Some Exploring with Digital Storytelling

Wanted to share some of these sites with everyone!

• The first link is to "DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories. At this website, there are just so many categories to choose from! To give a shortened form, you can choose "DigiTale Tools" which will give you specific information depending upon whether you have a MAC or WINDOWS. Also, it gives you little tidbits on how to do VoiceOvers. There is also a "StoryKeepers' Gallery" where you can view other videos that users have posted. There is a tab for "Evaluating Projects," where there is information on how to set-up peer review for video production. There is also a "Resources" tab where you can find an abundant amount of information to choose from ranging from topics such as Copyright Savy and Classroom Connections. Definetly a site to check out. Students can even check it out as well where there is DigiTale Tools for the Kids.

http://www.digitales.us/

• VoiceThread is a comprehensive website that offers educators to provide a new opportunity to talk about and share images, documents, and videos. Students can comment and discuss on a video as they are viewing it. These commentaries can be done by telephone, webcam, microphone, and file sharing. Students upload the video, others comment, and these comments are shared with the class.

http://www.voicethread.com/

• Story Center is a place for digital story telling. On the website are articles links to digital storytelling and other website links pertaining to digital storytelling.

http://www.storycenter.org/

Movie Maker Idea

I did a lot of trial and error small movies using Windows Movie Maker. I wanted to share with family and friends to get feedback, etc. so I decided to email them. Simply open up your work on Movie Maker and where it indicates Finish Movie, click send email. Great way to collaborate and get a lot of practice at the same time! It does take a lot of tinkering around to find out how things work!

My movie project

Speaking of the progress of my movie project, my music track is suddenly not working properly. The music doesn’t sound good. At beginning, I thought that is because I used up the memory. Later, I think the music pieces I used are becoming bad because I replayed them too many times. I think I will need to redownload those music.

Finally, I cut my movie into 3 minute long. I am thinking to post it onto the web or just make a DVD. To post on the web, I will choose post video either on Facebook or youtube. I like to watch video in youtube recently becaue so many invaluable videos can be seen via youtube. Youtube is a very cool site.

Movie Maker success

Hello everyone!

How is everyone doing? The semester went quickly. We are now down to the wire in finishing essays and movies. I finally figured out the trimming the still images problem. In movie maker, you have to go into timeline mode. Then, you highlight the still image clip (by clicking it) to either move the clip or trim it using the double red arrows. It took me a long time to figure it out. I hope this information is helpful for anyone who needs to trim either a still image clip or video clip. Take care all. See you on the 12th.

APA Formatting and Style Guide

Greetings...Here is the link to the Purdue website. I have used this site with my students and it is very helpful!!

Movie maker problem

Hi!

Yesterday, in class, I found out that I need to work on cutting down the duration of my still images clips. I went into movie maker and could not figure it out. I tried double-clicking on the image and using the arrows to trim but it did not work. Bill, I heard from Michele that you know how to trim the duration of still images clips. Can you tell me how to do it? Steph, to answer your question, I do not have a problem saving my project and opening it without losing any images. If anyone else knows how to trim the duration of clips in movie maker, please let me know. Thanks.

Converting a DVD movie into Windows Movie Maker

Hi Class!

Was just wondering if anyone could help my group. We bought our movie on DVD but are having trouble converting the DVD movie onto the computer desktop or into Windows Movie Maker. We have tried several options, but they have failed us. We were wondering if anyone had a suggestion or option that we could try out. We have already tried some ripping/burning sites off the internet but they do not seem to work.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions or options to use. Thank you!

In reading chapter 9 on "The New Literacies Sampler", I read about memes. I learned that there are many different views of the origin of memes whether biological or social. Being a previous Justice Studies student during my undergrad, I tend to lean more towards the social influence. I believe that our social structures play a huge part in what we do. I may be wrong! lol but this is my current belief. As an example, I am very much into facebook. If I never learned about facebook through other friends (my social environment), I would have never became interested in it therefore paying no attention to it.:)

Hey guys, I'm a new teacher and my classroom has a smartboard which I think is amazing. This is extremely new to me since I never grew up with a smartboard. They offer trainings in my district and I learned that if you go to the smart board website, they help you with lesson plans through blogging and you can find premade lesson plans to use with the smart board. You need to go to Smarttech.com, then click on Education, then on SmartExchange, join the conversation and then search your topic! Enjoy!:)

Downloading and Converting Video Clips for Movie Maker

Finally, I've made a breakthrough! I had been struggling to find the right software in order to download and convert video files for my presentation, but finally I have found a process that works quite well! Of course, downloading one program gave me a virus, which set me back a little bit because I had to try to regain control of my computer before moving forward. Alas, I suppose that is all part of that "pleasant frustration" concept!

I have found that the website www.savevid.com works quite well in terms of downloading the video files. Once on the site, I paste the desired URL from YouTube into the appropriate field and select "Download." I then click "Download flv" and save the file to my computer. Now it is time to convert it. The easiest program I found to do this is called "Any Video Converter," which I was able to download for free. I first must choose to convert the vid to the proper format, which is "Customized WMV Movie." Then I click "Add Video," choose the video that I want to convert, and select "Convert" Moments later, I have the ability to import the newly converted video clip into Windows Movie Maker. After all of that trouble, this is a thing of beauty!

Narrative piece and movie maker

Hello everyone.

How is everyone doing on their movies? I am making real progress. I added video clips and music to my movie. But, I have a problem with the narrative piece. I want to do blogs for my narrative piece but I am unable to figure out how to write the blogs, save the blogs, and import them in movie maker. Does anyone know I can go about doing this? In class on Saturday I am going to ask the question to the class to see if anyone knows. Let me know on Saturday if you can help. Thanks.

Thanksgiving web site for primary grades

Check out this web site - great idea for a center!

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/

Using the Internet during Exams

I am not sure if anyone has heard that Denmark college students may be able to use the Internet while taking exams. They are currently testing it to see how it works. One concern is students will cheat as they can use any website, including Facebook. However, educators are placing their trust in the students. There is a time limitation and the ways in which questions are worded make it difficult to cheat. One person leading this stated, "If we're going to be a modern school and teach them things that are relevant for them in modern life, we have to teach them how to use the internet." The focus is on how students find particular information, analyze it and provide an explanation.

I think this is an interesting concept that truly illustrates how the world is changing technologically and how students are accessing information. Educators in favor of this are paralleling the students’ everyday experiences using the Internet and bringing this practice into the classroom. This is a Mindset 2 concept yet it incorporates one’s self efficacy and individuality (Mindset 1). Collaboration, in this case, would be considered cheating. At a college level, I think this will work. Some students in high school may think it is a great idea initially but similar to open-book tests, may prove to be difficult. I fully believe that foundations are needed for any subject matter but this approach allows students to show how they use information they find.

How do you feel about this?

If you’d like to read the full article go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8341886.stm

Thinkfinity.org and ISTE

I would suggest checking out this website:

http://thinkfinity.org/

It is a great website and offers tons of free educational resources and lesson plans for all teachers K-12. The website divides into sections for educators, students, parents, and afterschool activities. What might be of interest for a particular class is the 21st century skills link, which directs you to understanding more fully the role that technology can and will play for the teacher who needs better technology for tomorrow's lesson.

I am posting this other link to a wesbite as well:

http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=ISTE_100&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=42&ContentID=7377

This is ISTE: ISTE 100 which stands for the International Society for Technology in Education. Here, you can become a member of their website. They offer professional development opportunities. There is a wealth of links that offer valuable resources for exploring this company further.

Enjoy!

Movie and Readings

Hi Everyone.

How is everyone doing on their movie? Today, I changed my movie around, added video clips along with still images, and titles. It looks pretty good. It might be too long. How long is our movie supposed to be? I read chapters 5-7 in the New Literacies Sampler. The concepts of fan fiction, and video games and learning are great topics for the essay if anyone still needs concepts for their essay. Good Luck!

Windows Movie Maker Issue

As my group and I continue to work on our project, we are running into some technical issues with Windows Movie Maker. Everytime we edit a few things, the program does not want to cooperate. We then have to close out the program, restart it, and then continue to work. But again, we work for a few minutes and the problem continues. Has anyone else experienced this issue? If so, how do we fix it? It is making the process of editing the video much longer than it has to be.

Copyright issues

Hey checkout www.creativecommons.org - in my quest to find articles for the paper I am writing with BiBi about remix and copyrighting, I came across this link. Creative Commons provides a framework and standardized way to grant copyright permissions to the creative work of individuals, large companies, schools, etc.

Article on Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0

I just wanted to share this article with everyone. In one of the most recent issues of The Reading Teacher (September 2009), there is a wonderful article entitled "Becoming Critical Consumers and Producers of Text: Teaching Literacy with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0". After reading the article, I thought it was both relevant and helpful in terms of topics /concepts we are exploring/discussing in class. The article highlights examples of both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, while also revealing the results/benefits of a study one of the authors implemented in her classroom utilizing Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 programs. The main concept I took away from this article is the fact that although some teachers "claim" they are utilizing technology in the classroom, it is one thing to have students type a story on Word but it is a completely different experience having them Blog their thoughts and opinions about a novel they are reading. It really made me think about the extent to which I'm truly incorporating "authentic" experiences with Web 2.0 within my classroom. I recommend taking a look at this article. It is a helpful resource! Enjoy!

Erika Pavlecka 11/1/09