Final Reflection

What?

This last day of class before finals we worked on our digital stories. I did not go to class though because I am using iMovie and so I worked on my digital story from home.

So What?

This technology of being able to put videos on Youtube is really cool. It allows us to give back to the Youtube community because I am sure a lot of us have used Youtube in the past. I really like the digital stories but I didn't realize they would be so difficult to make. It is really time consuming.

As a student digital stories are great because when I see them I get more excited about what we are going to learn about. They really hook me in. Also as a student we could use them in presentation we give in other classes. In some of the history classes I have taken here we have had to do presentations. It would have been really neat if I had already known this technology because I could have created a digital story and used that in my presentation. That definitely would have hooked in the audience.

Now What?

Now that I know how to create a digital story I will be able to use them throughout my teaching career. The more I create the easier I am sure it will get too. I really feel that my students would really enjoy the digital stories and connect more and be more excited about the content we are learning about.

If my colleagues and I can collaborate using digital stories that would be great. We could have so many different videos if we all worked together and shared what we had created. We could also collaborate on new ones we create which would also make the workload lighter on all of us. I am sure some of us are better at different aspects of a digital story so we could share our talents with one another.

Video:

I thought as a music video that video was really cool. I liked how it gave the dates of the people and events it was talking about as well. For an overview of modern history I think it was really neat. I also liked how it had real video footage. I was kind of confused by the cartoon at the beginning...was it South Park or something? But overall I really liked it.

Reflection 4/18

What?

This week we learned how to use Photostory. We also learned some places where we can get photos to use for the project that are not copyrighted.

So What?

I have a Mac and will be using imovie to create my digital story and so this lesson on how to use Photostory did not pertain to me. Learning where to look for non copyrighted material was very helpful. Creative Commons is a great resource to find media to use on the assignment. Another great source to use is UEN and Pioneer.

Because today's lesson was about Photostory I spent the majority of the time finding material to use for my assignment on Creative Commons. I also finalized my storyboard. Knowing where to find material that didn't have any copy right laws was really helpful.

Now What?

Now that I have decided to work on this project alone it has been much easier. I have been able to decide on a topic that interests me and am able to do it how I want. I also am able to work on it when I want and that has allowed me to get a lot of things done.

I am still really excited about this assignment and am looking forward to seeing my finished project as well as my classmates. Learning where non copyrighted material can be found will be extremely helpful in all things I do in teaching.

Video:

I am 99.8% sure that we watched this video before. I know that we watched the older one but I also think we watched this newer updated on as well. All the same I still think this video is really cool. It shows how technology is such a part of the world we live in and if we want to survive and do well in this world we have to know technology. We as teachers need to make sure we teach the students about through technology because that is how the real world is.

Reflection 3/11

What?

This week in class we were introduced to digital stories. As a group we came up with what we would do for our digital story.

So What?

Digital stories look really neat. I saw some of the ones my friends made last semester and they looked really good. I have been looking forward to making one. As a student right now I have seen some digital stories in my other classes. They really connect to your emotions, especially ones about history, which is my content area.

This technology means that we can create movies. I think this is really neat not just for educational purposes but we can also create personal digital stories. It would be cool to create one using pictures from a vacation and putting some music to it. This technology can be spread out to other areas of our life which is really really cool.

Now What?

Digital stories are really cool because they can say and express a lot more than we teachers can do with lectures. In history I think this tool is especially powerful. Students will get so much more out of watching a digital story about genocide in Rwanda than they will by me talking about it. The students become much more engaged by viewing digital stories.

Another idea I was thinking about was having our students make digital stories in our content area. For history I think that this is would be great because the students could have a lot of freedom in choosing a topic. This would allow the students to learn about a subject more in depth and become an expert in it. Then they could share them with their classmates and learn more. This would also allow the students to collaborate with one another and learn from each other.

Video:

I liked the NASA digital story. My favorite thing about it was that it used real audio from actual speeches and events in history. I also thought it flowed well and got across the message it was suppose to. The narration did not always sound like it was done on high quality but it was pretty great overall.