EDUC 5333 - Digital Story Progress & More

This past week was productive. I managed to complete my story map and story table & script and added content to a Google Site I made for Braden's story. Much of the feedback I received about the initial story idea tried to address my concern about keeping the story within a 5-8 minute timeframe. After contacting my instructor I felt much relief. Evidently, the story itself doesn't have to be 5-8 minutes in length. Our summary and reflection that we present needs to be 5-8 minutes in length. Our peers are to view/hear our story before our presentation.

Gathering photos for this project and converting them from HEIC to JPG or PNG took much longer than I expected. Recording and adjusting the audio to have consistent quality across the whole site also took some time. Initially, I considered not adding audio, but I think it adds more feeling than what someone would experience by reading text only. The audio is an optional component but is available for anyone that would like to hear the story instead of, or along with, reading it. I considered using the Choose Your Own Adventure-style of storytelling, but I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with all of this to start. Maybe I'll try something like that later.

For the presentation during week 7, I plan to briefly walk-through the website I created for this assignment. I would like to demonstrate each of the components - audio, text, pictures, surveys, and resource links. I won't have time to go through all aspects of the site, but I hope to provide a sampling of each type of component.

Potential Resources to Use in the Classroom

There are several resources I could see my middle school students use. They're all so app-savvy, but they don't necessarily know how to use their Chromebooks - it's a work-in-progress. Here's a list of what I'd try first on Chromebooks with my group of 7th-graders:

Screencastify - I absolutely could see students using this to record an explanation of an assignment, to make a tutorial for other students, or to create a presentation for later viewing.

Soundtrap - I love this tool, all the options it has, and the ease of use for creating vocal recordings and music!

Comic Life or Motion Comics or Storyboard That - These could be fun for personal storytelling or for our succession comic assignment in the spring. (I've had students use Storyboard That before, so the other comic sites will be interesting to add in.)

Above resources were found here: 

Kapular, D. (September 7, 2018). Top 30 tools and apps for digital storytelling.  Tech & Learning.  Retrieved from:  https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/30-sites-and-apps-for-digital-storytelling

Community Assignment Precursor

As a precursor to an upcoming assignment, we are now asked to consider our audience, skills, and the impact this story may have.

Who is the authentic audience for this story? Who will be impacted by it? In what ways might this story resonate with this audience?

I suppose the target audience is anyone trying to better understand what a journey through ADHD diagnosis and treatment may look like. I hope my family better understands what led us to make some of our decisions about treatment and identification in school. I hope parents, educators, siblings, and other children will try the simulations available on Understood.org so they may better understand ADHD and other learning challenges. It's hard to accept what you don't understand, and Understood.org certainly takes some of the mystery away. I hope everyone that experiences Braden's story leaves with a bit more compassion and empathy for those with learning challenges - especially those challenges that are not visible.

What skills and knowledge have you developed as you created your story?

I have further developed many skills with this assignment. I've worked on photo editing, audio editing, website design, scripting/storyboarding, and research. I certainly have a greater appreciation for storytellers now. In addition to this course, I've also listened to an audio course about storytelling during my commute the past month. While the audio course is about live storytelling, not digital, I still feel I learned some tips and tricks that I hope to put to use in my classroom.

How might your community/students be impacted by engaging in digital storytelling? What role can I play?

I think my students would benefit greatly from learning to tell their stories digitally. Digital storytelling takes some of the discomforts of public speaking away. While the whole world can see the story, the pressure of dozens or hundreds of eyes on you during a recitation is absent. There is an opportunity to fine-tune and edit before publishing, and even after publishing, as needed. As students share their stories they may find they have more in common than not. So often, especially in middle school, students can feel alone and like there's no help or solution available. If they hear others with similar stories, maybe they won't feel so alone. Maybe they'll see a resolution to a story like their own and feel hope. Maybe they'll be the ones that provide hope to someone else.

EDUC 5333 - Project Plan

This week, we are asked to post a preliminary project plan for our digital story so we may receive feedback on it.

Since my plan is still fluid at this point, I will post a link to the current version. Subsequent posts will have more updated versions.

Preliminary Project Plan - Week 3 - revised 2019/11/06

EDUC 5333 - Digital Storytelling - Introduction

Introduction 

New course = another introduction: Haylee here! I'm starting courses 6 & 7 of 10 for my Master's in Curriculum & Instruction w/ an emphasis in Educational Technology. My original intro is available at this link, but here's a summary: I've been an educator since 2005 and have mainly taught middle school science and math, but I have also taught 5th grade and high school science, and have also taught PE, Health (online & F2F), and Introductory ASL. I LOVE integrating technology whenever possible because I know our students/children will need it more and more as they grow.

