An Application for Digital Storytelling LIS568

Being an educator during the 21st century, where technology continues to emerge in innovative ways, certainly allows for an interesting day within the classroom.  Such technology can lead to unbelievable student engagement when implemented correctly.  As educators, it is our job to understand emerging technologies, 21st century skills, and overall best pedagogical approaches that will lead to an effective and relevant education for our youth.  It is one thing to just use current technology to take place of traditional methods, such as digital journaling versus paper and pencil journaling, and it is another thing to use current technologies to provide students with an education that will allow for success in their college and career endeavors.  For example, I have found Storybird very beneficial in my classroom only after I modeled to my students what was expected and provided guided practice with such. The stories that were created before those expectations were set, during the introduction stage of the application, provided very little substance and creativity.  Thus, with every piece of technology we use in the classroom it is very important we provide students with an understanding of expectations they should be striving for when using such technology.  We can’t expect students know how to use such technology effectively and appropriately no matter how comfortable they seem when using the technology itself.

Storybird is a digital storytelling tool.  The tool allows students to create three different types of books, longform books (multiple chapters), picture books (basically one chapter with multiple pages), and poems (one image with writings).  Unlike other digital storytelling applications, Storybird allows their users to receive a final copy in a high resolution digital download, a soft cover book, and/or a hard cover book.  Whereas the soft and hard cover book cost money, users can earn “crowns” (digital token like things) to purchase a digital PDF copy.  Users can receive digital crowns by submitting work and winning challenge contests (different contests posed by the application), getting a work approved by a public library, and/or partaking in daily writing.  The daily writing is where my students earn their digital crowns, as all they have to do is log into Storybird and create/edit any of their writings.  It is a major incentive for students to earn the ability to “purchase” a digital PDF copy of one of their own creations by being creative writers!  Furthermore, students can “purchase” their fellow classmate’s creations as well if they wanted to!  

As the teacher I am able to set up a digital class through which students join by using a class code.  I do not have to worry about students coming across inappropriate material as there is a filter for students under sixth grade.  As students use different artwork within the application other students can get ideas and collaborate with each other all within the application.  All students’ creations are available inside the digital class allowing me to review and guide students with ease.  Visual learning tools in general provide students with a greater sense of involvement and overall engagement.  The general nature of creating visuals allows students to take pride in their work.  Furthermore, when combining visual media creation tools with web based applications students tend to put forth a more meaningful effort as they are aware their creations will be viewed by a large audience!  

Entering The Dark Side: Twitter Chats? LIS568

Well I have officially entered the “dark side” folks.  I have not only created a Twitter account, but I have also attended many Twitter chats!  I discussed Twitter in a broad sense in an earlier posting, however I wanted to give a more detailed look at the truly beneficial aspects of utilizing Twitter chats for professional development.  I have never had the urge to join Twitter, thus I just never did.  It could have been that I honestly felt it was completely useless to me personally and professionally.  However, through conversations with friends and colleagues I kept being introduced to many useful and beneficial functions of Twitter.  My biggest draws to Twitter were its, what seems like endless amount of, educational resources and the ability to essentially take part in professional development at a whim.  The following is a review of one of my first chats that I was a part of.

Some questions still existed though.  How can Twitter, a vast and diverse social media outlet, provide professional development for educators, and what kind of quality could it truly offer.  After I did some setting up and browsing, I was ready to put Twitter’s ability to provide professional development to the test.  Using a resource called Participate I was able to locate some Twitter chats.  Participate is a great website that provides its users with a very organized calendar with times that Twitter chats will be taking place.  Although, my first two attempts to join a chat were not successful, as nobody seemed to be active, by the third attempt I fortunately entered a lively and thriving discussion!  Organized by tweets (posts) being labeled with Q and A with their corresponding number (ex. Q1: or A2:), the Twitter chat was flowing basically like a normal conversation, but at a slower pace (typing instead of speaking) and with many active individuals (well over 10).  I was quite impressed with its simple yet effective organization.  A great feature was that there were two main users introducing/facilitating the new questions.  Questions were also tweeted earlier in the day, thus allowing individuals that planned to attend the chat to have the chance to review such thoughts.

Overall, the chat was very useful and extremely easy to be a part of.  I really enjoyed how Twitter limits the amount of characters one can use for each tweet.  I feel that such limitations truly provides users with more concise and to the point discussion.  Although, at times I did find myself having to look up some acronyms as users tried to limit their character usage.  With the slightly slower pace of conversation, I did not feel that this took away from my overall experience with the chat.  Where there were tons of useful content being shared, the overall acceptance that I felt into such a professional learning community (PLN) was quite impressive.  After all, this was my first time joining in on a community that seemed to have been meeting on the same day of the week (Wednesday) at the same time (8:00P.M. EST) consistently in the past.

