When I was choosing which tool to use I had a difficult time. “Oh how should I tell my digital story. Let me count the 50 ways”. Initially I was going to try a timeline in which I told my life story and then in turn was going to get my students to create. But I changed my mind and decided to try something that relates to my LMS course: a fractured fairy tale. If I had time I would add a third module (which I might do after this course) in which I would get my students to explore alternate ways to tell their fractured fairy tale story that they wrote in module 2.

Once I choose this idea, I explored several tools. First I tried xtranormal. I was intrigued by this program as I have seen many samples of it in my other courses and wanted to try it myself. However, I found I was restricted by needing to “buy” more XP points in order to make the one I wanted. Onto the next tool.

Then I tried animoto, but only 30 seconds was free. Not long enough.
So instead of animating my story, maybe I’ll try the cartoon route. I have used toonlet before, but I wanted more than 3-4 panels, which lead me to Pixton. I think this site is amazing (and I will be sharing it with many colleagues). I was able to sign up through Facebook, but could use an email also. Also it was free. Not restricting free like xtranormal or animoto but almost completely free. It was highly customizable (everything from facial expressions to clothing colours to how big the hips were). It also made me change my story a bit. I needed to add more dialogue and change text. I even included a panel with no text at all. I think this would get students to explore many ways to tell a story. Also I think you could use this when trying to teach dialogue. Also, I ended up breaking up my story into 3 parts, but I also had to be concise in order to not have it too long (to make full comic book it costs money, but a page at a time is free).


This site allows for so much creativity and expression. You can also be very collaborative and sharing on social networking sites (like facebook, twitter, etc or in email). You can even embed it using a variety of formats.
I will definitely use this site again and was more than pleased on my outcome. (Maybe I should be a Pixton promoter because I think I have talked to everyone I know about this site!) I wish I had more time to add this to module 3 of my Elements of Story unit.


My comic is available on my digital story page .

Even though we are still narrowing down our points I need to vent. I have worked on a wiki in a few other classes and actually have really begun to appreciate and enjoy this social networking tool. However, today I found a fault. First of all, if you do not decide how to structure it ahead of time it can be a jumbled mess (I just spend 30 minutes “fixing” this mess). Secondly, if you are saving at the same time as someone else, wiki does not like you. Actually it will hate you and just change everything you just spent 30 minutes fixing. So, as with any technology, I fully understand the benefits and limits of this tool.

I have tried to access both WebCT and Moodle on my iPhone in the past week (I wanted to show my family that I created a table using HTML code…they thought I was strange). I found it was fairly easy to access, however I don’t think I’d ever use a mobile device for my course. There is too much content to read and type using the device. However, I was suprised to find that mTouch for only $2.99 is a Moodle app. I think if I were to use Moodle more (which I hope I can do in my own teaching), I would invest in this app. I find that apps are the best way to deal with large content online. Even though safari on the iPhone is great, apps are better. If WebCt vista was on an app I would love this (I have been looking and hoping for years) because I could access it without having to lug my laptop around everywhere.

My web-blog is strict. I think having to log-in for students can be restricting, however this is how to keep track of my students. I think having Moodle as a free program opens up my restrictions. However, I still consider the socio-economic status of students. How can we expect to expand into 21st Century learning and access all learners when some do not even have a computer in their own home? Or for those using it at school, how can we do that when the school’s computers are limited or old (so many old computers that are not even being used due to “slow” ness)?!

I have recently been able to TOC in a digital visual arts course for a week in a middle school. The grade 6s are working in photoshop, creating collages, photo-crashing squirrels, and eventually will turn their own faces into Avatars (the blue movie version). The grade 7s are doing photography, taking photos and using photoshop to adjust temperature, crop, etc. I have been able to learn these skills, as the students learn. While trying to crop an image online I found it quite easy, as I had many more challenging moments in that week where I needed to ‘help’ students, while sometimes learning some of these skills on my own at the same time. I wish there were more online free editors like google picassa. Also, the grade 8’s in this course create and edit their own movies, and I have much experience in making my own iMovies and iDVDs (I just came back from Disneyworld and created several for my friends). I did not try to create an educational video for my LMS site, as I’m not sure how I could incorporate it into my reading and writing unit. However, I believe (based on past experience), that I will spend many hours editing, as I can never feel that it is perfect enough….maybe a video would be too much for me at this time?

