Natural Selection... of Learning Technologies

Out of all the many tools we had to look at, I chose to use the program Prezi to tell a personal story.

In some ways, this was an overwhelming activity. There are so many tools available that it takes a very long time to sift through them, evaluating all the way, until you can find the one that’s right for the job of the moment. At the same time, it can be pretty fun and exciting, as well as a chance for skill development, as there are so many tools available. It was both frustrating and fun. This has also furthered my own personal thoughts on how I want to push / develop a tool box / set of resources available for teachers in my province. It’s a great idea… like a buffet, really.

Why did you choose this particular tool? How might you use such tools in your own teaching to produce materials for students?

I very nearly chose to use VoiceThread, but that was for a different story idea. I felt that Prezi best suited the story that I wanted to tell. I wanted to create something that I could use and direct / advance manually in front of my students. It’s basically a story prompter that is a little interactive.

How did the tool impact the manner in which you told your story (perhaps in a way that is different had you just used text or related the story using your voice)?

I think the inclusion of some of my own pictures enhances my story. I also think it helps to add a little humour as well as maintain / create some audience interest.

How might students be given access to the same authoring tools?

Prezi is easy to sign up for, and free. Students will have easy access to it from the school computer lab as well as from their home computer (if they have one), or a community library computer.

What kind of impact would you expect to see in your students in terms of motivation, creativity, or any other characteristics?

I think students will be motivated since it’s a new tool. It takes the presentation process they know and literally turns it on its ear a bit. Students have control over fonts, colours, backgrounds, images, the addition of video, etc. I think it will be a good way to anything from social studies time lines to book reports.

What are some of the key issues or ideas that emerged for you when you were crafting your own story or viewing/hearing/reading the stories of your peers?

Decisions, decisions, decisions! You really need to pick a good pairing of story and tool. Certain programs / tools just seem to help or hinder different stories in different ways. A definite challenge is finding resources (outside of your own) that are free for common use… and ones that you like! I had ideas of music, pictures, etc. in my mind that I already knew of or had that I wanted to use, but couldn’t. That was frustrating. I wished we had more options in terms of what we could take in terms of content and creative possibilities. I felt stifled!

Resources

Jenkins, H.  “Spoilers, Bloggers, Modders and Thieves: Empowered Consumption in an Age of Media Convergence.”  New Media Consortium Conference, 2004.  UBC. Accessed online July 25 201o http://archive.nmc.org/events/2004summerconf/jenkins2.html

Lamb, B. (2007). Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, no. 4 (July/August 2007): 12–25.  Accessed online July 25 2010 http://www.educause.edu/ER/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume42/DrMashuporWhyEducatorsShouldLe/161747

Levine, A.  (2007). “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story.”  Accessed online July 25 2010 http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools

What are the advantages and challenges of working in / with a wiki as compared to within an LMS?

Mostly, I found it to be much more psychological. Since it is such a cluster of ideas in such a dynamic space, I was nervous of stepping on toes. I didn’t want to mess up / infringe on things that other people were writing or doing. Also, I didn’t always want my stuff to always mesh with their stuff. That being said, I wanted my thoughts to stand out (to be distinct, to be read), but I didn’t want to be bold… to look like I was trying to stand out. I didn’t want to bully my way through the e-space or have people think negatively about how I was operating.

So, while I was working within this social media, my mind was more preoccupied than normal with social thoughts… what I was doing, and how I would be viewed. That’s a challenge.

In terms of advantages, it’s easy to load, read (unless it gets too messy… people really have to keep clarity / organization in mind), and edit. It’s a pretty quick way to share things. Also, the feature that allows you to check edits and return to previous versions of things is a neat and potentially useful one.

I chose the title of my e-portfolio (hmm… if this goes beyond this course, I wonder if I should change it) with “witty humour” in mind. The title ended up inspiring the blog’s header. Then, as I’ve been spinning my wheels trying to work on this holiday (thanks, Vicky), I wondered about the possible parallels between technologies and life forms.

I read a great article during my last course which compared new technologies in schools to the introduction of zebra mussels into the Great Lakes. Having a biological background (not just being alive, but education-wise), I found it a very interesting and useful comparison. Now I find myself thinking about the similarities to the lifespan or path of technologies and living things in an environment. Do technologies get “naturally selected” based on their best features? Does their initial choice / survival allow them to improve and evolve? Do poorly adapted technologies or ones ill-suited for a task / environment get selected out of the tech-genetic pool, never to be used or seen again?

I think there are some interesting comparisons to be made, and perhaps they may even help to answer the questions found in my flight path. I’m interested in learning how to select “the right tool for the job”. I hope I make some headway on this, whether or not it’s a natural process.