I feel that the benefits educators can gain from taking part in Twitter chats certainly makes it a useful professional development tool.  Not only do users get exposed to relevant and rich information, but by using resources such as Participate users can pick and choose which chats they want to take part in.  Ultimately, allowing its users to easily be part of a diverse range of content areas.  I’m not sure how successful such professional development can be implemented at a district level, but on a personal level educators can surly reap in the benefits.  With such a networking opportunity being totally free, I feel it would be foolish to not take advantage of Twitter chats.  After all, isn't our main goal to provide our students with the best education that we possibly can?  Utilizing such an easy-to-use, yet extremely beneficial, tool seems like a very rational opportunity to take advantage of.

The Language of the Present and Future LIS568

Over the past months I have been exploring many different educational websites and apps with my students.  A website that I have found to be absolutely amazing in the classroom is Code.org.  This computer science website allows students to start to think like a software engineer, as users have the opportunity to code a vast amount of different applications.  I use this with my class during “morning work” time.  The time when students are settling into the building, signing up for lunches, listening to announcements, etc (I teach 4th grade).  Such time takes about 30 minutes each day, and I extend my morning work block an additional 20 minutes before we head to special.  This 50 minute block of time allows students to explore different applications, and if such applications seem sound I create an assignment that students work on for a couple of days before we move to the next website or app.  

With that said, Code.org offers so much for educators and the students.  More importantly, I have not come across anything that has cost money yet on the website!  The website is very vast, as it offers random game coding and modification to very structured courses with many lessons that build off of each other.  The resource even offers printable lesson plans that include lessons that are done offline as well (unplugged).  As an educator, you are able to create a virtual classroom in which you can assign specific lessons to your class.  Students can easily join your class by entering the login information on their end.  My students have access to one-to-one iPads, thus implementing such practices is very easy.  However, if you have computer labs or other means of digital devices that connect to the internet you can very easily implement such practices as well.  I really like the different hour of code courses built within the application, as they are structured lessons that build off of each other but not as long as the grade specific material.  Furthermore, the grade specific courses are great if you plan to utilize the application for an extended time as there is a culminating piece which students would love to reach and accomplish.  Both the hour of code and the grade specific material provides a very easy tracking method on each individual student’s progress if assigned through the virtual classroom function.  I really like how the website allows me to set up a classroom with each one of my students easily able to join.  I think it is important to note that the website runs very smoothly and works well on multiple platforms.

My students’ first experience with the website proved its benefits.  The first time I introduced the website I allowed students to do whatever they wanted on it.  All of them chose to explore the game coding and the modification of already completed games allowing students to customize games such as Flappy Bird.  When students customize or build a specific game, such as Flappy Bird, off of a provided foundation they are able to test the game.  Thus, whatever code students write in is how the game performs.  Every student was thoroughly engaged in their coding!  My plan is to now assign the grade level specific courses to my class.  Such courses provides students with explanation videos and coding lessons that build off of each other.  I can even take an easy grade for the grade book, making sure students stay on the course track and don’t get lost in only customizing and playing games.  The culminating piece to the course is actually the building of a small open world game!  Technology within our society is advancing more and more each day, thus having a resource such as Code.org allows students to engage in what will certainly be an imperative field as they enter their college and career endeavors.  As stated by Hayden (2016), “Computer science education enhances our children’s ability to think, engages them with hands-on teamwork and prepares them for a successful future. Who are we to deny them the language their future will rely on?”

Reference

Hayden, E. (2016). Coding for kids: The benefits of starting computer science education young. Rasmussen College. Retrieved from http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/coding-for-kids/.

iMovie vs. ABCya Animate LIS568

Mobile video creation apps, such as iMovie and ABCya Animate, offer much benefit to the classroom.  Such apps offer a great tool for students to use in the fabrication of material that can be used for assessments and overall creation purposes.  Not only does student work turn out great with the use of video creation apps, but students absolutely love creating material on such apps.  Integrating the use of iMovie, ABCya Animate, or any other video creation app can be as simple as just allowing students to use such an app in their next summative assessment.  I tend to be on the more guided inquiry and project basedlearning side of pedagogical approaches these days, thus utilizing such apps is very easy as students do a lot of presenting their findings.  Not only are video creation apps a good summative assessment, but they are also great formative assessments throughout the inquiry as well!  In the following I will discuss iMovie and ABCya Animate by providing and comparing general information and possible classroom uses of both.

