• Recognized for ability to develop consensus for strategic
planning among all stakeholders.
• Communicated with managers and coordinated the
financial reporting of fifteen locations to consolidate financial
data.
• Facilitated numerous learning programs on new
reporting systems.
• Decentralized accounts payable to facilitate transition
from cost centers to profit centers, and trained employees in the
new system.
 • Identified ABM as a key strategy to drive process
improvements.

Financial and Operations Management

• Developed financial modeling system that reduced

turnaround time from five days to one day.
• Directed the movement of IS to Winterset plant with
only one day of downtime.
• Converted to new payroll and accounting systems that
reduced and improved tax reporting and corporate
consolidations.
• Directed several IS conversions to increase accuracy and
reduce time for financial recording and reporting.
• Developed cost estimating process for quoting new
business that was adapted by entire division.
• Assisted in closing one office that reduced costs by over
$500,000.
• Installed LAN to enhance communication and
information-sharing capacity.

Career History

Controller/IS Manager, Invensys Appliance Controls (formerly Siebe Appliance

Controls, formerly Eaton Corporation), Winterset, Iowa, 1991 - Present

• Responsible for financial management in a manufacturing plant

with up to 225 employees and annual sales exceeding $34 Million.
• Recognized for efforts to identify new processes to improve
quality, reduce costs, and increase margin.

General Accounting Manager, Eaton Corporation - Division Office, Carol Stream,

Illinois, 1985 - 1991.

• Coordinated the financial reporting functions of fifteen locations

and supervised accounts payable for entire division.
• Trained plants in the use of corporate reporting systems.
• Assisted several acquired plants in converting to corporate
reporting systems, and assisted with due diligence reviews for new
business acquisitions.

General Accounting Supervisor, Eaton Corporation - Division Office, Carol Stream,

Illinois, 1980 -1985.

• Supervised up to 13 people.
• Directly involved in forecasting and planning, budgeting, and
product line reporting for up to fifteen locations.

Accountant, Eaton Corporation - Division Office, Carol Stream, Illinois, 1976 - 1980.
 • Prepared product line financial statements, month-end closing,
and product budgets.

Education

Bachelor of Science
Northern Illinois University, 1974
- Comprehensive Major: Accounting

Associate of Science
Rock Valley College, 1972
- Major: Accounting
- Lettered in Football

Certified Management Accountant: Certificate 4314, 1984

Certified Public Accountant: Certificate 20394, 1977

Complete 30 Hours of Continuing Education annually to maintain certifications.

What Others Say . . .

"Has a knack for seeing ways to do more with less."

"Intuitively knows IS technology and how to get more from the existing system."

"Listens to what others have to say."

"Erwin is always there - you can count on him."

"He's very tenacious, sticks with it until it gets done."

References furnished upon request

Sample Resume 3

Sample Resume - Public Relations / Marketing

_______________________

FIRST M. LAST
111 West 74th Street • New York, New York 10000
212.777.8888 • 111.111.222 mobile • mercurynyc@hotmail.com

Career Statement: Resourceful leader adept at implementing high-profile, image-

based marketing programs within consumer luxury/lifestyle industry, both
public/private. Create integrated strategies to develop new/existing customer sales,
brand/product evolution and media endorsement. Strong and persuasive interpersonal
skills.
Independent Consulting, New York
10/2005 - present
Marketing & brand awareness. American Express Platinum; Nardi-Venezia; and art •
architecture • cultural projects.

TIFFANY & CO., New York, NY

9/1997 - 9/2005
Director of Public Relations / Retail Marketing
Lead marketing strategist for 55 retail branch stores and 16 trade doors in the United
States, Canada and Latin America (60% of revenue). Reporting to SVP who reports to
CEO, develop integrated approach to increase sales results, product awareness and
brand image. Key foci include: maximize sales growth and cohesion of the Tiffany
Register top-customer tier; develop new and existing core-customer bases; secure
targeted media endorsement; devise new store openings and brand integration within
local community groups comprising best potential revenue bases; and
creation/management of annual business-building sales promotion program (10
themes/76+ locations).

