As I mentioned in my video message posted in Connect, I have used a few other apps that can create digital stories but I decided to go with Videoscribe. The answer is simple, I am familiar with the app and I like the layout and tools that come along with it. I wanted to use something that was eye catching, engaging and fun to watch. I think the selling feature of this app is the hand that draws the images. You can select any image of your choice, and it automatically will draw a picture, with your eyes glued to the screen waiting to see what will appear. According to Bates (2014), if you just transfer the same teaching to a different medium, you wont achieve a different result. You need to adapt to the medium in order to be more effective. A clear example is in my digital story. If I was just lecturing on why students need to read and study Shakespeare, it might turn them away even more from reading his plays. If I used the same idea, but create a visual story on why students should read and study Shakespeare, it might capture their attention. I hope I did just that. I wanted to send a message on why we all need to read Shakespeare, not lecture to my students.
I used my digital story to introduce a unit on Macbeth that is now in my Moodle LMS course. I believe that by placing this digital story at the beginning of the unit, it will pique their interest even more allowing for more questions and discussions amongst them. Bates (2014) describes the use of video as a teaching tool to develop some of the higher level intellectual skills and some of the more practical skills in this digital-age. I hope I have created this with this video. Some of the questions I would have liked my students to think about before and after watching this video are: Why do we need to read and study Shakespeare in this day and age? I’m never going to use his language so why should I learn it? What will I gain from reading Shakespeare? Primarily Macbeth?
After completing my LMS content module, I feel pretty good about it. I found the introduction content module more challenging since I was creating everything from scratch. Once I had this up and running it was just a matter of organizing my ideas and creating my lessons. The few things I found to be challenging while completing my LMS course was the customized GUI, along with creating a group forum with at least two different groups. It was a matter of trial and error and reading up on how to create these. I wanted a mixture of formative and summative assessment throughout my course. According to Gibbs and Simpson (2005), formative assessment is in decline. It may be, but I do believe that it is in the best interest of the teacher and student to perform formative assessment since it allows us educators to determine where to go next in terms of pedagogy.
Bates, T. (2014).Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from: http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students` learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved from: http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf