Ryan's 565A ePortfolio

Version 1: http://prezi.com/ozplirwyegj0/a-blend-of-british-and-coast-salish-cultures-a-look-at-community-in-victoria-bc/

Please see Version 2 in the Comment below this post

The course I designed this story for is called English First Peoples 10/11. The intent of this course is to, among other things:

• study ‘texts’ representing authentic First Peoples voices (the term “texts” in all English language arts courses refers to oral, audio, visual, cinematic, and electronic media works as well written works)
• incorporate First Peoples principles of learning in the curriculum content and espouse their application in the teaching of the course (pedagogical approaches promoted include direct learning, learning outside of the classroom environment, and incorporating a recursive approach to texts)
• places increased emphasis on the study and command of oral language and on First Peoples oral tradition (First Nations Education Steering Committee, 2010)

Any number of the social media tools introduced on Levine’s site “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story” (2007) can take a viewer on a journey that is vivid, engaging and entertaining. For my story, considering the aim of the course and Bates and Poole’s SECTIONS analysis (2003), I needed something that was easy to use for both myself and the students, interactive in that there was more than just one type of media involved (reading, viewing, listening etc.) to present authentic First Peoples voices and that I could update and change without going through a number of arduous steps. Prezi seemed like a good fit based on my criteria and I have been interested in exploring this tool for a few months now as I have had the opportunity to view a few Prezis from students and colleagues over the past year.

In addressing my needs, Prezi is easy for students to navigate through the use of Forward and Back arrows. Users can choose to auto advance but given the amount of information and different media involved, I suspect that students will advance manually and even return to previous pages as needed, thus incorporating a recursive approach to texts (First Nations Education Steering Committee, 2010). I was impressed by the sites inclusion of a vast array of files and media that could be inserted. To make my story appealing, authentic and based on local Coast Salish traditions, while maximizing some of the site’s affordances at the same time, I chose to include numerous images, historical maps, pieces of traditional stories, a couple of YouTube videos and a PDF file. Adding each of these different media was surprisingly simple which made the experience for me, all the more enjoyable as I felt successful and not frustrated as a result of a lack of programming or html knowledge. The one media I was not entirely certain about was the background music. Although a very cool tool, as my story changes points of view throughout I was unsure if one background song would suit the entire story. Maybe in time Prezi will allow songs to be changed throughout the presentation.

Overall, I was impressed with my final produce and will continue to explore what Prezi has to offer.  Without a doubt, I would recommend Prezi to others who are interested in exploring Web 2.0 and social media tools to enhance curriculum.

References:

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

First Nations Education Steering Committee. (2010). English 10 and 11 First Peoples: Teacher Resource Guide. Retrieved from

http://www.fnesc.ca/efp/Attachments/EFP%201011%20Teacher%20Resource%20Guide%20Final.pdf

Levine, A. (2007). “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story.” Retrieved from http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools