One of the big buzz terms of the last few years has been “Digital Storytelling.” Teachers of all grades want to integrate digital storytelling into their curriculum to enhance student learning. This has the added benefit of being fun and creating a pretty impressive final product that can be published and viewed anywhere. You can’t escape digital storytelling workshops and seminars at conferences these days.
One thing I wanted to clarify is the difference between digital storytelling and simply creating a movie. I combed through an old issue of Discovery Education’s Classroom Resource Guide from November 2005 (sorry, I don’t have a link to it) and found an interview Hall Davidson did with Bernajean Porter, the author of Digitales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories. Porter describes a good digital story as having a personal angle. The author needs to connect with the story using a variety of media, not just give information using that media, such as a documentary would.
On Porter’s website, six elements for a good digital story are listed. Check out the complete website for more information on how to create a great digital story of your own. Documentarys are very valuable, but it is important that we, as teachers, recognize the difference between a documentary and a digital story. Happy filmmaking!
~Dave Kootman
I’ve been noticing a pattern in my reading over the last few years.
I love reading magazines and other periodicals. There are just so many new ideas, inventions and news all the time; it’s tough to keep up. I do my best with paper periodicals, but it never seems to satisfy me. Then it hit me… I can’t seem to read any magazines without having my laptop nearby! Almost every article I read has a link somewhere to find more info. This info usually comes in the form of videos, documents and other resources, further links, archives and even
advertisements. I couldn’t even read the latest teaching magazine without looking up several links listed in the paper version! Of course the situation gets worse when I pick up the latest issue of PC World or Wired Magazine. I guess I’m an information junkie.
Am I alone in feeling powerless when I read a magazine without the ability to satisfy my literary appetite with a computer? What does this mean for today’s true digital natives? Is print going out with the typewriter that our students don’t even recognize?
“When I was young, we used to have these big “paper” messes called “newspapers.”
“Wow, Grandpa!”
Yet for some reason, I still refuse to read purely online magazines and hold tight to my paper. Nothing like a book on the beach or a magazine on an airplane. I guess some things die hard.
~Dave Kootman
Hopefully we all know that it’s a good idea to periodically back up your files- documents, music, photos and other important stuff you would want to save in case of loss or failure. These days, external hard drives are pretty cheap and will hold all of your "stuff" and more. For those of us that don’t need to back up everything a large flash drive or even a memory stick (like SD sticks used in digital cameras) will do the job.
What I’d like to share is another handy idea that I’ve had to utilize several times in the last month. My computers have been experiencing "issues" lately and, as a result, I’ve had to reinstall my operating system, bury it and/or trade my computer in. Needless to say, I was fortunate I had my data backed up, but what I began to create was a single file, which I kept safely online at Google Docs.
I call this my back up file and I keep track of all the software I have to install on my new machine. For me, this stuff really adds up. Without this file, I’d end up installing the software as I needed it, but I like to have it booted up and ready to go. I also list my serial numbers/authorization codes under each software title so they’re good to go also.
Lastly, I create a small section of the little tweaks and changes I make to my system, such as disabling certain things at startup, changing power settings, installing custom fonts (such as Fonts 4 Teachers), deleting certain things the computer likes to sell me and so on. I also include any screenshots of things as I like them, such as all the items in my Quicklaunch (I use Windows). Don’t forget to include the little add-ons, such as the LAME encoder for Audacity and the Firefox plug-ins.
Creating this list is as easy as it sounds, just scroll through your programs and make a note of the things you currently have on your system. I’ve found this document to be very useful way too many times recently!
~Kootman
My friend and I were walking down the street one day: He said, "I hear music…" As if there was any other way to take it in… "I see music?"
-Mitch Hedberg
I was recently reviewing the new publisher materials for
social studies, science and music (can you believe we’ve made it to the point
that we finally have a music adoption?) and have been noticing all the
multimedia that is now incorporated. My
district has adopted Scott-Foresman for social studies and the online component
is an indispensable part of the
program.
When I was
listening to the presentation for the music curriculum, however, I noted that
all of the included music was on CD. That
brings us to the topic of this post: what is the future of CD music?
Here is my take on music formats. I haven’t listened to a CD in over a year now
and before that all my music was on MP3 CD’s. Most car stereos now play MP3’s (or similarly formatted CD’s). Additionally, most new car stereos either
come with an additional input jack or are easily adaptable for iPods or other
portable music devices.
All the music I listen to at home
comes from either my laptop or my desktop PC and is then piped through speakers
I wired throughout my home. The songs
themselves are either streamed online or played through an application such as
iTunes, Winamp or Yahoo! Music Engine. There is never a CD anywhere in the equation!
