EduThoughts

When I was thinking about how to do this digital story, my first instinct was to ‘go with what you know’. I had recently been exploring the slide show programs Animoto and One True Media and I thought that I would go with one of those since I was already comfortable using them. But, as I was creating the story of Marvin, I felt that it needed to be told in a different way. This story was more text based and, although I could translate it into a mostly picture form, it seemed to flow best when it was read. So, I decided to go in a different direction. I hadn’t explored the storybook layouts much and, from what I saw on Alan Levine’s 50+ Web 2.0 ways to Tell a Story, the storybook layout was fun and allowed me to include more text. I chose the Tikatok storybook creation tool in particular because I liked the control that it gave me over layout and positioning of text and pictures. I would have liked to be able to include video into the pages as well but I understand that the site is set up to allow for publishing of hard-copy books and video won’t work for that purpose.

Since I teach story writing in my class, I could see myself using Tikatok as a way to help students understand the elements of storytelling. It is very easy to use and its story prompts and pre-formatted stories help students to create a story with a beginning, middle and an end.  The storybook layout also encourages students to think about how to relate pictures with words. I like that it provides stock image options so that kids don’t get bogged down in searching for the perfect picture to compliment their writing. I see this as a motivational tool that will help with learning story structure and allow every child to have a polished finished product that they can be proud of.

Tikatok is meant to be used by teachers in the classroom so it allows a teacher to set up connected student accounts and has detailed information in the form of video and printouts for kids to follow while creating their stories. This, coupled with the intuitive nature of the software, means that the focus can be on the process of writing the story, not the process of learning the program.

There was one thing that I was bothered by about Tikatok. The site says that you can embed and share the online storybooks but it wasn’t clear how to do that without paying for them. When I tried to share my story, I was directed to a page where they verified my account. The verification process required me to input my credit card number and it cost me a dollar. I wasn’t comfortable with that but I had already created my story so I decided to do it. I would, however, need to be very clear on any charges involved before I decided to use this site with my students.

Posting into a Wiki is quite different from posting into a discussion form because the collaborator themselves control the shape and format of the discussion. Unlike a discussion form, where there is a set structure, wiki collaborators can choose to have their own separate comments or they can change each others work to create a blending of ideas that resonate with the understanding of the group as a whole.

I really like this kind of collaboration because it creates a true community of practice where everyone has a chance to have their say. There are some drawbacks to working in a wiki, however. When we put our ideas into a wiki, we are opening up both our writing and our understanding of the world not only to other eyes, but to other writers. Since we all feel some degree of ownership towards our thoughts, ideas, and writing style, it is sometimes very difficult to put up something that you worked hard on and watch it be changed, and thus indirectly critiqued, by other people. In order to work effectively in a wiki, it is important to understand this feeling of ownership and to accept that your work will be changed. That initial acceptance avoids anger and hurt feelings later. I always take this into account before I change another person’s work, especially in an academic setting where people sometimes feel very proud and protective of their ideas. I did notice that in the class wiki that we used for this exercise, most people claimed their ideas by putting their name after their work. I’m not sure if that’s an example of ownership of thoughts, a way to show that they participated in order to receive class credit, or a common convention when doing wikis for educational purposes. I think I’ll have to keep this in mind and observe other wikis to figure out my answer.

I first started using blogs through my MET courses.  I had heard about them before, of course, but I hadn’t really paid too much attention.  I would look through a blog if it came up on a search engine when I was looking for a particular topic but, other than that, I mostly ignored them.  The first blog that I contributed to was the ETEC 540 blog.  In the beginning of the course, I enjoyed the blog format but, as more information was posted on the blog site, I found it more and more difficult to find particular posts and bits of information that I wanted to review.  Grouping the posts into categories helped, but there were still so many different people posting in on a single category that individual posts could get lost in the large amounts of information.  I found that I preferred the threaded discussion forms in Vista where everything was organized into headings that could be expanded to be read.  I still haven’t found a satisfactory method to sort through the large assortment of information that builds up on shared blogs.

I have noticed a difference now that I have my own blog, however.  I think that, since only I am doing the main posts, there is not as much content and I can see it a bit more clearly.  I also like sorting the posts into pages.  That makes sense to me and I can see all of the different tabs on the top of the page.   Using the RSS feed also makes sense to me.  I can see headings showing recent changes and I can choose which of these to click on.  That one click will take me directly to the particular post that I am looking for.

When going through some of the blogs suggested in the elearning toolkit, the first thing that I noticed was how distracted I was by advertisements, many contrasting colour sections, and long lists of text.    I understand why they are there but it takes my focus away from the content.  An example of what I mean can be seen here.

I also noticed how much I am attracted to clean colour schemes and posts with multimedia that is on topic.  I found that I enjoyed the blogs that broke up the text with pictures and videos.  Here’s one that I liked.

I have used Wikis a great deal in the past to collaborate both in a synchronous and an asynchronous manner.  I love using Wiki’s.  In the past, I have used them to work with groups to create many wonderful projects and papers for the MET program, including the group rubric project for this particular course.  In those instances, my groups have made use of the chat feature in Google Docs to have discussions and write collaboratively.  I have found this to be a really great way to write.  It’s really useful to be able to have a space to work together and create something that incorporates ideas from several different people.  I have also had the chance to contribute to the ETEC 510 wiki.  I contributed to the digital storytelling page of the wiki.  That was a bit of a different experience that a Google Doc group project because even though I wasn’t communicating directly with the other authors, I still needed to reorganize and change their writing.  At first, I found myself reluctant to make changes without their direct approval but I soon realized that commenting in the discussion section of the page gave me a place where I could explain my rationale for the changes.  The discussion page made me really think before making any changes.  I needed to make sure that I could explain to the world why the change that I made improved the information and aesthetics of the page.   As I am posting this blog entry, my rationale is still currently on the digital storytelling website.  Feel free to take a peek by clicking here.  I didn’t find either Google Docs or the UBC wiki difficult to use.  Google docs uses a format similar to Word so it is really simple to create documents.  I have noticed, however, that the formatting is usually off so the final product has to be edited and refined in word before it can be passed in.  The UBC wiki has the option to use a WYSIWYG editor or to insert your own HTML.  I found both options very simple to use.  In fact, I very much enjoyed editing and changing the Digital Storytelling wiki and the Google Docs projects.  It’s great to be able to create a great product through working with others 🙂

Picture used under open source lisencing

The most difficult part of following the Moodle tutorial for me was the logging in.  Once Mr. Egan deleted an old account under my name, I had no problems accessing the site and getting started.  The Moodle tutorial that I followed was straightforward and simple.  I didn’t have any trouble adding a trial resource and creating a discussion board, all I had to do was follow the directions.   I was impressed with the ease of the built in text and web page editors.  They were a lot like others that I have used so I can comfortably transfer my prior knowledge to the new context.  I do think that there is much more to creating my Moodle site than just following the listed step by step directions.  I will need to practice using the editing tools in Moodle until I become more comfortable with them, figure out how to customize my page, and create a good plan for the content of my page.   After all, a great looking Moodle platform is nothing until it contains material worth learning and teaching.

Hi, and welcome to my blog for 565A.  For some reason,  my favourite poem has been in my head all morning and I wanted to share it.  The poem is “The road not taken” by Robert Frost.  I’m sure most of you know the end of the famous last stanza:

“Two roads diverged                           in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Photo by ReneS

When I learned this poem in school, it stuck with me and has served as a metaphor for many parts of my life.  Sometimes I take the less traveled and sometimes the well worn route.  But whichever way I go, I know that I am making my own choices and going the way that seems right for me at the time.  I’m happy to be part of this course because I think that it will allow me the freedom to follow the educational path that is best for me, the one that I need to be on at the moment.  So, happy travels everyone, I look forward to meeting up with you on our learning paths.