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.  

My Re-Introduction to the World of Twitter

When I first began to use Twitter, it was to "keep up" with organizations that were of interest to me.  I seldom used it and did not know the many ways in which Twitter could be used educationally. Clearly there is more to Twitter than meets the eye.  And I just found many great ways of putting Twitter to use within the classroom setting and beyond. 

The amount of people who use Twitter grows more and more each day.  Fortunately for me, many educators are finding original and interesting ways of integrating micro-blogging in the classroom.  28 Creative Ways Teachers Are Using Twitter has great ideas for educators interested in combining Twitter and the classroom.  

 

Some of the ideas were the following:

• Having students Tweet instead of raising their hands in class.  This could help students with disability issues.  It can also help students have the confidence to participate in class.

• Twitter can be used by educators to give class announcements.  (If the professor is late, there is a class visitor or changes in the class schedule.  All of these topics can be announced via Twitter).

• Students can notify their teachers about their completed assignments.

• Preschool teachers can keep parents involved in their child's day by Tweeting daily activities.

And while the list goes on I thought of other ways to use Twitter in the educational setting.  My ideas were:

• PTA meetings could be summarized and Tweeted to parents who could not attend meetings.  

• Principals could Tweet positive activities going on live at their schools (we are always focusing on negative student behavior)

• Teachers could Tweet vocabulary words to their students relevant to what they are learning and students could Tweet full sentences back, using the vocabulary words.  

There is so much possibilities for learning with Twitter.  And one is never to old to learn something new.
Take me for example.  As I mentioned before, I am fairly new to Twitter so it was interesting for me to read What is a Hashtag? 

This article "schooled" me on how to use the famous # sign.  Needless to say I put the Hashtag to use while searching on Twitter and had a better success on my results.  I still have not used it on a Tweet, but I am planning to use it while at a conference.  Wish me luck!