Digital Story
http://pixton.com/ca/comic/n0m8urke/new
Use the link above to remix this comic.
This was tough. No question about it. After much deliberation I decided to use Pixton, a comic creation program to give a brief history of my life. I came to this conclusion almost by default. I must have looked at 30-40 of the 50 recommended social media tools before my decision. This program spoke to me through its overall ease of use and refinement. It reminded me a little bit of the older comic life program for Apple computers, but with more features. Great for the age groups I work with.
It’s tricky to fit everything I wanted into a short story so I had to synthesize my ideas to the most basic form, by creating an individual introduction for a class. It took me a while to decide how to tell my brief story. How much should I include about myself? What would students relate to? I chose this story and technology because it would make an excellent icebreaker for pretty much any class, online or offline. I added a feature at the end of the comic to allow my story to be remixed. You do have to log on to Pixton to use this feature. The remix is a new form of art that we need to be aware of. In my experience, students love to take previously constructed work and deconstruct them in a way that they can relate to. This is not a new construct and has been seen in many different forms of academic and cart throughout the years. However the ‘mash-up’ is currently undergoing a renaissance of sorts due to modern technology. “Artistic and scholarly works build on the work of others. Yet the technology developments of the past century have clearly corresponded with a new attitude toward the “aura” associated with a work of invention and with more aggressive attitudes toward appropriation (Lamb).”
“Web 2.0’s lowered barrier to entry may influence a variety of cultural forms with powerful implications for education, from storytelling to classroom teaching to individual learning (Alexander, P.42).” This can be beneficial because it means that anyone can be involved in the creation of modern academic and creative lessons. However, one thing that disappointed me about many of the social media programs was the cost. This can create barriers for certain students if not dealt with in a careful manor. Initially I wanted to create my story using Xtranormal, which I have used in the past in schools to create a historical story for my ancient civilizations class. However most of the movie packs now cost money to download, which was disappointing. Pixton wasn’t that much different. I was able to create a suitable comic. However. My main critiques were that the backgrounds and characters were limited, and one needed to use credits to purchase extra accessories for their comics. I would still use this program in schools, but would not allow students to purchase any accessories or icons.
There are limitations to using storytelling as an academic tool. I don’t believe that all stories need to be told. Often students have trouble differentiating between what is important in research and in writing skills in general. We need to make sure that there are strict guidelines that help to guide the students in their story writing to make sure that they do not work aimlessly. They need to reach and achieve set educational guidelines and requirements to make storytelling activities worthwhile.
Works Cited
Alexander, B. (2006) Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning? EDUCAUSE Review, 41(2), 34-44. Accessed online 2 March 2009. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0621.pdf
Lamb, B. (2007). Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix. EDUCAUSE Review, 42(4, July/August), 12–25. Accessed online March 9 2009 http://www.educause.edu/ER/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume42/DrMashuporWhyEducatorsShouldLe/161747