Digital Storytelling for All

Digital storytelling is a way to tell a story or present information for others using computers-based tools and programs.  It is truly an art form that opens doors for educators to present material to students.  Before researching digital storytelling, my experience with it was close to none.  I have never heard of it or used it in my classroom.  After reading about the different ways educators can use media to tell a story I am wondering why I haven’t used it before!  The University of Houston’s website on digital storytelling gives a direct definition and examples of digital storytelling.  I loved the idea of using these digital stories to “hook” students for a new unit or even assign students to create a digital story as they reflect on their own learning. 

As I was researching I found two factors that seem to be the most important as we begin our journey into digital storytelling: following copyright laws and how to use digital stories.

Copyright (cue Jaws theme song...)

Throughout our program we have been prepared for one of the biggest parts of our job as a media specialist, the copyright liaison.  From most of us already being in the classroom, we know that many teachers do not honor copyright laws or are even aware of them.  As we begin using more and more technology in our lessons, it has become evident that copyright laws need to be followed.  Being the media specialist, we are responsible for presenting these laws to our colleagues and making ourselves available to help answer questions (or find answers to questions we may not know, because really, who knows everything about copyright!?).  Even after reading about Fair Use I am weary about using some media in my own educational work.  Creating a digital story opens up a whole new can of worms when it comes to copyright and Fair Use.  After reading about the laws and tips on the University of Houston’s website, I came to the conclusion of three important parts when using media in digital stories:

1. Try to find media that is public domain (creative commons anyone?)

2. Remember to cite EVERYTHING and make notes of media that you may change for your story.

3. Only make it available to those using it for educational purposes.  No posting onto an open website without the permission of the material’s owner.

Whew…copyright is exhausting.  Now for the fun part of digital storytelling.

How You Can Use It

Digital storytelling is a way to present ideas through using multimedia tools.  Stories work around a central theme that “tells the story”.  Because they are used in education and (we all know how long an attention span of a student can last) digital stories should stay within the 2-10 minute time span.  Although short, digital stories can be very powerful tools involving images, videos, audio narration, music, and text.  They can be used by the teacher to present material to students or as an assignment for students to present information they have learned.

The following are some suggestions on using digital stories in the media center or classroom:

-          Used as a hook for the students in a new lesson or unit.

-          Book review from a character’s perspective.

-          Exploration of a different culture or region; a look into another way of life.

-          Narrative on a personal experience or journey.

-          Informational story of a new concept or idea.

-          Timeline of an important event(s) in history.

-          Interview of a significant or historical person.

All this talk about digital storytelling has made me so excited to start one that I can’t decide where to begin!  I’ll definitely visit these sites below for more guidance and information:

University of Houston's Digital Storytelling Site

DigiStories

Creative Commons

You've Got a Story? We've got Digital Tools for Telling.

Digital storytelling can seem a little overwhelming.  It was for me when I watched Daniel Meadows' digital story at http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/index.html.  I thought, "Wow, he has a lot going on in that story. Look at all those video clips."  But then I started thinking..."This guy is the top of the class in digital storytelling. Maybe it won't seem so scary if I find a couple of teachers' and students' digital stories. I know I can do this."  Sure enough, when I started looking at other examples, it wasn't nearly so scary.  I especially liked the link I found under Examples...ESL.  From there, I looked at Ms. Rodriguez's Spanish Classes (http://www.marlboro.k12.nj.us/webpages/nrodriguez/examen.cfm) digital stories.  These middle school students are telling their own little stories, using a Spanish script.  Pretty cool way to actually use the spoken word, some creativity, and tech skills. I'm sure the kids really liked it. Now these examples did not use all of the elements that I have seen in the various definitions of DS: they "usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music".  The Spanish examples contained 3 of those 5 elements, but not video clips or music.  I guess what I can learn from this is that in an educational situation, I can begin using DS with students without having to be as good as Daniel Meadows.

The University of Houston tweaked the  7 Essentials of Digital Storytelling from The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) in Berkeley, California to apply more directly to educational use of DS.

Their 10 criteria are as follows:
  1. The Overall Purpose of the Story
  2. The Narrator’s Point of View
  3. A Dramatic Question or Questions
  4. The Choice of Content
  5. Clarity of Voice
  6. Pacing of the Narrative
  7. Use of a Meaningful Audio Soundtrack
  8. Quality of the Images, Video & other Multimedia Elements
  9. Economy of the Story Detail
  10. Good Grammar and Language Usage


That's a lot to consider, but I am not afraid to start somewhere.  

One consideration when making digital stories is maintaining copyright and fair use.  Fair Use seems to give teachers and students a considerable amount of leeway in using pictures and sound they find on the internet.  The main "no-no", as far as I can tell, is publishing work on the internet if it contains elements that are copyrighted and for which permission was not sought to use them.  So, be careful posting to your class webpage!  There is a lot that you can do within digital story telling that does not infringe on the law, as long as people who view it are doing so for educational purposes, so restrict access to places where the viewing purpose is educational.