• Generate successful emphasis of core-profit, new collection and authority-

position jewelry categories, i.e.:
• Oversee ‘What Makes a Tiffany Diamond’ workshop-selling seminars,
demonstrating value with exclusivity.
• Launched new Tiffany Mark timepiece with iconic endorsements including
Frank Gehry and George Lucas.
• Invented new ‘Elsa Peretti’ designer promotion, using core collection in all
stores, and generated record sales.
• Pioneer “Tiffany-Only” regional lifestyle weekends for Tiffany Register
customers, resulting in 37% growth in statement jewelry sales. Conceived first
national program resulting in largest selling event ever. Devise compelling
“Tiffany-Only” attractions which secure presence of most profitable customers.
• Analyze regular corporate retail sales reports and tailor each local marketing
profit-plan with retail leadership.
• Programs increased average store traffic 21% and sales averaging 12%,
contributing to unprecedented growth.
• Create 33 integrated and multi-tiered new store opening programs in domestic
& international locations.
• Direct and manage 4 internal staff and network of 30 external local-market
agencies/consultants.

TAG HEUER S.A., Neuchâtel, Switzerland and Paris, France

1996 - 97
International Public Relations Manager (recruited by CEO)
During peak expansion of watch brand and imminent IPO, managed global brand
positioning, communications and media strategy via network of 20+ national PR
agencies. Consulted to leadership of worldwide subsidiaries and agents-distributors in
the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East. Marketing drew 24% of annual
budget.

• Developed global strategy for 4 new timepiece collection launches and key
sports sponsorship exploitation.
 • Responsible for Kirium watch PR launch--largest in brand history, which
generated record sales.
• Developed/managed international VIP retailer and media hospitalities focused
to increase sales and underscore brand values: Formula 1 Grand Prix,
America’s Cup yachting, Ski World Cup and Montreux Jazz Festival.

NIKE COMMUNICATIONS, INC., New York, NY

1994 - 96
Account Director
Primarily responsible for TAG Heuer account at marketing firm specializing in image-
based luxury/lifestyle brands, including Montblanc, Bulgari, Rothschild and Krug.
Developed and implemented comprehensive strategies [public relations, advertising,
special events, sales promotions and retail relations]. Created agency new-business
pitches.

KAREN WEINER ESCALERA ASSOCIATES, New York, NY

Account Executive, 1993 - 94

MULLEN ADVERTISING Hamilton-Wenham, MA

Account Assistant, 1991 - 92

LE MERIDIEN HOTELS-AIR FRANCE Boston, MA

Supervisor of Guest Services, 1988 - 93

UNITED STATES SENATE Senator John Kerry Washington, DC

Manager, Constituent Affairs, 1986 - 87

EDUCATION

• UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, Amherst – B.A. in Political Science

• Executive Business Programs: Stanford 2000 - Harvard 2002 - Wharton 2003

AFFILIATIONS

• Young Friends of Save Venice, Inc., Vice President [a UNESCO organization

preserving culture].
• The Glasshouse, Director. A global alliance dedicated to entrepreneurial
inspiration.

Attachment 2: Video Resume Plan (Samples from here)

 Nr. Image Text Sound
1 Who I am I was born in ….. Own voice
2 My academic I studied … Own voice
background
3 My hobbies I like … I am good at …. Music (mp3)
4
5

Attachment 3 : Checklist: Assessing a Video

Resume

Creativity 1 (needs 2 (good, well 3 (very good!

(the degree of considerable structured, etc) Impressive!)
originality) improvement)
Organisation
(the logical order
of sequnces)
Voice
(Is the voice clear?
Is the student’s
pronunciation
good?)
Persuasion
(If you were a
potential
employer, would
you be interested
in hiring this
person?)
Grammar /
Vocabulary
(Enlgish grammar
and vocabulary
used)

Attachment 4 (Step by Step tutorial from Microsoft’s

official website)

Create your first photo story

You can use Photo Story 3 for Windows to create visually

compelling and fun stories using your pictures and music.
This article walks you through the basics of creating a
photo story and shows you how easy and fun it can be!

Opening Photo Story

To begin a new story, open Photo Story from the Start

menu.

To open Photo Story

1Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Photo Story 3 for
.Windows.
2On the Welcome page, click Begin a new story, and then click Next.
.

Importing and arranging your pictures

First, add the pictures that you want to use in the story,
and then arrange them in the order that they will be
viewed.

To add pictures to your photo story

1On the Import and arrange your pictures page, click Import Pictures.
.
2In the File Browser dialog box, browse to My Documents\My Pictures\Sample
.Pictures.
3Add all of the pictures listed.
.
To add more than one picture at a time, press and hold the CTRL key and click on
the pictures you want to add, and then click OK.

