Digital Storytelling

Before taking this course I had never considered the idea of digital storytelling. Initially the concept seemed rather intimidating to me. Simple power-points are typically as far as I would go to convey my information across a digital medium. But the more I looked into the concept, I realized that a digital story can be as simple or complex as the author chooses to make it. Typically, these stories just end up being a few minutes long. The purpose of digital storytelling is to bring together various elements, such as images, video, music, audio recordings, and text in order to present information about a specific topic.

I never recognized how easily technology can be integrated into a teacher’s curriculum; in the case of digital storytelling it is no different. It’s an effective way to make complex concepts easier to understand. They are also more interesting than a traditional textbook lesson or power-point lecture, which can make the learning experiences more memorable for students. It goes far beyond a traditional, oral storytelling experience. This tool incorporates multiple learning styles, so the possibilities for organizing and presenting the information are endless.

These are not only great tools for teachers to use as an instruction method, students can benefit from creating digital stories as well. Digital storytelling promotes literacy and help build communication skills. Students learn how to research a topic and convey their information across different mediums. They learn how to organize their thoughts and visually present them in a way that is concise and easy to understand. Students will probably encounter problems along the way as they brainstorm and create their digital stories, this is a perfect opportunity to consult with others. These experiences will help develop problem-solving and interpersonal skills. In the end, the students would have to present their digital stories. I know I was very intimidated with the idea of presenting to the class when I was younger. Digital stories will help students become more comfortable with sharing their ideas with others and using technology.

Link:

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu

Global Community

Thanks to modern technology being readily accessible for the masses, connecting with global education communities around the world is easier than ever. The possibilities are endless for establishing connections, all one has to do is have the desire and start exploring. I initially tried Google © and started searching under ‘global education communities’, but that didn’t really get me on the right track. I discovered a great resource for teachers, Curriki (www.curriki.org), but I wanted something that went beyond sharing curriculum. In order to find ways for students to connect with one another, I modified my search to a more focused entry entitled ‘connect students to global community’. I hit the jackpot and discovered two amazing resources, Skype in the classroom and ePals. 

With ePals, there are classrooms in 200 countries and territories collaborating together in the largest K-12 learning network. Here is the information about ePals Inc. as quoted from their website, “The ePals® approach provides an effective way to instruct and reach today's technology savvy students and teachers. ePals provides digital content designed for collaboration and self-paced, self-directed learning as well as a safe platform to share work globally. Authentic ePals projects are centered around meaningful content and experiences that require teamwork, digital literacy skills, higher-level thinking and communication. By engaging in authentic learning experiences about relevant issues, students, teachers and mentors learn and work together, strengthening core learning while motivating learners and building self-confidence and skills necessary for future careers. At the same time, ePals helps teachers learn to use technology effectively in their classrooms, providing professional development, curriculum, contests and other resources” (2011).

Skype is already being utilized by teachers around the world and now there is an official link that is just for teachers and their classes. “Skype in the classroom is a free community to help teachers everywhere use Skype to help their students learn. It’s a place for teachers to connect with each other, find partner classes and share inspiration. This is a global initiative that was created in response to the growing number of teachers using Skype in their classrooms” (Skype Limited 2011).

I was lead to education Skype thanks to another blog, so I will pass on my newly acquired knowledge in the links below if anyone wants to learn more! There is also an article I uncovered about children sending stuffed animals and a journal to connect with the global community. Each Travelling Animal is inside a hand-sewn backpack, along with a journal for recording the travels and the postal and e-mail addresses for the classes so that everyone can keep in touch. The travelling animals start out being mailed to friends, family, and acquaintances. Those who acquire the animals then send them to their own friends, family, and acquaintances, and the process continues until the return date for the animal and its accompanying journal. I thought it was a great idea and I could see this being implemented in my own classroom in the future.

Article:

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/north_sound/arl/news/27556824.html

Links:

http://education.skype.com/

http://www.epals.com/

Educational Blogs I Follow

One of the blogs I have been following is Technology Fridge. For the week of July 10^th there was a link to Free Technology for Teachers. This website has free resources and lesson plans for teaching with technology. I read the July 7^th post about Automatoon, a service on the web that allows its users to create animations. I explored this further and created a free account, now I have learned how to make my own unique animations! This new tech tool would be great for students using technology in the classroom. They could use the animations on websites they are creating or any other multimedia project. Also, students could create animations to demonstrate their knowledge of certain concepts, such as the Hydrologic Cycle or the anatomy of a volcano. They could even recreate their favorite scene from a book they read, rather than use a simple hand-drawn illustration.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/07/automatoon-create-animations-for-web.html