At school, I’ve created playlists
with calm, classroom music that open up and automatically play at the push of a
single shortcut key. They last the
entire school day, so when the students are working there is quite music in the
background. When I’m teaching I have a
student lower the volume. I’m already
wishing that the new music adoption would put the tracks in a compressed format
so we could simply click on the song we wanted instead of firing up the CD
player. I guess I’ll just be ripping
them myself…
My question to our California DEN
and fellow technophiles is this: As
leaders in educational technology, how do you listen to your music? Are CD’s going the way of the dinosaurs? Please add to our poll below and/or
comment.
This morning I recieved an FeedBlitz email with updates from the MD DEN blog. I was TOTALLY blown away with what I found. Aaron Smith, a DYNAMIC DEN member from back east, wrote about a gentleman by the name of Karl (from the Fisch Bowl Blog… a staff devt blog for his CO highschool) was asked to present to this faculty. His goal, "to get the staff to really think about what are students are going to need to be successful in the 21st century, and then how it might impact what they do in their own classrooms’. I remixed content from David Warlick, Thomas Friedman, Ian Jukes, Ray Kurzweil, and others, added some music and came up with the following presentation. If you want the music you’ll have to download both files…"
Why should you download this PPT… Because DID YOU KNOW THAT…
- The 25% of the population in China with the highest IQ’s is greater that the total population of North America… Translation for teachers: They have more honors kids that we have kids.
- China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world!
- The U.S. Dept. of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38.
- The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist! Using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet!
- In 2002 alone Nintendo invested more than $140 million in research and development!
I have to stop because I could go on and on…. So for more AMAZING FACTS and INFORMATION download this PPT and MP3 file right away. Then head over to his blog post and let him know what you think and/or post your comments here.
Download did_you_know.ppt
Download didyouknow.mp3
Okay… so you have heard me sing praises of your incredible Implementation (aka Tech) team, so I thought I would let some of you put faces to the names you have seen on emails or voices you have spoken with over the phone.
From Left to Right (Lisa Rice, Craig Halper, Monika Davis, Me, Rhonda Underhill, Brandon Henderson) … we missed Lindsay and Sheri that day… no worries.. we’ll take another "family" picture end of January when I go back again 
We are so lucky to have an incredible Implementation Team. They are available to answer and help solve any of your tech problems or provide additional integration trainings through webinars. To contact them via phone call 800-323-9084, but remember they are on East Coast time.
If you have any unitedstreaming tech questions feel free to post them here and we will do our best to answer them.
Okay…. So without a doubt one of the number 1 questions in any training is "How do I connect my computer to my television?" Hats off to Hall Davidson for the explanation listed below.
The best way to go from computer to TV is with a scan converter. There are heavy explanations in "Digital Nuts and Bolts" handout on the website www.halldavidson.org
The cheapest way is to go the drawer where you put the cables from the box when you bought the computer, take out the octopus-looking one with a skinny silver end on one side (a triple mini plug) and three fatter white, red, and black ones (RCA males) on the other. Plug the skinny end into the computer by the hole with the picture of a TV on it. Plug the other three ends into your TV (if you’re lucky enough to have a TV called a "monitor", which means it has the right holes in the back to do this. If not, plug them into your VCR (virtually all VCR’s have these holes). Hit "input" on your VCR to activate these holes (jacks) and see your computer. Make sure your TV is watching your VCR (insert a tape and hit play to check). To do this, you have to have a computer with a built-in device called a scan converter. Nearly all Macs have one. Many PC’s (called "multimedia") have one, too. Few people know when they have one (something like people who don’t know they have unitedstreaming!)
The next cheapest way is to buy a two-dollar RCA (male)-to-RCA (male) cable or six dollar SVHS cable and connect the computer and TV (or VCR). See above.
The last way is to buy a scan converter. They cost between $50 and $150. Get the cheapest one. You don’t really need the extras, but keep a receipt just in case. Then go from the monitor output on your computer (the many-holed jack in the back or on the side).
Last Gasp Cheap Trick: If you don’t have a monitor output on your computer (many one-piece Macs don’t), then point an old and broken camcorder at the computer screen and connect the camcorder to the TV or VCR (see above). A new camcorder will work, too. But there are an amazing number of camcorders in the closets of parents that no longer record (broken motor, jammed tapes, etc.) but that will work as cameras just fine. Send out a request, then put those "broken" camcorders to work. . Even if you do have monitor output on your computer but don’t want to shell out for a scan converter, try this technique.
Please post a comment and let us know how you are getting plugged in at your site. Do you know any good deals on projectors, scan converters, etc?
Via RSS
