CEDU 531 Session #4

We discussed rubrics in the last class, which is helpful. Also, we podcasted. I had never podcasted before and I thought this was really cool. Now I actually have an account in Gcast and am able to podcast, which I think is pretty cool. I would like to learn more about different types of podasts, as well. I can see how podcasting would be helpful in education. There are many ways that teachers and students could use podcasts. For example, teachers could post their lectures via podcast to their blog or website so that students could listen to them later.

I am somewhat concerned about the individual digital story that we need to have completed by next week. I want to come up with a story that is somewhat compelling and interesting for people to watch and listen to.

CEDU 531 Session #3 - Storytelling Elements

A few of the storytelling elements jump out at me when considering them in a classroom setting.

I think we always need to keep the point of view of the students in mind. They're thinking, "Why do I need to learn this?" sometimes and "I'm bored - I've been sitting in chairs all day listening to teachers." We need to keep in mind what it is like to be students and to always present a clear purpose for what they are learning.

Emotional content. The more students are emotionally invested in what they are doing, the more effort they will give. If the teacher can somehow appeal to students interests it will probably make the learning process more productive.

Pacing. I think lessons, depending on what the subject is, need to be well paced and include a variety of activities in order to hold students' interests and to appeal to the variety of learning styles.

Connections - CEDU Session #2

Well, I think there was quite a bit in session #2 that I could apply to my teaching. Voicethread is a cool and relatively user friendly tool. This could be used as a one lesson activity, whereby students could create a short presentation to show the class. It could also be part of a larger digital storytelling project that is integrated into the curriculum.

The information on copyright and Creative Commons is very important and teachers should always try to respect intellectual property. After all, educators are trying to promote creativity in the classroom. Teachers should practice and promote the ethical and fair use of copyrighted works.

Using Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

There are several ways that I could use digital storytelling in my teaching. Digital storytelling would lend itself very well to booktalking, where I could really make books come alive. Showing students how to find and use resources in the library could be aided with the help of some digital storytelling. I could just imagine making some funny digital stories involving teachers and students that show how to find books or use the patron catalog. It might even be possible for students to create their own simple digital stories on everything from books that they've read to trips that they've taken or just to describe themselves.