The second post I looked at was from the other blog I am following this semester, 2 cents worth by David Warlick. The July 5^th article on the home page caught my eye, So what do you call a textbook that isn’t a textbook? One of the hotly debated issues is wondering what we are going to call our future textbooks if they aren’t even books. Warlick likes the idea of a ‘digital curriculum’ and this got me thinking about what my curriculum could look like years down the road. Traditional textbooks are continuing to become more obsolete as more efficient technology is being developed, as a future educator I need to recognize this and see what other resources are out there. Eventually, my instruction could be based solely on a collection of resources designed and maintained by me. This would make my teaching methods highly individualized and unique; I could really cater to the needs of my classroom without the limitations of a textbook.  But the problem is that a lot of inexperienced teachers rely heavily on textbooks to get them through the first years of teaching. Warlick brought up the idea that perhaps teachers should be required to create a first year digital curriculum to present at job interviews. I found the idea fascinating; I would encourage this progression into digital curriculum because it would promote continuous learning. One of the responsibilities that will come with becoming an elementary teacher is committing to becoming a life-long learner. I feel this new concept could really press teachers to think ‘outside of the box’ and our students could really benefit in the long run.

http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

The final post I looked at was also on David Warlick’s blog from October 8, 2010, Are they students or are they learners? I was drawn to this post because it had 84 comments left on it, so I assumed it must have really promoted some people to think about the concept. What was great about this post was that Warlick created a chart to distinguish the characteristics of students and learners and how they differ from one another. The categories were entitled relationships with educators, relationship with other “students”, motivation, compensation, mode of operation, why?, equipped, and assessment. I really recommend people check this out; it was really eye opening for me. I never realized how the relationships in the learning environment could be so dramatically shifted just by approaching school from a different perspective. If the children are occupying the role of the “students”, they are being motivated and influenced by the culture of school and must work to earn compensation (good grades). This takes away from the sheer joy of learning something new; it’s more a job than a passion. Learners see value in their work and are motivated to learn because they see how it benefits themselves and others. There is a collaborative spirit among learners, whereas students are competitors. I’ll be thinking about this more as I become an elementary school teacher. Will the children that I teach be students or learners?

http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=2762

Assistive Technology in Education

Assistive technology is defined by the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508) as being “any item, piece of equipment, or system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (AccessIT, 2011). Essentially, assistive technology gives people with disabilities the opportunity to do things that would be very difficult for them to do, even impossible in some cases.

I chose to focus on assistive technology for people with speech impairments because of its prevalence among children.  “Approximately 20% of children receiving special education services are receiving services for speech and language disorders. This estimate does not include children who receive services for speech and language disorders that are secondary to other conditions such as deafness. More than one-half (55.2%) of all 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds with a disability receive speech and language services” (Project IDEAL, 2008).

One helpful piece of assistive technology for people with speech impairments which I thought could be very useful for children are communication boards. They are a simple way for children to communicate their needs and build vocabulary by using any combination of photographs, symbols, words, or phrases. The non-electronic models are one of the most basic augmentative or alternative communication (AAC) devices available. In terms of the electronic models available, they vary from “very simple devices with few buttons (such as the Cheap Talk) to very elaborate systems that use a keyboard and synthesized speech (such as the Dyna Vox and Liberator)” (Project IDEAL 2008).

In order to keep up with all of the assistive technology and address the needs of my special education students, I will need to recognize my available resources. Speech-language pathologists are an invaluable asset to me as a future educator. Collaboration with them will offer professional services which meet the specific needs of children with speech impairments. With this, I can become knowledgeable of corrective measures, speech and languages exercises, and give effective feedback to my students.   Some services offered by speech-language pathologists include: “helping children with articulation disorders to learn proper production of speech sounds/ helping children who stutter to speak more fluently/ assisting children with voice disorders to improve their voice quality/ helping individuals with aphasia to relearn speech and language skills/ assisting individuals who have difficulty swallowing as a result of illness, surgery, stroke or injury/ evaluating, selecting, and developing augmentative and alternative communication systems/ enhancing communication effectiveness” (Project IDEAL, 2008).

As I become an elementary school teacher, I need to be aware of how important language and communication skills in terms of a child’s future development. I will incorporate this awareness into my teaching by having a strong literacy focus in my curriculum, regardless of the age group. I recognize that language development begins at birth and that at a young age; I need to reach out to families and encourage them to have quality interactions with their children. Whether it’s reading a book together or just listening to a child jabber on about the day, building a foundation for strong oral communication needs to be valued in the home as well as in the classroom. I also know that the child’s brain is incredibly malleable in the early years. This means that the sooner we become aware of possible speech impairments, the easier it will be to correct the problem.

Image retrieved on June 27, 2011 from http://medt3401.blogspot.com/2010/11/communication-boards.html

References:

Assistive Technology Partnership. (2008). Definitions and legal requirements. Accessed on June 27, 2011 from http://www.atp.ne.gov/techassist/def-legal.html

Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities: Project IDEAL. (2008). Speech and language impairments. Accessed on June 27, 2011 from http://www.projectidealonline.org/speechLanguageImpairments.php

University of Washington: AccessIT. (2011). What is assistive technology? Accessed on June 27, 2011 from http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?109

CommonCraft Assignment Update

I know this sounds funny, but my mom actually learned how to “copy and paste” thanks to the video provided by http://www.teachparentstech.org/watch. She is incredibly unfamiliar with the layout of a keyboard, so she types very slowly. Copying and pasting will make her life much easier. I had tried to explain this to her before, but I think the video's directions were great because they gave clear, visual representations of what to do. When she’d asked me about transferring information before I had said,” O just hit Ctrl+ C and then Ctrl +V”, let’s just say I lost her. It was great to have a pre-made video which could teach her how to do this in about a minute. She got really excited and now she also knows how to make bookmarks instead of trying to remember the site she wanted to show me. I wish I had known about these sites before!

