Sharing and True Connections Online

Image from http://mediabistro.com

Well I just finished watching an amazing video from Alan Levine. He is looking for people to share "true stories" from connected experiences. Have you ever met that amazing blogger or shared a photo and where then asked to participate in something or speak somewhere? Please see his great video I embedded below.

I personally love love love this concept. You share and make an actual connection. From that something blossoms. I truly feel that is the ultimate compliment. As I just released a true digital story with goanimate, I can tell you it was a tough call for me. It's so hard to share the truth sometimes, but we are a total of our experiences so maybe my story will inspire others to come forward, to know they are not alone but the passion for learning does not end.

If you have a great connection story, Alan would love to hear it and I will be watching closely. Check out his blog where you can post your story in any format.

I'm sad to say that at this time I cannot participate as I have made some connections but not in the way Alan discusses. For me, I was taught by an international educator, Jeff Utecht back in 2009 and as he began my journey of blogging and web2.0, I always looked up to him. He published a book a few years ago "Reach" which is a great book on creating your PLN and has tutorials for great tools. Was that a plug?

Anywho, I enjoyed the book so much and watch Jeff's blog so closely that I made it required reading for my master's class. I got to Skype with Jeff often as he was always available to Skype with my class, one email to Jeff and he is always there. For me, having someone being willing to give their free time to talk with my students over Skype and taking the time to get to know and discuss issues with Jeff has truly become the one "connected" experience I have had. Oh, wait,I don't have a movie, but I wonder if Alan would think that story would count?

I hope someday to say I met or collaborated with someone from #etmooc, I have made what I consider to be "micro-connections" and follower's but I cannot honestly say I have not experienced what I see, that is others who really look for each other on our twitter chats and say hello regularly online in blackboard, but I know it will come. Sharing is always paid back two folds.

When is it a digital story?

In a previous blog post, I wanted to know if storyboarding takes away from creativity. Feel free to read here if you missed it. I got varying responses but it has been on my mind. I have moved forward as does my digital story for #etmooc. I'm using goanimate.com and it's fun. I think I picked a topic that is well quite revealing and quite personal so I'm never sure how much to add and where it ends. I've changed my storyboard several times so I'm starting to wonder if I should just do something made up? I guess we will all find out. Moving on, I have been reflecting a lot on the concept and definition of digital storytelling.

Alec Couros was kind enough to send me a link for Ira Glass on Storytelling. It was the first movie in a series and of 4 which I highly recommend. It discusses having an antedote ( a sequence that keeps people interested) and a moment of reflection, the point of the story. My question lies in do all digital stories have to true point? Is it OK, as I have been teaching it for a while, to just have a perspective or a sequence that is well predictable? As the technology educator, do I stick to the literary steps I know make up a good story or as a digital technology teacher, am I exempt??

I participated in the great session on digital storytelling by Alan Levine, find here it the #etmooc archives. He also discusses having a hook, "entice me" into your story, yet he also introduced us to "how to tell a story through flickr" where pictures appeared and the participants made up a few sentences on the pictures surrounding the topic "connections". When we did this were we participating in true digital storytelling or were we just having fun?? I again have taught the same but I feel like I'm being hypocritical to the literacy aspect of a true story.

I'll explain, I teach Scratch Programming by MIT, and each story must indeed have a full storyboard, a hook, an antedote and a good conclusion. These stories vary but feel free to take a look at one of the stories HERE.

I also teach digital photography sometimes and I have my students do what we call "stories" from a series of pictures. I have embedded one here. Yes it is mine.

See it is cute, but it really is sentences that seemed appropriate for the picture. Does it tell a story?

Last year, I worked on some integration projects with voicethread and students decided to do their essay's on planets in voicethread. Again emebedded below, and begs the question as they are truly giving us facts, are they not telling a story?? It took a lot of storyboarding and collaboration for the students to bring it all together in a logical manner.

