Category Archives: D: Digital Story

Digital Story

Hi there,

Here is a link to my digital story for viewing. You can find my video reflection here. I’m sorry it’s late being posted. I didn’t realize people were linking them here as well. Also the embed function isn’t being reliable (though I fought to make sure everything worked on Moodle) so I’ll include links to the files on each subtitle.) This was intended to be a transmedia digital story, told over different forms of media with student participation at the end. It was supposed to be an introduction to the course.

Timmy’s Dilemma:

Commercial:

Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Sarah’s story:

What do you think? Will online learning work for you like it did for Timmy?

Cork Board

Digital story

Sorry, I did not think to post here, and only posted in Connect.

Every year, I great dulled eyed students already dreading the memorization and work to be completed in the grade 10 science class.  Truth be told, I teach a special branch of science, applied science, a more hands on approach to the traditional science.  Yet often the students are placed in my class because they failed “traditional” science;  so in short, I end up with people who are tired of science, who find it boring and have very little self confidence in the subject matter. While other teachers start the year running with the periodic table, I prefer to introduce the true nature of science to my students through a short mini lesson on anecdotes about science; what is currently going on, how science can save your life.  Obviously the examples usually turn around the funny, the weird and the impossible, yet it renews their intrigue for science.  The second class, students arrive smiling and have an ambition to learn.

Transferring my love of learning and of science to an online community is much more difficult than doing so in person. I wanted to come up with a way that I could still entertain the students and spark an interest.  Seeing as I did not want to simply record the lesson, I wanted to place it into a funny context of mad science, inspired by a student stating that I would make an awesome mad scientist (I am not too sure if it was a compliment but I will take it that way).  I did not want something cold or static; I wanted to create something that represented who I am. I also saw it fit to end the digital story with the poem that always adorns one of my class walls “Here’s to the Crazy ones”.  It sums up beautiful what I want students to take away from my course and from the education system in general; anyone can change the world and that you do not need to fit into a box to succeed.

I created the video using a combination of Powtoon and PowerPoint to animate and embed the pictures.  I also used capture.  The main issue that I had while making the video was the audio.  My apartment is currently situated between the elevator shaft and the ventilation system, needless to say my microphone picks up on the low rumble.  I used audacity to reduce the background noise as best as I could.

I truly enjoyed creating thsi digital story I hope that you will enjoy watching it.

Thank you

Danielle

More Challenges Than I’d Anticipated

This was an incredibly frustrating assignment. I love creating digital stories (for my own purposes) but for this assignment, there seemed to be no end to the challenges I encountered. I first used a tool that I have used before, but it was not a format that could be uploaded to the blog (or later to the Moodle). I then chose another online tool that I had never used before, but when the story was finally created (with all photos uploaded, and audio commentary provided) I found that that last step of posting it online could not be completed. A little online research indicated that this “glitch” had been occurring since 2013 and had not been addressed as far as I could tell.

I did contemplate creating a (paid) subscription to another DS tool, but decided against doing that on principle (since I wouldn’t be using it again in the near future).

I finally created a DS using PhotoPeach. While this tool was easy to use, there were some challenges. Once a story is created, any subsequent revisions did not show up in subsequent downloads. I had to completely erase the original story and create a new one to incorporate the changes I needed. This tool also included the option for audio, but in this case it was music that did not enhance the story in any way, so I decided not to use it.

On of the other roadblocks I encountered, had to do with the Moodle site. I spent time trying to upload the various DS I created onto the my Moodle site (to ensure there was compatibility). I was not able to upload any version of what I’d created to the site. I am hoping that I will be able to eventually do this eventually.

