Digital Story Reflection
For my Digital Story project I chose to make a PSA style presentation on Global Warming. I chose this topic and format because my classes have been working on attempting to better their interaction with text skills while also attempting to make determinations about which types of material are suitable for citation. With this in mind, I made image and music selections based on a desire to incorporate an element of bias into the presentation.
As I own a Mac, the presentation media I chose was iMovie. This was a very interesting and versatile tool that allowed me to import images, place them into a predetermined order, and set them to music. I was also encouraged that iMovie also allows the user to incorporate video voice overs, which would have been very beneficial to my presentation. Unfortunately, none of the equipment I had access to included an internal microphone so I was unable to utilize this feature in my digital story given my time constraints. I found the iMovie platform to be very powerful and can see myself using it more in the future as I move toward a flipped classroom model. That being said, I will definitely have to invest more time in figuring out more of the basic/advanced features as this platform is not very intuitive for the digital immigrant. I also found that the newer version seems somewhat different than earlier versions whose instructional youtube videos I viewed online. All in all though, iMovie is an awesome tool with a lot of potential for my classroom.
My personal thoughts on the final version of my Digital Story were mixed. I found the overall presentation to be effective but some of the details needed more work; specifically, image quality and voice over. The nice thing about these issues is that they can be easily remedied by access to time and equipment. Photoshop technology could be used to crisp and sharpen the textual content or HD quality scanners could be used to obtain the same results. Voiceover could also be incorporated to accent the factual elements of the presentation. Also, more time "playing around" with iMovie will also allow me to enhance my presentation skills for this platform.
Now, for where the rubber meats the road, my students' reaction to my Digital Story. Forty-two of my students viewed my Digital Story and their responses were very encouraging. All of them liked the imagery and music and many agreed that narration would have improved their experience to some degree. All students were able to discuss elements of the story and to use details from it to participate in the ensuing class discussion. Most of my girls found the music scary and the boys commented that they liked the pictures of things "blowing up." The three most popular slides were the ones of the polar bears, the fish, and the culminating slide; these prompted many questions, comments, and discussions about what could be done to limit the effects of global warming.
With that in mind, the benefits of this technology include promoting classroom discussion while also providing students with a medium they can easily interact with. Although many of my students do not have access to technology at home, they can access mini lessons created using this technology at the library or at school. The only impediment I can speak to is the time it takes to produce these stories. I'm sure the amount of time will decrease with practice, but implementing this type of project in my classroom on a regular basis will need to occur slowly and purposefully.
My personal thoughts on the final version of my Digital Story were mixed. I found the overall presentation to be effective but some of the details needed more work; specifically, image quality and voice over. The nice thing about these issues is that they can be easily remedied by access to time and equipment. Photoshop technology could be used to crisp and sharpen the textual content or HD quality scanners could be used to obtain the same results. Voiceover could also be incorporated to accent the factual elements of the presentation. Also, more time "playing around" with iMovie will also allow me to enhance my presentation skills for this platform.
Now, for where the rubber meats the road, my students' reaction to my Digital Story. Forty-two of my students viewed my Digital Story and their responses were very encouraging. All of them liked the imagery and music and many agreed that narration would have improved their experience to some degree. All students were able to discuss elements of the story and to use details from it to participate in the ensuing class discussion. Most of my girls found the music scary and the boys commented that they liked the pictures of things "blowing up." The three most popular slides were the ones of the polar bears, the fish, and the culminating slide; these prompted many questions, comments, and discussions about what could be done to limit the effects of global warming.
With that in mind, the benefits of this technology include promoting classroom discussion while also providing students with a medium they can easily interact with. Although many of my students do not have access to technology at home, they can access mini lessons created using this technology at the library or at school. The only impediment I can speak to is the time it takes to produce these stories. I'm sure the amount of time will decrease with practice, but implementing this type of project in my classroom on a regular basis will need to occur slowly and purposefully.
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