For my Rip, Mix, Feed I wanted to explore tech that would allow me to create and tell a story digitally. The more I thought about this, the more I realized it would give me a chance to observed my own kids interacting with technology within the sphere of my own teaching subject, English.
Ultimately, what I hoped for was insight into what sort of cognitive and technological processes are at play when considering telling a story like this. One major affordance for using technology like this was the engagement my kids showed, as well as their meticulous consideration for the various details of the creation process. As well, the level of pride and ownership my kids have shown in this project supersedes that of many of my students at school.
A potential drawback to re-creating this particular learning experience would be the resources involved. I would need to source out a platform as robust and versatile as Minecraft, as well as screen capture and editing software that was cheap and easy to use. If I invested the time to research, and had a little bit of money, I think I could make a project like this work, but I think I would need to stay flexible and open-ended with timelines, as there were multiple literacies used in this collaborative effort. Without the pre-existing literacies between myself and my boys, this project could easily have taken the whole summer.
Anyways, enjoy! And please read through the description section for credits and dedications. Camtasia wouldn’t show my final frames 🙁
