Task: Create a complex digital story, educational in nature, using one of a range of social media.
In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey states that we must begin each task with a clear vision of our desired outcome, or “begin with the end in mind” (Covey, 1990). Thus, at the outset of this project I set out to determine what I wanted the educational purpose of my digital story to be. I have found that my teenage students are a difficult group to motivate unless learning can be shown to be personally connected to them or those around them. Additionally, studies have shown that teacher enthusiasm surrounding subject matter can actively promote students motivation to learn (Patrick et al., 2010). As my husband and I visited Jordan and Egypt (dubbed the “Cradle of Civilization”) recently, I decided that I would create a short piece to be used to pique grade 7 social studies students’ interest surrounding Ancient Civilizations and sparking their enthusiasm for the upcoming subject matter.
With a clear goal in mind, the next step was to purposefully select a storytelling tool. I decided to base my selection on factors I deemed important from the Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework for selecting instructional technologies. I reduced the framework to: students, ease of use, cost structure, novelty and speed. My notes were as follows:
Students: I will be presenting this during class time to a group of grade 7 students. They have a wide variety of learning styles and will therefore benefit from a presentation format that not only draws them in visually but also audibly as well. Additionally, literacy levels are varied and therefore there should be a mix of pictures and written words. Ideally, pictures should appear to be in a moving slideshow or video format to increase engagement.
Ease of use: The tool needs to be easily accessible from my teacher laptop. Internet speed is not high and therefore the video must load quickly and reliably. Since we will view as a class, the video does not need to be accessible from mobile devices or student computers. Preference will be given to tools that facilitate uploading to my personal YouTube channel for ease of future navigation.
Cost: Preference will be given to free tools. Development time should be minimal as it will be used as a motivational tool at the outset of our unit of study.
Novelty: Since the goal of this story is to engage students and connect learning, preference will be given to tools that create products with various appealing effects, transitions and other stylistic elements. Tool should have customization options including the addition of musical elements.
Speed: Storytelling tool should be relatively simple to use, allowing for ease of video creation, picture and video uploading, and updating.
Based on this criterion, I began experimenting with various tools from Alan Levine’s (2007) 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story article. After some trial and error, numerous account registrations and countless photos uploaded, I finally settled on One True Media (www.onetruemedia.com). This tool met my requirements outlined by my SECTIONS analysis and offered the following affordances:
– A simple process for creating a visually appealing montage
– Easy uploading and organization of images: all my photos could be uploaded at once, then arranged, rearranged, deleted and repeated with ease.
– An extensive library of music was already available which meant I did not need to upload my own soundtrack (although this option was available)
– Finished product was easily uploaded to YouTube
– A large collection of style templates
While I am happy with my choice of tool, I encountered one significant limitation. The free version of One True Media only permits a 30 second video length which I found very restricting. My original video is over three minutes in length and required significant editing and cutting to get it to its current version which fits within the time limit. If I were creating this digital story for any other purpose other than student motivation for our upcoming unit, I would have been far too restricted by the shortness of the video and use of a different tool would have been a necessity. Even with this purpose, I may still choose to pay the minimal fee and upgrade to a premium version of One True Media in order to use the full original video.
I enjoyed my first foray into digital storytelling and am excited to continue integrating this and other storytelling tools into my professional practice and potentially my personal life too!
References:
Covey, S. (1990) The 7 habits of highly effective people, Powerful lessons in personal change, Simon & Schuster, New York
Levine, Alan. (2007). “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story.” Retrieved July 2009. http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools
Patrick, B., Hisley, J. & Kempler, T. (2010) “What’s Everybody So Excited About?”: The Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm on Student Intrinsic Motivation and Vitality. Journal of Experimental Education. 68(3). Pp.217-236