So do we stick to the steps of digital stories via literacy practices everytime? Do we hold to the storyboards, the hook , the antedont and the climax and ending or do we in the 21st century decide that we need a better definition for digital stories?

Does Storyboarding Take Creativity Away?

As I pondered the new assignments from #etmooc on Digital Storytelling, I found myself reflecting on the many ways and forms I myself have learned and taught digital storytelling. From Scratch to Animoto, Voicethread, Photostory, GoAnimate and anything really within the web 2.0 realm. I started to ponder a question I would like to throw out to the many.

How important is storyboarding? While I teach Scratch from MIT, you work with character’s called sprites and bits of code that can change your background, move each character, add have them think or talk. This I know I need a storyboard for and have always loved watching students think they have it and start programming then back to rewrite, as they change their minds. Scratch story embedded here took a great deal of storyboarding but it was again, worth the effort and I am not sure with the complexity of the visual components they could have done it without good storyboarding:

I have also taught what I consider to be “collaborative stories” on wikis. In this process, each person, begins a story and then each student in a class from 11-20 middle school students are told to add 5 – 10 sentences to the story. Within a few days you can really see which stories are taking off. So soon we are usually down to 3 to 5 stories which get added to by all members of the same class. They write their comments and then we moved them around to create pages(the full story). Feel free to view my old wiki here, story Mars done by 6th graders. Now look at the history of Mars, it took group effort. I have also left their story Dewey the Alien and the history here, you can actually see how 15-18 different wiki threads turned into some cool stories.

The stories come out really cool or silly but if you think about it no one needed to sit down and think about how many characters, setting, backgrounds or conversations they were going to have. They wrote truly from their heads with no determined plan. Are these methods two different styles both with great results or is it the complexity of move advanced software that will be seen by the eye that lends for storyboarding?

I believe and I may be wrong, that we might be taking away creativity when we ask our students for thought out well planned storyboards before they begin, for some are we losing the creative component that is the strength of digital storytelling? Curious..

Digital Storytelling Resources and Scratch Animation

I'm so excited about our new section in the MOOC I have been a part of, #etmooc. As an educator that has worked at the middle school level, undergraduate and graduate level, there a few things I have found to be more empowering and exciting than introducing digital storytelling to audiences that have not experienced the pleasure before.

What I truly love is the many web 2.0 an free online software applications that are now availabe online. Goanimate.com, Animoto.com, Voicethread.com, Prezi.com and so many much more (please note, each link is an example from myself or student work)

So I am going to start this new blog post by sharing what I have shared and taught so far. First, let me say, Storyboarding in creating a digital story is so important. This is where you should see yourself or students spending the bulk of their time. I do.. See various links I use with my students below:

Integrating Digital Storytellingby Mark Standley, yes it is from 2003, so wow, 10 years ago, they knew we had to give students a new voice, a better or cooler way of communicating.

Digital Storytelling 101 - By Discover Ed. Take a look around.

Digital Story Telling PDF Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, This has some great storyboards!

Education Resources for Digital Storytelling - This discusses some of the basic steps of digital storytelling from developing your story to brainstorying, storyboarding, drafting, revising, editing, timing, images and narration.

Storyboard That - This was a great find gosh back in 2008 by Free Technology for Teachers.

And I cannot forget my absolute favorite. Scratch Programming from MIT. See my example on cyberbullying here.

Learn more about this project

Scratch is a programming language that is free,fun to learn and affords for integration across all content areas. I have used Scratch Programming with middle school students and adults and the inspiration and reasoning skills that are built are truly 21st century skills and the best part is it really is a easy as buidling lego blocks and that's exactly what it looks like. I have so much more I'd love to say and teach you. Next blog post.... For now, I have left the links for the 21st century guide and 1 project done by one of my 7th grader's years ago and one by an student/middle school teacher and can add more. Enjoy.

Scratch Programming and 21st Century Learning.

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