I presently work at DeWitt Perry Middle School in Carrollton, TX. This is my third year here - teaching 7th-grade science each year so far. I've worked diligently over the past three years, as we have become a one-to-one school district, to digitize our 7th-grade science curriculum. Students and teachers now have access to all assignments digitally, many hyperdoc activities, and many warmup activities that are self-checking Google Forms. The kids LOVE getting instant feedback and quick comments as they work on assignments! I love when they bring their Chromebook up to me, grinning so big, to show me they scored a 90 or 100 on a warmup or quiz. I love that they're proud of their work!

My current goal is to complete my Master's by May 2020. My future goals include obtaining additional Master's/Certificates in Math and/or Science C&I and Information Technology/Librarianship. I would love to be able to develop a technology learning program housed that would allow students and adults to advance their technology skills through a shared knowledge program. I know I want to add technology education to whatever I may do, and the age of the student doesn't really matter - I just need willing learners.

Storytelling Ideas

I've been thinking about ideas for the past several days, and I'm definitely having trouble deciding on a topic. I could focus on content-based material with a story to tie into the Catastrophic Events project we have coming up in December. I could also base my story on the Genius Hour/Coding week we will have right before winter break. I could go in a future direction with an idea I have for a "Real Skills" course - similar to Home Economics, but with a tech twist. I could also focus more on personal stories and share about my family. I could share my educational journey. I could share the story of my children. 

Trying to decide which story to tell is difficult. I know I need to select a story that will hold the viewers' interest and be informative. I suppose identifying my audience first would be helpful. Personal stories would certainly be better for non-academic viewers, but I think they would be nice for my children to view later in life. I still have time to decide. ;)

J. Ohler

Jason Ohler (2013) identifies 20 "Revelations" in his book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom. The "Revelations" I find most pertinent to my storytelling adventure are numbers 3, 4, 9, 18, and 19. 

• Revelation No. 3: "Digital technology is assistive technology for the artistically challenged" (Ohler, 2013, p.4). Many students and adults are afraid to try artistic endeavors because they lack skills in specific media. Digital tools allow us to experiment and try new things, knowing we can undo, edit, or start over if needed. We can also usually find video tutorials that will help show us how to use the tools, which makes them less intimidating. 
• Revelation No. 4: "The digital revolution in a sentence: Finally, we all get to tell our own story in our own way" (Ohler, 2013, p.4). We can choose to tell our story in a variety of formats, like audio files, still photos, video files, or combinations of all of these. We can also choose whether or not to share our story, and even with whom it is shared.
• Revelation No. 9: "The attitude is the aptitude" (Ohler, 2013, p.7). I LOVE this one - probably my favorite. Since I'm going back to school for a Master's degree 20 years after graduating with my Bachelor's, I am definitely embracing the idea of lifelong learning. With rapid advances in technology, we have to be willing to constantly learn more or we will soon be unable to work with devices as they advance and we don't.
• Revelation No. 18: "Digital story creation offers an effective means to teach media literacy" (Ohler, 2013, p.12). Having the skills that enable us to use media in a meaningful way and understanding that the stories we tell can impact others are important. This is important not only for digital interactions but for face-to-face interactions as well.
• Revelation No. 19: "Digital storytelling helps students develop creatical thinking skills, merging creativity and critical thinking, to solve important problems in imaginative, thoughtful ways" (Ohler, 2013, p.13). Creativity and critical thinking are being called upon more and more as technology provides automation of everyday tasks. With the mundane taken care of, we need the creative minds to develop new ideas and we need the critical thinkers to pick apart those new ideas so we have fully refined products created in a more timely fashion.

A. Middleton

Andrew Middleton (2013) discusses the use of podcasting in its various forms - audio, video, audio and still images, and combinations of all of these. I like that there are many free resources available for podcasting. I tried my hand at podcasting in a class last term. My partner and I used Soundtrap to work asynchronously on our podcast. There were synchronous tools available, but we found that working asynchronously worked best for us. We did not use any video or other visuals in our podcast. In a later assignment though, I did use Screencastify to create a tutorial with audible directions to go with the video of the actual steps that needed to be followed as students started to create portfolios on Google Sites. 

Students should definitely be able to use these tools. The tools are very straightforward with how they work. The Soundtrap tools are rather extensive, but basic use is easy and there are many video tutorials available on YouTube. The Screencastify tools are very self-explanatory and make multiple takes unnecessary; if a portion of the video is not needed it can be cut and deleted instead of having to start over. The only problem I see in using these tools in class is finding a quiet time and place to record. When students are working on tasks that would require the use of these tools, they would definitely not provide a quiet recording studio feel.

References