iMovie and Objectives

I really enjoyed using iMovie and think that it would be a great program for students or any other person to use. It was a lot more user friendly that I imagined when I used it for my first project and didn't understand what I was doing. I found Dr. Penny's tutorial to be very helpful and it took a lot of the stress of creating away. I will definitely plan a walk though of whatever technology that I will use for any of the classes. If it is not solely to teach them it will at the very least refresh their ideas of the software. I some ways I found the iMovie app of the iPad was both easier and harder to use. Yes, it had less option, but in a way that was freeing as you had to worry about less things going wrong as you had no control. 

The limitations of the programs simply seem to be the material that you bring to them. If your video is shaking too much the stabilizing feature will not fix it totally. It makes me consider where I will do multiple shots to ensure that I have one that works. I see why the take so many takes. My whole view of what goes into a production is changed. Yet, I still think that you don't need all the bells and whistles to make a good story. As the author said digital media just amplifies it doesn't make better. And as a teach I keep thinking about what are my objectives in using the technology. Will it enhance the students learning? Will a cloudy concept become clear? It just make me step back and think why and really evaluate all of my activities to see if they are fulfilling their purposes.  

App Review- Time-lapse

App Title: Time Lapse HD Free This a great free app that would do will

Grade Level: 5^th- College

Purpose: This app allows both stop frame and time lapse photography.

Program Functionality: This is a very easy to use app. All you do is set how many pictures you want to take a minute and how fast you want them to playback. With only two scroll screens on the sides and two buttons on the bottom of the screen it is fool proof. I love the way this app is so user friendly. The recording goes straight to you camera roll where you can export it or upload it.

Overall Educational Value and Classroom Ideas: This app allows students to watch an event happen in time lapse. This is great for a variety of subjects. It can be used for digital storytelling as a way to get a lot of information or an action into a short amount of time. In a storying about playing ball the could have ten minute game that only take 5 seconds.

It can be used for science classes to show a process prepared/preformed before class. For example, you could shoot a morning glory opening and show it to the class. Show a chemical experiment they they started the day before and all of the stages that it went through to get the finished reaction. For older students have them create experiments that take over an our to complete and make the video apart of the project.

In language arts it could be used to prompt ideas or help with process and order essays and paragraphs.

Have the students shoot anything from driving to school to brushing there teeth and than describe it or write instructions for the process.

Even in math you could use it to show how often things happen in a given space of time. Shoot the class all day and have the watch how many things changed and than analysis it and compute the data.

Cost: Free at time of review

Recommendation: Any age will enjoy looking at the result, but it will be most useful for 5^th grade and up.

Developer Website: https://sites.google.com/site/timelapseapp/

iTunes Link: Time-lapse

I would have liked it if we had had the opportunity to do the fourth step. I think it would have been good to get the feedback form the other groups and than incorporate the into making our story. It would be a nice reward for the suffering of taking our storyboard away and making us shoot another storyboard. I know our group was so excited.
 I do wonder how reasonable it is to do this project in a content area classroom. It takes so much time. I have been thinking that you could edit down and use the concept, but limit the time and so that you can do content as well as the project. Not sure how that would work but it is something that I am thinking about. Sort of mini lessons in a class to introduce DST and promote interest. After class activity?

20% project

I have been thinking about my 20% project and how I want it to look. I am doing the storying boarding and trying to make them detailed enough so that I can capture all of my ideas. The last step in the DST project we did really made me pay attention to how I present my ideas. Being clear and getting everything down is important. I have the arch of the story done and know how I want it to go. The script is something that I want to do well and I plan to practice with a bit. I want this to be something that I can show my students and be proud of. The thing I am most worried about is the scanning of my photos. The story boarding is helping me cut edit the photos down so that I only have to scan the ones I am going to use. I plan to finish it during the Thanksgiving holiday and preview it to my family. I hope it gets the response that I want and that I don't have to redo it.

Project Part 2

I found the storytelling project to be a lot of fun. I've never done anything like that before and it was satisfying to collaborate and go through the process again. I think any students would enjoy it and it was a great way to get people to know each other quickly. After the basics in a class, it might make a great icebreaker or 1^st project.

It was immediately clear how hard it is to do a story with so little prep time and the advantages of planning. Never before have I so wanted the ability to edit a story. Yes, you can reshoot it, but that good take is now gone and who knows what you will get.

All the steps involved I think will help students break down the steps of the storytelling process and make them appreciate them more. By leaving out that the first part isn't the only part you create a drive to do well and than after you see the story a drive to do better. It is a good way to create interest. I am still working on getting the information onto my ipad so we will she how I feel about it as I storyboard on the ipad.  

Rubric-What a trick thing it is!

To be perfectly honest I don't like my project. No, not because it is horrible, but because I have read more of the book and now know how to make it better. Doing the project a bit on the fly has helped me understand the process and think about how I would scaffold it to help my students overcome some of the challenges that I had. I think that a rubric would be key in this process. I would use it as an outline and checklist for the students. I thought at first that grading personal DST would be possibly inappropriate, but now I think with the right preparation it can be done and in a manner that will not hurt the student's feelings about their project even if they don't get a good grade.

I would have my rubric encompass the entire project and I have broken it down below.

1. Technology- After teaching the students how to use the program that they will use to create their DS I would list what we had covered and make those the minimum requirement for use in their story. If we use Imovie, they might have the choice to do voiceover or text. They would know that they have to do one of the options. As always they would be given the option to exceed expectations, but with many students not having time or what they consider talent if they did what they could they should get an okay grade. I have college students that can't copy and drag so assuming every class can use the software to make very complicated projects is not always realistic and I am not sure it is right to penalize students for lacking a skill that your class is not entirely about.
2. Planning/Revision-With any project planning is important so turning in a outline/story map on time with revisions would be portion of the grade. Translation and other elements can be added to this section as well if needed. Script revision and proofing would also be a component.
3. The DS-At the college level each of these could be graded and even if they failed in one area they might still be able to do okay. Not to make students pass, but to give everyone a chance.
   1. Are there good transitions?
   2. Does the story flow?
   3. Is their good use of media?
   4. Is it edited well?
   5. Are the images and sound clear?
   6. Does it follow the guidelines of content? e.g. Is it about family? A pet? A traumatic happening?
   7. Does it follow the guidelines of length and format?
   8. Is the use of language grammatical and appropriate? (This is mostly for ESL teachers)

I might even use peer evaluation forms if appropriate.

With this being such a new form of expression for many, the first time I would want the students to feel that even if they didn't produce a masterpiece they could still do a good job. No, I don't want shoddy work, but I also don't want someone giving up before they started because they are so afraid. I clear outline of the grading criteria at the beginning would not only help guide them in the process as well as informing them of possible points?

Still working on some of these ideas. Not sure if I said what I meant the whole time. Please, feel free to disagree. Look forward to seeing what you think.  

Who is your audience?

I must admit that after all of the talk about google+ and circles in class I was fascinated to read this article from the Chronicle of Higher Ed. http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/an-audience-of-none/36320?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en The author writes a blog about getting students to write for more than an audience of one. Going online to get an audiences for your students sounds good and may motivate many of them. I struggle with the motivation behind it though. Is the only way to get students to care about projects to post them online?

Some of the teachers that posted expressed similar fears to what I have been struggling with for awhile now. Yes, Google lets people as young as 13 signup for an account. Yes, most students have a Facebook page that they check religiously. Yes, technology is everywhere, but what is the consequence of putting all of the this online? If you limit your exposure to a google+ circle that is well and good but what if your account get hacked and all of your info becomes public knowledge?Do I want the world to know what I think? Am I really posting in the same sense if I use a false name. Doesn't that defeat the idea, somewhat, of writing to get heard and acknowledged? I don't know that I want to tell my students to put up work that they may use in the future for research if the sites that they are posting on claim ownership. Even D2L (Blackboard) say that any content you post is now theirs even if you think you have deleted it. Copyright and privacy sit side by side in my mind as I wrestle with the idea of all of my information for anyone to access.

On a side note I wonder how many of our class really cares what their classmates think of their work? Does it motivate you? Do you do better knowing there is more than an audience of one? Are you concerned with privacy or copyright?