My brother watched Common Craft’s Social Networking in Plain English, but didn’t find it very helpful. He doesn’t want to network for business or love interests and he said that was one of the focuses of the video. Something applicable that he learned was on teachparentstechn.org,  “how to share a big file”. While away in college, lots of videos and pictures were taken of my brother at his track meets. My family has been bugging him about seeing them, but his argument is that the videos are in Oregon (he just got back to Alaska this week). Now, there is no excuse because he knows an easy way to upload links and share them with us.  After this, I had him check out the Common Craft video entitled Online Photo Sharing in Plain English.  Relatives and friends are always asking how my brother is doing. I occasionally get an email with a few photos from him, but then I have to forward and share these with other people. It would be much easier for him to upload his pictures online and have a common link that everyone could view. Whether or not he will take the time to do this is unknown.

As for me, something I had always wanted to do was to set up an email signature. I never knew how easy it was to create one! Beforehand, Twitter seemed like dangerous territory for me. Years ago I created an account and that was it. I never went on one again. But now I realize how easy it is to tweet. I may not be ready to manage a Twitter account, but it would be an efficient way to eliminate the same small-talk with the friends I am texting. Instead, they would be able to see my updates throughout the day instead of constantly asking "what's up?" I ended up checking out numerous videos on both sites, setting aside just 15 minutes of time resulted in me learning so much. I really appreciate that sites like this are developed to help us all become more tech-savvy.

Tech Tool

The tech tool I decided to try out this week was "Tux Paint". This free, downloadable software reminds me of the "Kid Pix" program which used to inhabit all of the old macintosh computers at my elementary school. I absolutely LOVED "Kid Pix", so it was great to discover that there is still a software out there that is so simple to use (and so much FUN)! Basically, it's a drawing software which turns your computer screen into a blank canvas. The options are endless for creating a work of art, especially if you download the optional stamp pack.

As luck would have it, after playing around on Tux Paint for only 10 minutes, my 6 year old brother came into my room and asked, "Ariel, whatcha doing?" His eyes lit up and said, "Ooo is this a new game?" Within a few minutes he had erased my masterpiece, found all the stamps he wanted to use, and booted me off my seat and said, "Ariel, I have a lot work to do." I pulled up a chair and watched him work. He was easily entertained for the remainder of the hour, until his older brother came home with a new video game controller.

While Tux Paint may not be able to compete with the wild antics of Donkey Kong (c) on a Nintendo Wii, it has lasting appeal and can entertain people of all ages. This software would be a great tool to use in elementary school classrooms. Kindergarteners could be introduced to drawing on the computer and older students could use the software as an alternative to hand-drawn illustrations for assignments.

My Blog Story

I chose to read the blogs of Brianna, JJ, Christine, and Teresa and tie their responses on copyright into the blog I am following, 2 cents worth by David Warlick (see http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=1369).

After doing a little exploring, I was able to come across a blog post Warlick wrote on 2/25/2008 entitled “The Cost of Copyright”. This post was actually a response he had after reading an article on copyright. I thought this would be a perfect tie in to our class because we did the exact same thing! The article Warlick read brought up two key points. “One is that we do not have a clear and authoritative definition of fair use for education and libraries — and second, that our current notions of fair use are excessively conservative, and that what and how students learn in our schools is suffering as a result” (Warlick 2008).

Two things can be done by educators. First, he brings up that teachers need to learn about the rights that can benefit them under copyright law. Teachers have unique exceptions in terms of what is deemed “fair-use” and they need to be sure they are aware of this. Also, there needs to be a code of practice put in place by educators so that there are clear rules for the fair use of copyright materials for educational purposes. Many of the guidelines currently in place are vague, even the article Copyright 101 for Educators didn’t have definite statements. Instead, the article said this is “usually” or “probably” fair use of copyright materials.

This brings me into my readings from my classmates’ blogs. Brianna, JJ, Christine, and Teresa all chose to read Copyright 101 for Educators. Each of them addressed how copyright laws have implications as we become educators and the role we have to teach our students about these laws. Like Teresa said, the responsibility falls on us as educators to be aware of these laws and do our best not to break them. On top of this, we need to have the same standards for our students and uphold copyright laws in our classroom.

Christine brought up that it will be challenging as a teacher to put together future presentations without using anyone else’s work. I think this is why it is so important to have strict, well-defined guidelines put in place so educators are confident they are not breaking any laws. But there are some exceptions already in place we need to become aware of, Brianna addressed how important it is for educators to know and understand the TEACH Act. JJ also brought this up and it was nice to see that she tied it into the distance education class we are currently taking. She also brought up that now she has new insight on all the resources available to us.

We can’t be ignorant about this issue just because it may be confusing to understand. As everyone has learned, copyright laws have a direct influence on the way we present materials to our students. In the end, it is our responsibility to ensure that teachers and students alike are modeling good digital citizenship behavior.