My story is based around an intern’s reflections on her internship experiences, and has been created using Levine’s (2010) 1-2-3 process of outline, media search, and tool choice.
I outlined and then wrote the story script based around best-practices guidelines in two internship handbooks (Bellevue College, n.d.; Brigham Young University, 2013), as well an online article Unexpected Challenges Found in an Internship: How to Solve Problems that May Crop Up (Loretto, 2014).
Next, I began to search for media to illustrate my story. The decision to use an image-slideshow video format was based on best-practices suggestions from Cianciolo, Prevou, Cianciolo and Morris (2007) who have explored storytelling in military professional settings, which is my primary area of interest for ETEC565a. This pedagogical choice is suggested for stories that take place over a time and are not predominantly focused on an emotional exchange.
Still images in my story were acquired from stock.xching, the usage restrictions of which state:
You may use the Image
In digital format on websites, multimedia presentations, broadcast film and video, cell phones.
One stock image from stock.xching used in my story had additional restrictions: 3d maze 2 by user svilen001, who upon contact asked me to include a clickable link on my blog to his website, http://www.efffective.com
After locating prospective illustrative images, I tested four online software-as-service tools, experimenting with OneTrueMedia, Empressr, and WeVideo; before finally settling on Creaza. Overall,I found that the Creaza video editing tool was the most responsive and intuitive, and that is the reason I chose it over the others.
Creaza is a powerful and comprehensive digital storytelling suite, with a variety of themes and options available including video, audio, comic creation and mindmapping; many of which can be utilized within the platform to mash up existing services. The clips included in my digital story comes from within the Creaza suite. I experienced some difficulties with some of the site functionality, for example, there were various problems related to uploading audio files. At the moment the quality of my audio narration leaves something to be desired, but the Creaza technical support team has been quick to respond and very helpful, which I consider to be another layer of this project for my personal learning! I hope that over the next few days, the audio issues will be solved.
References
Bellevue College, n.d. Academic internship program handbook. Bellevue, Washington: Bellevue College, Retrieved March 15, 2014, from http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/internships/doc/BC%20Internship%20Program%20-%20Handbook.pdf
Brigham Young University, 2013. Internship guidelines. Department of Communications, Brigham Young University. Retrieved March 15, 2014, from http://cfac.byu.edu/comms/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/COM-2013-03-13-09-Department-of-Communications-Internship-Guidelines.pdf
Cianciolo, A.T., Prevou, M., Cianciolo, D., Morris, R. (2007). Using digital storytelling to stimulate discussion in Army professional forums. Paper presented at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). National Defense Industrial Association. (pp. 1-12). Retrieved online, March 04, 2014, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.113.3853&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Levine, A. (2010). “50+ Ways Home.” Retrieved online, March 14, from http://50ways.wikispaces.com/
Loretto, P. (2014). How to Face Internship Challenges – What if Your Internship is Not What You Expected? Retrieved March 15, 2014 from http://internships.about.com/od/internshiptip1/a/internshipchallenges.htm