iMovie was launched in October of 1999 and offers its users many functions, such as editing pre-made videos, using special effects, supported on multiple platforms, green screen capabilities, multiple track editing, and its user is able to export completed videos.  ABCya Animate, launched in August of 2013, lets students’ creativity run wild with up to 100 stop motion slides that be customize by drawing or using the embedded media.  The app also is supported on multiple platforms, uses in app media only, and its user is able to export finished videos as well.  iMovie allows iOS users on desktop, iPhone, and iPad platforms to produce high quality videos.  By importing media from external sources or using the automatically synced camera roll media, users are able to create highly customizable videos. iMovie can be confusing to users initially if they have had no training.  On the other hand, ABCya Animate is a very easy to use stop motion animation creator that is available to iPad users as well as Web users.  Users have the option to import background images, however users must use the available media embedded within the tool.  Users will not need prior knowledge on the tool’s function, as ABCya Animate presents a very simplistic approach.

In terms of classroom use iMovie allows students to create engaging presentations, as it also offers built in functions such as a movie trailer template.  The app provides allows students to be digital storytellers, and provides an out-of-school experience with imported media and/or green  features.  ABCya Animate allows students to retell and create stories, as well as demonstrate diverse understandings through stop motion creations.  The app can be accessed via the web and is free, as it also allows students to receive an out-of-school experience with importing background images.  Whereas iMovie is geared more towards upper elementary to upper secondary education, ABCya Animate is geared towards the primary grades.  Although, I can see older students benefiting and enjoying ABCya Animate as well.  Although iMovie poses a slightly greater challenge than ABCya Animate, the quality of iMovie’s final product and overall customizable functions makes it a valuable tool to use with students.

Photos For Class vs. Pixabay LIS568

The term “Google it” is by far a way too popular practice amongst our students and our overall society.  The issue with simply “Googling it” can be understood through Scheeren’s (2015) discussion regarding the internet.  He states, “The nature of the Internet as an unmediated network has resulted in large numbers of webpages with invalid, incorrect, or biased information” (p. 11).  This understanding certainly exemplifies the need for aspects of education that focus on overall digital literacy and digital competence.  Built within this 21st century knowledge is digital citizenship. Educator and author Mike Ribble explains digital citizenship as, “…a concept, which helps teachers, technology leaders, and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately” (Hollandsworth. Dowdy, & Donovan, 2011, p. 38).  Within digital citizenship comes a students’ responsibility to give credit to material that is used for work but not created by the student.  For example, an image used for a presentation.  Many times students simply do an image search on Google for whatever they are looking for and use whatever image they like without thinking twice about it.  Such a mindset is one that is present within a student before they are taught about digital citizenship and copyright laws.  With that said, creating a citation for every image used off of Google Images can certainly be daunting.  Thus, I present you two resources that are backed by Creative Commons, allowing its users to search and use material found on their website without the worry of copyright laws, Photos For Class and Pixabay.

Photos For Class allows its users to safely search for photos through its “classroom in mind” filter system. Other than being extremely safe, there are no other filtering options. Photos must be downloaded, however each downloaded photo has citation information embedded below the image.  Photos For Class is extremely easy to navigate, and it has learning opportunities within the website.  The resource provides students with information on how to cite, why it is important to cite, and the different licenses types.  Students can find photos for projects and presentations, easily download from the website, obtain photos with embedded citations below each downloaded photo, and have accurate citations under Creative Commons licensing.  

Pixabay allows its users to search for free of copyright photos, vector graphics, illustrations, and videos.  Although there is a safe search function, it takes a little searching to find it from the home screen.  Filter media by type, orientation, category, dimensions, and color.  Once a piece of media is selected users have the option to download, like, save to favorites, share, and find related media.  Pixabay offers very high quality photos as well as offers a social media side to the application with the share and like functions available.  The resource can be used in 26 different languages, thus the social media side can provide a cross-cultural aspect to your students’ education.  Students can easily download media on Android, IOS, and the web in four different sizes.  However, it is critical that you turn safe search on for students, especially those in the younger grades.  Pixabay offers all of their media free of copyright as they are backed by Creative Commons licensing.

Although Photos For Class provides and extremely safe search, Pixabay’s diverse options provide a much more valuable asset in the classroom for both students and educators.

Happy Teaching!

References

Hollandsworth, Randy, Lena Dowdy, and Judy Donovan. (2011). “Digital Citizenship in K-12: It Takes a Village” Tech Trends.  55(4) 37-47.

Scheeren, William O. (2015) Technology Handbook for School Librarians. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited.