Digital Storytelling Week 2

This week we had to create a presentation using Voicethread. I had never heard of this tool before but it sure does make it easy to create a narrated story with pictures. What a great way for teachers to get kids involved with storytelling. It is similar to creating podcasts but without the hassle of using some complex software. There are some limitations to the software and the free tool is not feature-rich like the subscription model. At least the full version is not too expensive. At only $60/year for 100 students the price is affordable by most schools.

I am also starting to realize where storytelling can come in handy. I did a presentation yesterday at a school about how our teachers use technology in the classroom. I did this mostly by demonstration but found myself telling stories and using those stories as examples for the teachers. They reacted in a positive way and told me at the end of the discussion that the stories I used as examples helped them realize what they could do with the technology in their classroom.

I might start using students and teachers at my school to create short videos that I can show during my presentations. This will hopefully create a positive connection with the audience. They will be able to see how students and teachers are affected by technology. By having it come from someone other than an administrator they may be more open to embracing technology in the classroom.

Digital Storytelling Week 1

I have been looking forward to this class for some time now. For the past 5 or 6 years, I have been playing with things like iMovie and Garage Band making movies and podcasts. My knowledge of this process was limited to the tools that I had in front of me and I never went out on the web to find other tools and resources to improve my creations. I am hoping to pick up some new ideas on how I can share things with colleagues and family members.

The first week focused on PowerPoint and storytelling. I am glad that there is a movement to change how presentations are done. I have been through a few marketing meetings in the past few months and the presentations have been awful - lots of words and reading right from the screen. When it came time to do a presentation on technology I immediately knew what I wanted and didn't want to do.

One of the things I really want to improve is my ability to tell the story of events in my kids lives using pictures and sharing them on the Internet with family. I used to have my own secured web site for family but that became a lot of work to maintain. I am starting to explore things like Flickr and Picasa but would like to know what other options are out there.

By the way, I really like the new AngelLearning portal. It is a lot easier to find all of the items related to the class.