All of your pictures should now be present in the filmstrip, as shown in the
following screen shot.
 The filmstrip in Photo Story is a great place to quickly make changes to your
pictures and story. For example, you can drag a picture in the filmstrip to change the
sequence. You can click a picture in the filmstrip and click Edit to change the
appearance of the picture by rotating it, adjusting the colour, fixing red eye or
adding effects. You can also right-click a picture in the filmstrip to perform these
actions. Try adding an effect to one of the pictures to see what they look like.
4When you are finished making changes to your pictures, click Next to continue.
.

Adding a title to your pictures

With Photo Story 3 you can add text to a picture to create

a title for your story.

To add text to your pictures

1On the Add a title to your pictures page, click the first picture, and then type My
.first photo story in the text box to the right of the picture.
2Click the Select Font button.
.
3In the Font dialog box, under Font style, click Bold, and then click OK.
.
4Click the Align Top button to move the title up on the page.
.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 to add text to another picture, and experiment with different
text styles, sizes, and alignments, using different formatting buttons.
5When you are finished adding text to your pictures, click Next.
.

Narrating your pictures

You can add narration and custom pan and zoom effects to
your photo story to make it more unique and personal.
To add narration to your story you need to have a working
microphone attached to your computer and set up
correctly. A wizard will help you set up your microphone
to record narration. There is also a text input area to create
cue cards which can be a helpful memory aid when
narrating your pictures.

To add narration to your story

1On the Narrate your pictures and customize motion page, click the
.

Microphone button.

This will launch the Sound Hardware Test Wizard. Complete the wizard by
following the onscreen instructions. Once you have completed the wizard, your
microphone should be ready to record narration.
2Click a picture in the filmstrip.
.
3Add any desired text in the cue card area.
.
4
.
Click the Record Narration button to start recording narration.

The red dot in the record button will flash indicating recording is taking place. A
timer is provided to help you keep track of your narration length.
5
.
When you have finished narrating the picture, click the Stop Recording
button.
6Repeat steps 2 thru 4 for each picture for which you want to add narration.
.
Note Narration for each picture can not exceed 5 minutes.
7Once you have added narration, click the first picture in the filmstrip, and then click
.Preview to see how your story looks and sounds.
8Close the preview window, and click Next to continue to the next step.
.

Adding background music

With Photo Story 3 you can add music to your story by

using Windows Media Audio (WMA), MP3, or WAV
files or by using the Create Music option to create custom
music that suites your story and taste.

To add pre-recorded music to your story

1On the Add background music page, click the first picture in the filmstrip and then
.click Select Music.
2On the File Open dialog box, click My Documents from the left menu.
 .
3Browse to My Music\Sample Music, click Beethoven's Symphony No9
.(Scherzo).wma, and then click Open.

The music you just added is shown as a colored bar above

the picture in the filmstrip, as shown in the following
screen shot. This helps you determine which pictures will
be shown for each piece of music you add. This is
particularly helpful when you add more than one song to
your story.

To create music for your story

1Click the third picture in the film strip, and then click Create Music.
.
2In the Create Music dialog box, in the Genre drop-down list, scroll down and
.select Soundtrack.
3In the Style drop-down list, select Soundtrack: Mysterious Cave.
.
4You can leave the default Bands and Moods, or choose different ones.
.
5Click Play to hear what the music will sound like.
.
6When the music has finished playing, click OK to close the Create Music dialog
.box.

There are now two different pieces of music shown as colored bars above the
pictures in the filmstrip.
7Click the first picture in the filmstrip, and click Preview, to see how well your
.music fits the story.

You may need to adjust the music volume levels to accommodate your narration. To
do this, simply click the picture in the filmstrip and then adjust the music volume
using the volume slider bar. You may need to adjust the volume and preview your
story a few times to get it just right.
8Click Next, to move on to the final steps.
 .

Saving your story

When you save your photo story, all the pictures,

narrations, and music are compiled into a video file that
you can view in Windows Media Player. Since you will
play this photo story on your computer, you can use the
default options when saving your photo story.

To save your photo story for playback on your

computer

1On the Save your story page, verify that Save your story for playback on your
.computer is selected in the activities list.
2Click Browse to specify the location and file name of your story.
.
3On the Save As dialog box, browse to My Documents\My Videos.
.
4In the Filename text box, type My First Story.wmv.
.
5Click Save, and then click Next.
.

Viewing your story

When your story is built and saved, the Completing

Photo Story 3 for Windows page will appear. You can
view your newly created story or begin a new story from
here. To see what you have created, click View your
story. Windows Media Player will open and your story
will begin to play.

Now that you have created your first photo story, it's time
to start a new story. This time, add your own pictures and
music to create stories to share with your friends and
family.