It is important to consider that many digital stories do not include copyrighted elements, and therefore can be posted as the author wishes.  There are also many options for music and pictures that are free to be used as you wish, so long as you don't take credit for the original works.

One of the most helpful resources I found is the Digital Storytelling Guide by Silvia R. Tolisano, in which she details how to use several programs for digital storytelling: Audacity, Wordle, GoogleMaps,  Photostory, Mixbook, Voicethread (My favorite), and MovieMaker.

Here's the link to that instructional gem, as well as links to her students' examples of the use of them.

http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Digital-Storytelling-Guide-by-Silvia-Rosenthal-Tolisano.pdf

 





















 

Technology Training 101

The technology skills in my school are all over the place.  Skills vary from those teachers that can barely turn on and logon to their computers to those that try to “teach” the technology staff.  I am sure this is true with most schools, but this is my first year at this school and the gap in abilities seems to be greater than other places I have been.  I had a teacher come in the other day to ask for my help that was using copies of copies of tests that were actually typed on a TYPEWRITER!!!  AND, he was quite resistant when I asked if I could type them over for him and scan them as a PDF and email to him.  He had this frightened look on his face that I was about to take him to a strange place that he knew nothing about!  In the end he was happy but still reluctant to change.  On the other hand we have a department head that is so tech savvy (or wants to be and thinks he is) that his entire class is online-I’m not even sure he lectures in person-he may podcast himself!  Our county is extremely forward thinking when it comes to technology and opportunities for teachers, but none of it is mandatory and therefore some teachers stay in their own little world and do not change things from year to year at all.  We also have some teachers that know enough to be dangerous but genuinely want to know how to use new things and integrate technology into their curriculum.

Currently, almost all of our staff development in technology is provided by our county office.  Staff members have to sign-up to take the classes on the county website through PDExpress.  Some classes are offered after school and some are offered during the school day so you have to take professional leave to attend.  Some of the classes that are currently offered are:

-BYLD (Bring Your Learning Device): Tools of the Trade

-Adobe Pro

-Excel Workshop

-SmartBoard 101 & 102

-Moodle

-Web 2.0

-Promethean 101 & 102

-OAS (Online Assessment System)

-Google 101

-Digital Citizenship

Several others are offered as short courses that you can take on the same day such as Ipad, Blogging, Digital Storytelling, Movie Making, Tagxedo, Webquest, and Wiki 101.

As I said before, we are fortunate that we have the training available but I think that there should be some way to make more of it mandatory.  Sometimes people need a little push to try something new and if the district made more of it mandatory that just might be what some need. 

As media specialists we are not “required” to host any professional development but we certainly can if we want and that is something that we are working toward.  This being the first year for both of us, we are trying to get our feet wet before jumping all the way in!!  When we do get to that point, I would like to go the route of making podcasts or recordings so that teachers could utilize them when needed and on their own time schedule.  One of the drawbacks that I find with certain professional development classes is that they are drawn out in order to meet the requirements for a full-day.  I would like to do short ones that give a lot of information that can be accessed at any time by the teacher.  If it is in podcast form, even if there is a large amount of information, it can be stopped and started by the teacher as they go.  So, I suppose my main DON’T is:  Don’t waste teachers valuable time with activities and fluff just to get the hours!

The school that I work in just had a video distribution system installed. We are still learning the basics but we actually got to use it for the second time today. It is called Media Cast. I think this resource is GREAT. Our Media Specialist is still learning the basics on how to operate everything but we are learning together.

 

This Media Cast programs allows us to show videos that each class can view at the same time. This is very beneficial since most of the grade levels follow the same schedule.  We have 2 different channels so two videos can be played at one time. In the Media Center there is a daily signup sheet and you can sign up for the time and channel and the name of the educational video or reward video you would like to play.

 

Each teacher also has access to a discovery streaming account. We learned about how to use this in a professional development. This is a huge benefit to the classroom. It has a lot of resources such as video clips, clip arts, video extensions and much more. It is very user friendly and you can sort your search result based on age appropriateness.

 

At the school I used to teach out they did morning announcements through the video distribution system. The media specialist created a club of students that helped her do the announcements each morning. I really liked this idea because the kids had something to focus on. Sometimes I feel like my kindergarteners get lost when the verbal announcements are on.  After speaking with my Media Specialist she felt like she was going to implement a plan to get a morning announcement over Media Cast by the end of this year or for sure next year.

Video Distribution 101... and GPB

My school, Riverside Primary, does a daily morning announcements over our video distribution system.  The LMS coaches 4 students as anchors with a daily script for a month at a time, and each class gets to have 2 anchors at some point during the year.

