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During a visit to a school using mobiles for classroom purposes, there were some very useful conclusions

• Engagement.  the cellphone novelty will soon pass, the engagement was with the ideas and sharing. Students were not really dazzled by their phones, they simply used them to share ideas, pictures, sounds and videos. The real engagement was with each other and the story. The cellphones were almost seamless.

• Responsibility.  Clearly posted on the wall were a set of guidelines developed by the students and their teacher on how to use this tool wisely. Discussions of etiquette, manners, privacy and safety led them to their common understandings. While we know that kids will mess up, placing them in a position to determine the rules and understand their responsibility will go a long way. It’s called ownership.

• Innovation and Problem Solving. Students discovered their phones were also organizers, voice recorders, and multimedia creators. They discovered bluetooth was a great way to share files, they created concise summaries of their group discussions using voice memos or videos.

• Teacher as a Learner. the teacher says she still can’t “T9” like her students, but she’s learning. She wants to understand for herself, how this can be used in learning. She texts her students in the morning to remind them of homework and they actually respond. That in itself is one positive outcome already.

• Reflective Practice. discussions clearly indicate they aren’t sure of the role of these devices in learning but certainly can’t dismiss them as many have. Interestingly enough, the school has signs posted everywhere stating cellphones, mp3’s have to be in lockers at all times. The head laughs as he realizes he’s circumventing his own rules!  He also realizes that this presents a challenge for his entire staff as they consider what this might mean. He doesn’t know yet but believes in the process of watching kids learn and determine what is best for them.

Not every student has a cellphone by the way. About two thirds have one so it’s not about every kid having it but about using the tools they come to school with. Those that don’t are using other tools like mp3’s and the web and staff are looking at ways to support that as well. But these issues aren’t going to stop them from looking at this from a pedagogical perspective. They also get that today it’s a cell phone and tomorrow it’s something else. The question they seek is, “Can this powerful device help students learn?” So far so good. 

Thanks to download squad

You can easily make your own Google maps with your own photos and text

created a Google Maps interface for recording the tour.  Again, someone asks, “How can we do that?”

Here’s how you do it. 
1. Start with Google and register an account if you don’t have one already.
2. Click on [Maps].
3. Click [My Maps] where you can save your own maps and also browse a directory of other maps.
4. Click [Create a Map]
5. Title it and make it public or unlisted (you can share it either way)
6. Make a pen, and then zoom in to where you want it to stay, and title it.
7. A text box opens where you can type in text, rich text, or even HTML.  There’s a tool bar for formatting.  This is cool!
8. If you want a photo to be part of this spot on the map.  The photo has to be on the web, and you create a link to the photo.  Click the insert a a photo button, and enter the URL of the image.

Here is a bookmark page with resources: http://del.icio.us/ellejaycee/presentation
And here is a Camtasia demo: http://scrap217.googlepages.com

 from 2¢ Worth by Dave

Digital storytelling begins with the notion that in the not [too] distant future, sharing one’s story through the multiple mediums of digital imagery, text, voice, sound, music, video and animation will be THE PRINCIPAL HOBBY OF THE WORLD’S PEOPLE.

 

 

read more at Ideas and thoughts from an ed tech 

Voicethread is a great companion to Bubbleshare for making online digital stories. Photos can be annotated with voice or text and made into a slideshow

It's simple to use and free to register 

Creating digital stories just got the cartoon image

Making digital stories is a great way of engaging disaffected students with the writing process 

Using Toondoo is very easy and gives you a 1, 2 or 3 pane cartoon.  There are backgrounds, characters and different speech bubbles that you can incorporate into your story

 

Having done that, you can embed your cartoon into your blog or website 

 
also check out other Digital storytelling (7) posts

From Darren Kuropatwa's "A difference" blog

Galleries of Thought  really got me thinking about what it is we are trying to do in the classroom and I think darren has some great approaches

• Those that haven't mastered the material the first time around often do when they have to create content that educates.
  
• When kids publish their work online everyone (teachers, peers, parents, others) can peek in at a gallery of their thoughts. Learn from both the mistakes and the exemplary work others.
• Wading through the galleries of their thought I become a better teacher and they become better learners.

I really recommend reading this through if you are a practitioner looking at web 2.0

 

 

Scrapblog - this is great.

Take a look at the  tour and see what a great tool this is. It is all free and online, but with drag and drop functionality, it is easy to make a presentation with pictures, video, audio

 

So, a bit like Powerpoint, but way easier to use and share the content. Each presentation has its own url so others can take a look too

For those of you blogging with students, this would be a great way to make a digital story and then embed the presentation right into your blog post, rather that the Slideshare method you have to use when using Powerpoint see Slide Shows for Your Blog

Also check out Bubbleshare update

thanks to smartboard lesson podcast 

I thought it was about time I posted an update on Bubbleshare. 

 

Following previous posts Bubbleshare - online picture, photo and album sharing  and

Adding bubbleshare slideshows to your blog post

I took another look today at the functionality of the site. Quite simply, bubbleshare has become quite a sophisticated digital storytelling device  in which I'm sure will engage reluctant writers to begin putting some ideas together.

Bubbleshare first of all allows you to upload photo albums, but once that is done the fun begins.  Students can then annotate each photo with a speech bubble entering their own text and adding fun gizmos like hats and bright red lips - these may not be to everybody's taste.

Having done that, students can then add their own voice annotation to each photograph.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So it's a bit like using Microsoft's photostory 3 (Using photostory in the classroom) which is an excellent way of putting together audio and photos, but the downside is it is not online so not so simple to distribute or embed in a blog - you could, however, upload it to Youtube or add to a VodPod

I think this would be well worth investigating further and will provide a number of opportunities within the classroom to be creative as well as engaging students in the writing process -- let me know how you get on.

 

see an example here 

 

If you haven't come across Microsoft Photostory, then read on.

It is a very simple and free piece of software that takes your digital still pictures and allows you to have some movement, zooming in and out, as well as adding music or narration.

 

The end result is a video that can be viewed on Media Player

It truly is an excellent motivation and presentation tool 

Stretton Handley Primary School, inspired by photographs they saw of winter scenes, used PhotoStory to create winter poems.

Click here to read their poems  (Windows Media Player 10 or above needed)

Staffordshire ICT  have put together a help sheet for pupils  using PhotoStory. It includes an assessment chart at the end.

There are some useful tips too on the following website:
http://www.windowsphotostory.com/

Thanks to Mandy