In terms of audio, I have used audacity before as a member in my group project in a previous course recommended it because of her experience in 565! I think this program is great, and I can’t wait to use it more when we are doing digital storytelling (I think that’s what she said she used it for?)

In my other course, we are creating a wiki, and since my group has not started yet, I thought I’d use the information from this toolkit and try to set up our page. I was able to set up the page, but it took me a bit longer than I expected. In particular, I am having difficulties with formatting, as it is different from what I have had experience with. However, I was surprised at how easy it was to put in the written information.

For myself, I have been using blogs in my classroom for a number of years. I find making blogs very simple to make and a quick way to get students working collaboratively online. I also find that blogs are great to create a blended learning environment. I have used googleblogs mostly in the past (as my students have google accounts for when we use googledocs and I find it is easier because they are already members). If I had to advise other teachers interested in using a blog, I would recommend discussing with students what is appropriate and not appropriate. I don’t just mean language and cyber-bullying, but even the posts that just say “hi”. Teaching students about meaningful contributions.

When looking at the social software sites (Flickr, Delicious, World of Warcraft and Twitter) I wanted to look at two sites I was a member of and two that I was not. I was surprised about the things that I found. The Terms of Service link is always available at the bottom of the screen, but who reads it? ( What do you mean you just clicked yes without reading all of the terms and conditions?” – South Park, Human Centipad episode). I discovered that I was actually impressed by the privacy policies that each of these sites have created, protecting users if they wished to, and at times not even asking for much information to become members. I think many sites could be applicable to education, as long as we could find a curriculum connection (I couldn’t think of one for World of Warcraft), but it terms of fear for protection of students it seems that most sites do this. However, I was surprised at how hands off Twitter was, many comments on how “you” are responsible, could be a slippery slope for younger, impressionable students. I think that there are still many Terms of Service that school districts need to develop before students jump head first into these websites.

It’s hard to not think of Justin Timberlake, but I think synchronous communication is pushing those “anti-social” computer ideas far, far away. I have mostly had experience in chatting using text and a few video sessions last semester for a group project using Elluminate. I wanted to try wimba, as I have signed up for the wimba tests and want to get some experience with it. I was happy about how quickly it was to set-up/download (thank goodness for my fast MacBook) and how quickly I was able to get in and start playing with it. I love that you can have audio, visual and text. I have always been curious about how people don’t talk over each other, especially since in text situations it just puts it in order of who typed last. I can see features, such as the raising of the hand, keeps it very organized. I wish someone else was logged-in at the same time so we could chat (I’m so disappointed I won’t be able to make the Wimba chat on the 14th….I voted for Monday, lol). I just wonder how many students would be the best? (As I have a class of 30, would that work or be chaotic?) I also wonder since Moodle doesn’t have it’s own audio chat and has multiple third parties, will it ever pair up with a third party and use only that program for their audio chats in the future, restricting others? what would that do to current set-ups?

Now, I need to try to figure out how to incorporate Wimba into my Moodle.

I recently was creating a website for my Wedding next year. The purpose of this site is so our guests can go and get all of the up-to-date information needed (as we are having a destination wedding in Disneyland). Now I thought I was pretty good at avoiding common website errors, like “under construction”, all websites are under construction. And even when I started the checklist, I was passing everyone: No flash, consistent design, easy to understand, quick to load. But then I discover the “welcome”. The first page says welcome. My website sucks. I will need to be more clever….hmmm Disney….Be our Guest?

I tried to sketch out a design using the storyboard and am going to made changes to my wedding website. I think that the list was helpful, however a little long. I think some users would get halfway through the list and quit (Okay…maybe I’m admitting something here). However, the storyboard technique was great. Maybe a combination of the storyboard and a shorter (Top 20 or even 30 mistakes when creating a website) would work well together. Oh well. At least my grandma doesn’t think my website sucks.