I attended the 2011 UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Technology) Conference earlier this month.  One of the most interesting sessions I attended was led by Dr. Talitha Hudgins and focused on the use of digital storytelling as an effective way to engage students in learning. 

Utah Valley University's Dr. Hudgins defined the components of digital storytelling and shared impressive examples of student-produced projects.

For more information and useful resources about digital storytelling and how to integrate it into your teaching visit Dr. Hudgins' website.

I recently received the ISTE publication Learning and Leading with Technology November 2010, which has engaging articles about education and technology and useful resources for teachers.  One technology tip caught my attention – a solution for how to easily share multiple websites with students.

According to Adam Bellow, an ISTE Emerging Leader and the founder of www.eduTecher.net, the solution is Only2Clicks, “a Web tool that allows you to set up a free webpage where students and teachers can access multiple links. You can even create tabs to separate different types of links, such as school subjects, course topics, etc. This visual start page is perfect for students of all ages. Your page will be prepopulated with several common search engines. To add links, you simply type in the Web addresses and a description or title of the site. The website then appears as part of a grid with a screen shot of the site for easy visual recognition. This is especially great for young students or students with special needs who have difficulty reading.

Some teachers may choose to make their Only2Clicks page the default homepage on student computers, or they might post the address where all students can see it. The Url is easy to remember: www.Only2Clicks.com/Yourname.

Now instead of having to watch students suffer as they try to type in long and nonsensical Urls, all the sites you want your students to access are literally only two clicks away.”

I recently discovered LiveBinders, a site that allows you to create online binders at no cost.  You can share binders with others and print them as well.  It’s an innovative way to organize and share information you find on the Internet.  You can also upload files to an online binder.

The LiveBinders introductory video is worth watching.  Under the Featured Binders section there are numerous categories including education.  I found a binder called Favorite Ed Tech Tools that may interest you.

LiveBinders could be used as a tool to organize information your students may need to access during the filmmaking process.

Enjoy!

Wordle is a great tool for identifying themes and understanding text.  A wordle saved as a JPEG image can be imported into iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.

For Macs -

Hold down the Shift>Command>4 keys.  A small crosshair will appear.  Drag the crosshair over the image of the wordle, and let go of the keys.  The wordle image will be saved on the desktop as a JPEG image.

For PCs –

Use the Print Screen key to copy the screen.  Using either PowerPoint or Paint, paste in the image.  Use the cropping tools to crop the image so that you only have the wordle.  Then save as a JPEG image.

A 9^th grade teacher in Arkansas wrote these instructions in the ISTE’s Learning & Leading with Technology, May 2010.

Microsoft Education has a Digital Storytelling e-book that contains resources, project ideas, and information you may find useful for your classroom filmmaking activities.  Since it’s a Microsoft product, the editing software highlighted in the e-book is Windows Movie Maker and Photo Story. 

In ISTE’s March/April 2010 Learning & Leading with Technology, Steven Katz, director of education technology at Country Day School in Escazu, Costa Rica shared a helpful tip on how to minimize camera movement while shooting video without a tripod.

“Put two hands on the camera, feet shoulder width apart and elbows tucked to your ribs.  This will minimize camera movement.”

Hope this helps decrease the number of shaky videos produced in your classrooms!

I think almost every teacher who uses technology in the classroom has experienced moments when the necessary technology just would not work.  What do you do when this happens? 

A second grade teacher from Pennsylvania offered her solution to such a situation in the February 2010 edition of ISTE’s Learning & Leading with Technology.

“Here’s a solution: Build troubleshooting into your lessons.  When something goes wrong, don’t stress about not finishing the lesson.  Think of it as a revision to your original plans.  Just as teachers model how to read and write, we can also model what to do when a piece of equipment or software is not working.  As you talk through the problem and what you are doing (even if you eventually need to call for help), the children will be learning what they should do.  And you may just find that your students will detect the problem for you.”

During my recent school visits, teachers expressed frustration with an inability to show students educational videos on YouTube.  Teachers cannot show YouTube videos because it is a site blocked by a district web filter.  There is a possible solution - turn YouTube videos into TeacherTube videos.

I read the following in ISTE’s December/January 2009-10 Learning & Leading with Technology. 

“Access YouTube (from home) and copy the URL of the educational video you want, then access a conversion tool, such as www.downloader9.com and paste the URL into the box indicated.  Follow the instructions on the screen to convert the video to an FLV file.  Go to a downloaded-hosting site, such as www.teachertube.com, and upload the FLV video file you just converted.  After a day or two, the educational video will be reviewed and approved, and then you can access it from your school for viewing.  Note that TeacherTube requires you to sign up for a free membership to use the service, but it is not typically blocked by school Web filters.”  - David Ligon (pg. 31)

I have not tried Mr. Ligon’s solution to turn YouTube videos into TeacherTube videos.  If you do, let us know how it worked.

We recently discovered a fabulous site about digital storytelling created by a teacher in Missouri.  Krissy Venosdale’s site http://greatdaytolearn.com/digital_storytelling/portfolio.html contains:

-       Definition of digital storytelling

-       Portfolio of student projects

-       Sounds & music resources

-       Assessment resources

-       Image resources

-       Storyboard tools

-       Software and technology resources

Enjoy!

While working with students, I’ve noticed that it can be difficult to make an entertaining product that still informs the audience. I’ve been a part of plenty of projects where students had an informational project all planned out, but something becomes lost in the process and students are left with films that don’t have any message.

            I’ve found that one way to get students to create more effective projects is to approach the project like a PSA, where students are always considering the subject, purpose, and audience, and asking themselves the question, “Is it effective?” With a PSA, because of its length, filmmakers can only afford to include content that directly contributes to their message, and a video project should operate the same way.

During all phases of filmmaking, from storyboarding to editing, you should have students ensure that everything they add to their film is contributing to their intended message. That way, students are the ones making sure they don’t get off track, and this is an easy way to decide whether or not something will appear in their film. When they reach the editing phase, it’s a simple matter of allowing them to keep the information that’s on track, and getting rid of everything else.

One other thing for students to consider is what an audience will learn from their video. Creating a movie about the water cycle that simply shows pictures of the clouds doesn’t teach anything. Making sure students actually explain a concept or give factual information will ensure that they’ve learned something in the filmmaking process, aside from just finding images on Google.

            Overall, it can be difficult to guarantee that students are learning while they’re creating a video, but by using these techniques, you can make sure that they will make effective projects that have an educational benefit.

  If you have any additional suggestions on how to get your students to create an effective project, please mention them below.