So what have I learned through this process? The answer is mostly a reinforcement of something I already know as an educator – be clear about the goal(s) of an assigned activity. If the goal is to have students learn about DS tools, then explicitly exploring the pros and cons of different tools is helpful. In this case, I have learned more about various tools through trial and error (but this could have been even more effective if a more collaborative approach to an assignment such as this had been taken). However, if the goal is to help students tell the story, then it is useful to have some vetted sites named specifically, ensuring that they are all compatible with other tech they have to interact with.  A final note – this activity could have been a much more enjoyable experience if I hadn’t encountered so many road blocks. It finally got to the point where I cared less about learning, and the product I was creating than just “getting the assignment done”. It reminds me to think about how I structure learning activities for students so that their stress level does not interfere with their learning.

Jo

 

My digital story – Intersex

I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was supposed to post my digital story here too. Here it is.

Intersex

I mentioned it in my video but I used Adobe Slate to make it. I found it really useful because:

  • it’s free!!!
  • it’s really easy to use
  • it fit well with my idea for a digital story

Hope you enjoy!

Digital Story

The target audience for my digital story includes parents of children with FASD, teachers, social workers and other professionals who support individuals with FASD,  and individuals with FASD. Initially, I wanted to present my digital story in an interactive timeline format, because the goal was to show how the FASD diagnostic process requires many specialists and steps. After looking at a number of timeline tools, I found that they were too linear, or too restrictive in other ways that did not allow me to show the “big picture” well. The “big picture” and interrelationships are an important components of understanding the assessment and diagnostic process. I considered using PowToons, but again, that was something that learners sit back and listen at a set pace.

I ended up creating an infographic using Canva, and adding the other digital media in using Thinglink. I used some graphics which are included in Canva, and the rest I’ve cited the sources and Creative Commons information. I like that learners can read the main text content, see visuals, but also explore and access more information, in an organic manner, and at their own pace. I thought that worked well with the content and audience for the digital story.

As far as content wanted to include some personal stories, balanced with expert advice so that the subject is examined from a wider perspective. I like the story-telling part as that really makes the facts, and information about FASD really understandable.

The only thing to know is that when a ThingLink graphic is embedded onto a WordPress or an HTML page, the user needs to scroll over the image to see the target interactive links on the image. But for some reason I could not embed the link to this WordPress post, so here is the link.

Digital Case Study of Pediatric Oral Care

I could not embed my video directly because the file size was too big.

So here is my link.

Tanya’s Digital Story

This is a fictional case study based on an actual oral-health emergency treated by one of our course authors (a Pedodontist). Normally, we present this case study in written form to our course participants. I made some changes to it and created a digital story in the hopes that it would bring the story to life a bit and put real faces to a significant health problem in our society – the lack of access to dental care.

Here is the link to my Digital Story video reflection.

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Here is my Assignment #3 Reflection:

For my Oral-Systemic Health course for Family Medicine residents, I decided to start with a Pediatric module (taught over 2 weeks) because pediatric oral conditions are a common issue faced by family physicians. Our authors had a few text-based case studies on this topic, but I found them to be a little flat; so, the idea of creating a digital case study intrigued me.

In Week 11 of our course, when choosing multimedia, we are asked to question: “What will this add to the learner experience”? (UBC, 2016, para. 4) Indeed, Siemens (2003) cautions that although many media formats are available, it is important to select something that will present the learning materials effectively and thus achieve the learning objectives. So, I had to consider, what will my learners be asked to do? The answer was simple: Use the course content to improve the health of their patients. Would a digital case study help them do this? Well, according to Alexander (2014), stories, unlike raw data or reports, “will have a far greater likelihood of emotional connection” (p. 92). I wanted a multimedia experience to help make the case study come up off the page and so increase the chance of having a real emotional impact.

Viewing a digital story may at first seem like a passive learning experience, but according to Nel, Dreyer and Carstens (2010), active learning happens when students are engaged with the content and can tie in their own life experiences to the material. I am hoping that this human-interest story is engaging and will challenge students to think of their own practice environment and whether or not they may have passed up opportunities to help patients like Mati (the girl in my story). If so, they would now have an engaging reason to learn about oral health, so that more children like Mati don’t fall through the cracks.

