Digitally storytelling the possibilities!
In ETEC565, we were asked to:
Select one of the web 2.0 tools from the ones listed on the page (or others that you know of if you want), and create a short media piece that tells a story. You can tell a story about yourself or about some issue. You can also use the tool to tell a story that could be used in your classroom in relation to an activity or part of your curriculum. You choose.
I chose goanimate.com to tell my story. You can read more about why here.
I also said in an earlier post that I would comment a little on Jenkin’s book. I’m about halfway through and i think that it’s been a very informative read Here are just a couple of points from the bookthat I’d like to highlight (I also talk about this on my digital story page).
Jenkins identifies four activities youth should develop skills in, especially in today’s media changing word:
- Affilitations: Memberships, formal and informal in online communities centered around various forms of media, such as Friendter, Facebook, metagaming, etc.
- Expressions: Producing new creative forms such as digital sampling, skinning and modding, fan videos, fan fiction, ones, or mash-ups.
- Collaborative problem-solving: Working together in teams — formal and informal — to complete tasks and develop new knowledge, such as through Wikipedia, alternative reality gaming, or spoiling.
- Circulations: Shaping the flow of media, such as podcasting or blogging.
I believe goanimate.com offers students a chance to develop these skills. However, Jenkins makes a good point that in order for activities to work, and to create an effective participatory culture, cultures (that is educational, national, etc.) must support them (2009); the curriculum must recognize and support these types of technologies and activities. Jenkins also says: “inter-activity is a property of the technology, while participation is the property of culture”. I think that that is an important point to remember.
Jenkins also identifies and discusses three problems:
- the participation gap (similar, but not identical to the digital divide)
- the transparency problem (do youth have deeper understanding of hoe media shapes their perception of the world)
- the ethics challenge (i.e. copyright issues)
