Digital Storytelling Workshop

Digital Storytelling can be used in all aspects of Education. The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, an article written by Bernard R. Robin of the University of Houston discusses what Digital Storytelling is and how it can be applied in the school setting. Robin defines Digital Storytelling as a story that takes traditional story elements, such as a common theme and point of view, and combines them with digitally enhanced images, audio, and graphics. Robin argues that a good Digital Story follows seven basic elements:

Point of View
A Dramatic Question
Emotional Content
The Gift of Your Voice
The Power of the Soundtrack
Economy
Pacing

A good Digital Story must encompass all of these elements. The first four elements are traditional story elements. All stories have a point of view, they answer a dramatic question in order to offer a resolution, they provide emotional content that engages the reader, and a voice that is appropriate for the intended audience. The last three elements are what make a Digital Story so unique. Creating a story electronically allows for a Soundtrack. Just like in a movie a Soundtrack can add emotion to a story. It is important to remember that the viewer will grow impatient, just as they would during a television show or movie, if the story is prolonged. This is why Economy and Pacing are so important. There has to be enough information to get the point across and it must be paced appropriately so as not to bore the viewer.

Robin goes on to discuss the different uses of Digital Stories in Education. Digital Stories can be utilized in all subjects and grade levels. They are great for re-telling historical events, creating informational How-To's, and personal narratives.


Robin, Bernard R. (2009). The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. University of Houston. Retrieved October 12 from http://fp.coe.uh.edu/brobin/homepage

Our team worked together to create a Digital Storytelling Workshop. All of our Digital Stories were created via Movie Maker. Throughout the process of creating our Digital Stories we faced some expected hurdles. The biggest challenge when creating Digital Stories is to ensure that all material used is copyright free. We found numerous resources that have copyright free materials. The next challenge when creating a Digital Story is to be certain that the technology is useful. As with anything in the classroom you don't want to spend hours creating something that could be taught and expressed in a few minutes. It was important to make sure that our videos would truly enhance a lesson and provide students with an increased knowledge on the standards.

As part of our workshop plan we created the following items in order to assist teachers in the development of their own Digital Stories:

• A Flyer to advertise our workshop


• A Workshop plan that detailed the steps involved in administering the workshop


• An Instructional PowerPoint that can serve as a resource when creating Digital Stories independently


• A Survey to assess the workshop


• Teacher-produced examples of Digital Stories

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: Historical Background by Jessica Clark
This video was created to use as an introduction to the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor. There are a lot of historical events surrounding the setting of this novel. After viewing this video, students will be better prepared to dive into the novel.

The Fall of Czar Nicholas II. by Debbie Wetherholt
This movie tells the story of the Fall of Czar Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia. It describes events, including Bloody Sunday, which led to the execution of Nicholas II and his family. With the fall of the monarchy rose the power of communism.

Fala by Joy Renfro
This video was created to use as an introduction to a unit on WWII, specifically emphasizing Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. It can also be used to teach point of view, as it is told from FDR's dog's perspective.


The Evolution of the Computer
This video is a timeline of the history of the computer. The movie shows how the computer has evolved over time and how it has changed our life and what we can do and accomplish with the computer. I also take a look at the pioneers of the technology age and their creations.

I Made it Through!!

I am in class now and blogs are normally blocked. I was trying to access my teams blog like I always do and to my surprise I was able to get through!! This is exciting and frustrating at the same time, my class is currently working on a collaborative project using Google Docs and a blog would be the icing on the cake. Ironically, the county has blocked all sites that have streaming media and all of the sudden I am able to access blogs, something seems strange. I will gladly take blog access over my streaming jazz stations I let my students listen to as they work. Ok, ok, I am the only one that likes the jazz, but to the victors go the spoils :-)

Blog about Blogs

Seeing as how we have been corresponding via blogs I thought it only appropriate to blog about blogging. This has been my first experience with Blogger as an Educational tool. I have found that it is a great communication device. It works really well for collaborative group projects. Blogging projects can take many shapes. Students can use blogs as a forum for discussion on a myriad of topics. The functionality of blogs and the accessibility of blogs makes them appropriate at all grade levels. Elementary School students can easily work along side a teacher to create blogs on class projects. Middle School students can begin to use Blogger as a presentation tool for book reviews and logs, a step by step guide of a Science Fair project, a timeline of historical events, etc. As students progress into High School and College they begin to utilize blogs as a place to express their thoughts and collaborate on ideas with peers. This is not to say that Blogger doesn't have its flaws. Sometimes navigation to and from other's blogs can be a bit tedious. However, a bit of navigation trouble is overshadowed by the vast array of uses for a blog in an educational setting.

Hitting the Technology Wall

So, this week, my school hit a sort of technology wall. Our quarter ended on Thursday, and each subject area gave a benchmark exam (like a final exam) that is mandated and created by the county. After giving said exam, we then drop them off in our computer lab to be scanned by one of our tech people. Sounds wonderful right? Well, it usually is. But this year, however, the county "tweaked" our exams and the exams are either not being scored correctly or not being scored at all. No one seems to know why. And our grades are due on Wednesday.

So this is a prime example of relying on technology for quick answers and needing a backup plan. So we have 1,000 answer documents floating around the school that all have to be scored and entered into gradebooks in two days, and there is no Plan B. So our quick fix is no longer quick. In this instance, scoring them by hand would have been simpler.

Midterm Exams

It is Midterm time and this has been a whirlwind of Web 2.0 tools, discussion questions, and time management skills. Our team is so focused and we have not had any issues of teammates not completing their required work. We are in the second half of the course and we have our team routine together, hopefully we are using the tools from the course in our classroom instruction, that has to be the ultimate goal.

Collaboration

I think this image sums up the process our team is going through and I have to say this has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in a class setting. Group projects are usually a mundane and tedious process but the collaboration and expertise exhibited by this group has been outstanding.