I considered several presentation technologies, including GoAnimate, PowToon, and Prezi. I decided against PowToon. Firstly, I had used it before and wanted to learn something new. The ISTE Standards – Teachers (2008) encourages educators to “design and develop digital-age learning experiences” (p. 1); if I was going to learn how to do that, I would need to increase my repertoire of digital-software tools. The second reason for rejecting PowToon, was a design choice: I found the built-in pacing a little too flamboyant my purposes of discussing a serious medical case. I’ve always wanted to try GoAnimate, but its cartoonish quality wouldn’t have set the tone that I wanted, either.

I have been curious about whiteboard presentation software, so I narrowed my choice to Prezi or VideoScribe. I had never used either, but I found that the constant movement of the Prezi videos made me a bit nauseous and lent too casual a feel to the learning environment. So, I went with Video Scribe which enabled more of a story-board feel but with the teaching-presence (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 1999) quality of a whiteboard presentation.

As I said in my discussion forum post, I ended up not liking the software. Despite having an excellent computer with a high-speed Ethernet connection, the software still froze frequently. Very few default settings could be changed, so everything had to be set manually. Publishing was very time consuming and had to be restarted many times due to website connection error, and in the end, I ended up with a huge file that could not be embedded within Moodle.

In choosing technology, I did not expect the Bates’ (2014) factors of ‘Ease of Use’ and ‘Costs’ to be an issue, but they were. I did not realize that VideoScribe was free to UBC students, so I ended up paying for a subscription. The cost of technology is actually one of factors prohibiting me from exploring new media. Most products come with free introductory subscriptions, but time provided is rarely enough to really work with the software. Consequently, the other cost factor – ‘Time’ comes into play, as does the ‘Ease of Use’ factor. Most of these technologies are easy for the learners but require a lot of instructor time.

This experience has taught me that even one piece of multimedia can lend a lot of quality to a course. Coates, James, and Baldwin (2005) point out that: “It is not the provision of features, but their uptake and use that really determines their education value” (p. 26). If one digital resource increases student engagement either intellectually or emotionally, then it adds value and becomes a purposeful learning activity.

I created my learning units in Articulate, a SCORM package with FLASH media. These units, originally created for another audience, in another platform, were modified to suit this course. I do agree with Boyes, Dowie and Rumzan (2005) when they state that many students enjoy media-intensive learning environments. Our department chose this technology precisely because we liked its dynamic appeal. Boyes, Dowie and Rumzan go on to praise FLASH technologies for “expand[ing] teaching options so that teachers are able to accommodate different student preferences” (p. 1). This technology can satisfy students who prefer to learn via text or audio and can also accommodate plenty of images, animation, and video for visual learners.

Many people when they think of dynamic, interactive learning only think of interaction between people, however, I really do appreciate the fact that Bates (2014) speaks of the importance of student interaction with the learning materials themselves. Creating quality learning resources can create “intense student interaction with learning resources [which] increases the time students spend on learning, which”, as Bates describes, “tends to lead to increased learning” (p. 288). Once students have worked through the content modules, they will still have a chance to negotiate their own meaning (Nel, Dryer, & Carstens, 2010) and find opportunities to integrate oral health into their practices through group discussions with others in the same type of practice environment as themselves.

 

References:

Alexander, B. (2014). Higher Education in 2014: Glimpsing the future. Educause Review, 4(5). Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/higher-education-2024-glimpsing-future?utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=Email+marketing&utm_campaign=EDUCAUSE

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. (Chapter 8). Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Boyes, J., Dowie, S., & Rumzan, I. (2005). Using the SECTIONS framework to evaluate flash media. Innovate Journal of Online Education, 2(1). Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.186.6505&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11(1), 19-36. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-teachers

Nel, C., Dreyer, C., & Carstens, W. A. M. (2010). Educational technologies: A classification and evaluation. Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 35(4), 238-258. Retrieved from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/tvl/article/download/53794/42346

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating media characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.htm

University of British Columbia. (2016). ETEC565A-65A: New Learning Space: Week 11: Multimedia. Retrieved from https://blogs.ubc.ca/ldash2015/lessons/week-11/

Digital Story

The link to my DS is YouTube Preview Image

I have made the digital story to support the theme of the LMS created for this term project. There are many ways to tell a story.

There are many reasons why stories are used.

In one sense a story is a journey that engages for the purpose of conveying some form of message.

It made the most sense to me to use this digital story opportunity to focus on:

  • the audience for this course – who were they? what would their main concerns be?
  • state a problem they may be experiencing – ‘doesn’t it make you crazy when . . . ‘
  • inform of some kind of solution or expertise,
  • clearly show the benefits of that solution,
  • invoke some kind of action from them – sign up now or act now

I wanted to keep it short. Most people don’t have time for epics, no matter how creative they are.

I wanted to keep it on topic. Keeping the content focused will help the viewer be convinced that the content is useful (or not) for them.

I also wanted it to be succinct. Conveying the essentials is both bait and net.  In this case, it communicates the message that, “You could have more of these helpful tidbits if you signed up for this course.”

To create this digital story I used the tool PowToon. I have never used anything like PowToon. Creating a “storyline” with animations, music, pictures, and text is very complicated. The more streamlined it looks, the more effort went into the product. Timing the text and movements of the characters is a trial and error process. Choosing music that doesn’t detract from the overall theme is time consuming. Selecting size of image or word that won’t over-power or weaken the message is daunting. Having the list from Mayer’s (2009) that was in the Bates (2014) article was very helpful to refer to.

I can see how having a team would enrich the content/message. I can also see how this type of tool can capture what scores of pages of text could not. I would like to see where else this would/could be effective. I would like to try other tools, to determine the effectiveness of the features that accompany them.

 

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework)

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed). New York: Cambridge University Press.

 

Wanted: Simple video editor

For my photo story, I am recounting, in French with English subtitles, a story of an epiphany I had while learning French a long time ago. This story goes well with my course about the French language, that is being taught in English.

I learned how to edit film the old-fashioned way at Ryerson University in 1997. I had filmed a silent B&W 8 MM movie, and used a viewfinder, and would edit by literally cutting out frames I didn’t want and then scotch taping together two clips after one had been taken out. For younger colleagues, you probably can’t even imagine this process, physical pieces of film hanging at the side with the editor at a viewfinder literally cutting and taping.

During the same education program, I learned where editing was going by learning Adobe Premier and Avid. A few years later I would use iMovie on my Mac. Today’s iMovie is nothing like that version that I used, and kept when newer versions came out until something overrode it and I couldn’t keep it any longer in a later OS. Maybe I’m a luddite, but I really miss having a linear timeline, where I could drop in layers of audio, stills, or video files, and be able to trim them in and out by dragging the length of the clip through time. I’ve spent the last couple of days looking for such software based on Yurkiw and Bates’ recommendations of media selection. I just downloaded an open source editor called Natron. At first my Mac wouldn’t let me open it because it’s not official and from the app store. Finally I overrode it, but it isn’t the simple timeline format I was seeking.

Basically, I have all my audio and video files in place. I’ve considered using iMovie and Explain Everything!, but grew frustrated at their limitations. iMovie doesn’t seem to let me build my movie from audio outward, that is, starting with my recording and then adding images. The audio clip gets cut to whatever length of images are there. E.E. won’t let me use pre-recorded audio, as far as I can tell.

It’s a bit crazy to think that, now, about a month from getting a Master’s degree in Education Technology, that I still find computers extremely frustrating at times. When under time pressure, with an idea of an end result but not knowing how to get there, computers can still cause a lot of consternation.