Going Global With ePals

While navigating through the ePals  website, I kept thinking about global collaboration. 
This resource gives a new meaning to the term "pen pals".  In our technologically fueled world this FREE resource puts similar minds together, even while countries apart.   And while ePals offers many opportunities for collaboration, I found an useful feature for learning about cultural differences.

 

The feature I found most useful was "Choose a project.  Find a classroom.  Collaborate!" It was wonderful to see how students can work together and learn from each other.  There are many countries to select and the ideas for projects are very interesting.  One particular project idea I liked was "why do we celebrate?".  This project is a fantastic resource for teaching about cultures and foreign languages.  With this project students can find out first hand about a cultural celebration by asking a student from another country.  

As a librarian, this feature would be beneficial to assist students while they are learning about different countries.  I would also take it a step further and integrate an ePals project with a class to bring awareness to multiculturalism.  Having students establish communication and collaborating on online projects can enhance their technology skills and prepare them for working with more Web 2.0 tools.

More Digital Stories

Make a video of your own at Animoto.
 
In a previous post I discussed the many ways digital storytelling can be used in the classroom.  Using digital storytelling is a great way to have your students acquire and use technology skills, practice on their writing and be creative.  Web tools for digital storytelling include Animoto, Slideroll and Stupeflix.  All of these sites are great for creating short stories with music, photos, and text.

There are many ways of using digital storytelling for teaching.  Students in English class could re-enact scenes from a book and arrange them as a short story.  (An activity such as this one would demonstrate their comprehension of the material being read in class).  Include Poetry in your slides along relevant images to increase understanding of the writer's work.  And instead of writing assignments, encourage the students to use digital storytelling when writing essays on vacations and class trips.

Include the students' ideas in what they would like to create with digital storytelling.  Have them brainstorm in groups and create a "storyboard" for their project.  If you are teaching History include photos from your travels and discuss the sights with your students.

Using digital stories in the classroom can open a whole new world for many students.  Here teachers have the opportunity to bring cities and countries the students have never visited.  It is a creative way of starting great discussions with your students.  I guarantee they will love using these digital storytelling tools.

The Art of Digital Storytelling II

The story that I created above included my own photos from a trip to Maplewood Park in Rochester, New York.  I love roses of all colors and this Summer the park had an abundance of pink ones.  While at the park I was lucky to observe other things that made that day very special. 

Using Web tools (Bookr) like the one I used to create the digital book above is useful for interpreting books, creating journal entries, personal stories, basic research projects and just plain fun stories.
Students can be encouraged to create stories that are relevant to them, but I also would use this Web tool for enhancing learning in the classroom. 

Ideas and Objectives:

• Create digital stories of summaries of books through photos.  Students can "dress up" and photograph pivotal scenes from a book for interpretation. (Objective: Students will achieve comprehension and understanding of plots in a book or story). 

• Create personal stories through uploaded photos.  Students can create a book about their sport seasons, award ceremonies, or significant celebrations in their life using writing and photos.  (Objective:  Students will increase their writing and technology skills). 

• Create research projects with text and image. For example:  Art students can summarize the works of an artist by creating a digital book about the artist's works.  (Objective:  Students will increase their critical thinking skills in adding relevant content to their presentations for Art, Biology, History, Languages, etc.).

There are many ways of using digital books in the classroom.  Bookr provides a digital book making site that students can use to create a digital story that can be fun, educational and meaningful as well.

The Art of Digital Storytelling

 

 by  athos[hun] 

                                                         

 Creating stories digitally is a great way of expressing one's creativity.  Everything we see today can be recreated or enhance through digital means.  I recently saw an online photo that had been enhanced with digital coloring.  The effects made the Fall foliage of the trees seem brighter and almost surreal.  The ending result was an image super enhanced by the imagination and emotion of the photographer. 

The same can be said of digital storytelling.  It is "a short, first person video-narrative created by combining recorded voice, still and moving images, and music or other sounds".  Using digital storytelling can be entertaining and creative but it also involves an emotional component.  My digital stories often involve stories of my family.  I've included events and celebrations that have wonderful memories attached.  However, the ideas for creating digital stories are not limited to personal events.  One can create historical time lines and explore significant events in history through the use of digital storytelling.

Historical time lines can become more real and meaningful when enhanced with digital content.  Historical events such as September 11th, the Civil Rights Movement and the Challenger Space missions were captured by the University of Houston's Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling presentation.  These images combined with audio and sound go beyond the traditional television newscast.  According to the narrator, "in the school setting, students can create their own time machine".  What an incredible learning opportunity!  To be able to explore and/or create historical events through images, audio and narration.  This is a definite attraction for technically and non-technically inclined students. 

However, as with anything created online, there has to be education concerning copyright issues and trademarks.  "Students should be aware of obtaining permission for materials obtained from someone else.  And should also give proper credit to the author of those materials used".
It is also important to note, that students should be aware of what types of personal information is shared when creating digital stories.  The cautionary tale of what goes on the Internet, stays on the Internet forever rings very true in this aspect.
All in all, Digital Storytelling as a Web tool is an outstanding way in which students can learn and express their creative styles.