My LMS gave me a tour today of the video distribution system. Apparently, the "big black box" is called a Head End Unit?  In the past, we had several cable channels available in our classroom, including PBS, ABC, Disney, and some others, but last year, the county apparently went to digital services, and our unit is analog, so they are not compatible, and now we get no channels.  And apparently the unit is very expensive to replace, but at some point, it will become too outdated (it already is) and have to be replaced. We usually only watch a few whole-school streamed events each year: Polar Express, an MLK video, and Dr Suess movies at his birthday event.

We have 4 school studio inputs, 2 of which are connected to VCRs and two are connected to VCR/DVD combos.  We user to have a mixer, which allowed quick at a button switching between computer images, the 2 video cameras, and the DVD, but it was destroyed in a lightning storm, and was expensive, and has not been replaced, so now switching between different media is a little more awkward.  That is the extent of our news room.
 
As I said, we used to have PBS on our system, but no more.  Some classroom teachers routinely use United Streaming (Discovery Education), though a lot of the material is a little over the heads of our primary kiddos....

How Can Social Media Work For You?

Social Media Networking has become a phenomenon that is hard to avoid.  Whether through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, My Space, Pinterest, or Linked In, social networking is quickly becoming a daily way to communicate with others.  Social media networking is a trend that has grown exponentially over the past few years with people of all ages using these resources.   More than just a platform for entertainment, media specialist and educators around the world are tapping into this research to promote learning.  If you are thinking social media networking is just what your school needs to promote new books, programs, or events, there are several steps that may need to happen before you can get started.

The first step to consider is your school’s internet filtering.  Some schools have the filter set to the highest restricted level and most (if not all) social media programs will not be able to be accessed from school.  Contact your school technology liaison to find out how you can get your site approved for use at school.  Some restrictions may apply to the ages of the students using the site, teacher guidance, and permission from parents.  Once your site is approved remember to reinforce safe internet uses through programs and modeling.  Even though many students may already be using some of the social networking tools out there, we want to model and promote safe ways to use these sites.  Below is a great article with listings of websites for promoting safe internet use:

School Library Journal - Secure Social Networking

Schools are using social media for different reasons and with each reason; a different site might be used for promoting books than for discussion on math problem solving questions.  Depending on the needs of your school or media program, you may want to research a few different sites before you commit to the most popular one.  Below are some links to the more popular social media sites with suggestions for each:

Facebook and My Big Campus – (Middle to High School for Facebook/Elementary for My Big Campus) Great tool for promoting special events, new books, guest speakers, and club or committee information. 

Twitter – (Middle to High School) – Unique way to keep students involved in the happenings at the media center (new books, book talks, literary fact of the day).

Instagram – (Middle, High School or Teacher Resource) Post pictures of new books, changes in the media center, book clubs.

My Space – (High School) Involve music education with history and information of musicians.

Pinterest– Teacher Resource) Pin ideas for activities that meet standards.

And as always keep in mind ways to tie in our standards with each social media platform.  As our standards make the shift into Common Core, I am finding the big thing in common between the new standards is the requirement and emphasis placed on students explaining their thinking.    Continue to think about what sites promote discussion and collaboration as ways to help students not only explain their own thinking, but have opportunities to compare with other’s ideas.

References:
Junion-Metz, Gail. (2008). Secure social networking.  Retrieved October 20, 2012, from the School Library Journal site: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6574015.html?industryid=47060

Wieman, Roy. (n.d.). Social networking goes to school (image). Retrieved October 20, 2012, from
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/06/16/03networking.h03.html

Social Networking and School Library Media Centers

Social networking technologies have many positive uses in schools and libraries. They provide a great platform for teens to share what they are learning, ask questions or to work on a project together online.  Social networks allow teens to receive feedback from librarians, teachers, peers, parents, and others.

Teachers and media specialists have to work hard to integrate positive uses of social networking into their classrooms, programs, and services. By integrating social networking technologies into educational environments, students have the unique opportunity to learn from adults how to be safe and smart when using online social networks. They also learn a valuable life skill, as these social networking technologies are tools for communication that are widely used in colleges and in the workplace.

Social networking has become an essential tool in the classroom and the media center, however some teachers know about them but do not know how to use them.  As media specialists it is our “duty” to show them!  When I think about social networks I immediately think of Facebook and Twitter but there are so many others. 

The first that comes to mind is Edmodo.  Edmodo provides teachers and students a secure place to connect and collaborate, share content and educational applications, and access homework, grades, class discussions and notifications.  It is basically a Facebook page for your classroom.  Students love it and respond very well.  Also, they almost feel like they are “getting away with something” because they have been blocked from things for so long. 

Cel.ly.com is a platform of tools that helps the teacher with classroom communication.  The teacher creates “cells” that connect students.  The cells can be study groups, teams, for field trips, for polling, reminders, interactive walls, feedback, notes, and class news.  It turns your classroom into a private communication network. 

Wiggio.com is a free online toolkit that teachers can use to help students work in groups. You can host virtual meetings and conference calls, make to do lists, send messages, poll groups, manage events and more.