Digital Storytelling (blog 5)

I have always loved stories. At the age of five I sat enraptured listening as my mom read aloud from the Chronicles of Narnia, and as soon as I could write letters I was creating books. Storytelling has been a fascination of mine ever since, and I love telling stories to children now. I have to confess that I have felt wary of the concept of digital storytelling, viewing it as something along the lines of glorified flannel board. But as we discussed it this week in class my perception of digital storytelling changed. In class we looked at examples of digital storytelling sites and programs like imovie, goanimate, and animoto (a list of fifty programs is provided at http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools). These resources combine audio and visual files and present them in an interactive way that engages the audience. Examples of this are short animated films, slide shows, movies documenting experiences, collages, maps, and time lines. Digital storytelling is a broad field, and there are plenty of tools available, so there are countless possibilities. Presentations can be perfectly tailored to suit the material that you want to share, so that the audience is engaged and experiences the information rather than simples looking at it or being told about it.

Digital storytelling can be an incredible tool in the classroom. Presentations can be taken numerous directions, and offer variety that can help to break up a long day. Utilizing multiple forms of sensory input guarantees that children will be less distracted than when listening to a lecture or looking at a power point, and digital storytelling has the added advantage of the capability of interaction. Teachers can use digital storytelling to create maps and time lines to help in lesson presentation, but most digital storytelling tools are simple enough that the creation of these aids can be assigned to the children, helping them develop technological skills and giving them a more comprehensive grasp of the information. Development of digital stories may not be appropriate for all classrooms, such as classes designated for children with special needs. However, digital storytelling can still be incredibly useful with these students, presenting information in a fun and engaging way, provided that the programs are not overly stimulating.


This video provides an example of what can be done with digital storytelling. It won first prize in a digital storytelling competition where contestants from the Philippines told their stories as they related to the city of Iligan:

Digital Storytelling

This isn't actually a blog post, but I thought I'd share the slide show I made for class this week :)

Visual Literacy (blog 4)

In class we looked at ten famous photos that had been edited, and it was a little frightening. I know very little about photoshop and other image doctoring programs, and had I not seen the original photos before examining the finished product, I would have been clueless about the change. It's a little unnerving to think that the photographs that we see all around us, in advertising, in news, in politics...may not be what they seem. After looking at the pictures, we watched a video, part of a campaign by dove to promote true beauty. The model is beautiful to begin with, but the transformation is really quite amazing, and it really made me rethink where my standards of beauty come from. Visual media is such a powerful tool in our society, and part of being literate is understanding the difference between truth and propaganda.

Visual literacy is especially important in school settings. Students are bombarded with countless messages about what their lives should look like. The pressures of measuring up to this image can cause a lot of emotional anxiety, which prevents students from excelling. It is very possible that in my career as a teacher I will have the opportunity to counsel children who suffer from low esteem, and instructing them in visual literacy will help them to determine the legitimacy of the sources of their standards. But going beyond issues of self-worth and the media, it is the obligation of the school system to educate children on the value of thinking critically and being wary of the compelling images that are provided as rational for certain actions. As a teacher that responsibility will become partially my own.

Here's another example of what's done with photoshop to images of celebrities, it really makes you think twice about the images that you see in magazines of cultural icons:

Media Literacy (blog 3)

The readings for this week presented some interesting principles for making media presentations. The concepts were very basic, but it was sort of a light bulb moment for me, in that, I know when a presentation that a teacher gives in class is hard to follow or distracting, but I can't always pinpoint why. The four key aspects that the readings focused on were contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (which spells CRAP, not the classiest of acronyms, but not easily forgotten). Whether you are designing a web page or a power point, these are very important things to take into account, for example,

this discrepancy in color (contrast),

Spaci n g (PROXIMITY)

SIZE

(alignment)
and font ( repetition) are
somewhat
distracting

and
would makeit
very

difficult
to focus on what you're reading.

These principles clearly have a huge importance for teachers, who often utilize media tools in presenting information to students. Classrooms provide learning environments for all different types of learners, and while some children benefit from direct auditory instruction, others rely more heavily on visual aids, and others learn through interaction. It's important for teachers to take this into account, but if a presentation is difficult to follow or distracting, then it defeats the entire purpose of using it. For special needs classes especially, with children who may struggle with concepts and possess a shorter attention span, media presentations can be very engaging and helpful, but only if well designed.

Here's an example of a presentation gone wrong, the speech is beautiful and motivating if you listen to it, but adding the visuals, because of their design in this case, really takes away from the speech's impact:

Web Technology (blog 2)

In our class discussion I realized that I have been using Web 2.0 technology for years without understanding what it really means. Web 2.0 is the interactive internet, it allows individuals to access sites and, rather than just see presented content, they are able to contribute, change, and create. Web 2.0 tools allow for social networking and sharing, people engaging people, without the limitations of time, distance, or limited communication. One example of this is Wikipedia, which anyone can contribute to and access, collectively building and sharing information. Other examples are more socially and artistically oriented, like flickr and facebook. Web 2.0 allows billions and billions of people to interact unencumbered – it’s amazing when you take a moment and think about it.

Web 2.0 has enormous implications for education. Teachers can add an online component to class, much like the e-learning system used by UF, that will allow students to interact with one another. Questions can be posted on forums and answered by peers or the instructor, and more than one student will benefit from the answer as would have been the case with an email. Students can also collaborate more easily on group projects through wikis, and can even work with students from other schools and countries. Teachers also are given greater creative freedom in their assignments to students, which can now be received and viewed online, as well as in their lessons which can incorporate interactive applications through educational Web 2.0 tools.

Here’s an educational Web 2.0 tool called quikmaps, it allows access to satellite imagery as well as terrain maps. You can zoom in and out, add labels, and draw routes – incredibly useful for every geography and history teacher.

Educational Technology (blog 1)

In class we watched a video from 2007 that addresses how quickly our world is changing. It gave statistics that I never would have guessed, for example, it’s predicted by the year 2017 China will be the number one English speaking country, and the average person will have 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are thirty-eight. It also addresses the crucial role technology plays in our lives, and the fact that children need be gaining technological skills now if they want to be literate in this era. Following the first video we watched another video, very similar to the first but created one year later. This video also contains some striking facts, such as the “top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. It also addressed the jump from 2.7 billion searches a month on google in 2006 to 3.1 billion searches in 2008, and discussed the popularity of facebook, a topic not even mentioned in the original video. The differences between these two videos themselves reveal how quickly our world is changing.

This concept of change and advancement, especially in technology, is an important one for teachers to consider. Students today must be equipped for tools and jobs that currently are nonexistent. That’s a lot of responsibility for the school system to carry. I’m interested in special education, and it’s exciting to think of the resources that are currently undeveloped, but will be available during my teaching career; tools that will greatly enhance the quality of life for children with special needs and aid in their instruction.

This video shows the impact technological advances are having on education, and introduces the idea of a virtual classroom: