as yvonne applies learning technologies…

Link to my storytelling page to view my story – created in Joggle.

Why did you choose this particular tool? I wanted to use a slideshow tool that afforded voice over narration, subtitles and the use of my own images from my computer (without the need to upload to flickr, picasa etc)

How did the tool impact the manner in which you told your story? Initially, prior to figuring out how to create the voice over narration, I used captions to tell the story. It was quite text heavy and not what I had in mind. One I created a sound track (using garage band) and imported the mp3, I was able to delete a great deal of text and leave only the captions introducing the various sea creatures. While this was more in keeping with my goal and with what I know about good presentation (text plus voice plus pictures is not necessarily the best formula for learning – too distracting) the project would have been more effective and much easier to complete using iMovie instead.

How might you use such tools in your own teaching to produce materials for students? Because I teach young children, I would likely provide one tool for a specific task – one that could easily be accomplished by the students using the tool provided – to minimize the frustration. I would likely also do a few whole group stories using a projector. Once the students had explored a few different tools,  I would provide them with more personal choice for a creative project. This is much the same as I would do with non-web 2.0 tools (ie desktop applications).

What kind of impact would you expect to see in your students? I think my students would be highly motivated by the opportunity to create online. I definitely see the benefit of the instant accessibility of their projects on line. With most of the desktop apps we use, it’s up to me to share out their projects due to the number of steps in the process and the fact that most of my students do not have personal webpages. With the cloud computing apps, they can simply send a link to the site where they created their work – instantly sharing it with their family and friends.