It looks like something worth exploring! I know I’m going to…Dave

The guy that started it all, Dana Atchley, had an untimely death. Others have kept his work alive and these “older examples” are still some of the strongest digital stories we have. Visit his Next Exit site and do a little exploring  http://www.nextexit.com/drivein/driveinframeset.html

Examples
Here are some other digital story links to help you get a sense of what this process can produce for you and your students:
http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/pages/listdigitalpe.html#cat1
http://www.storycenter.org/index1.html
http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/ProDev/BAWP/OaklandUSD/OLA/ProDev_Summer06/
http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/ProDev/RCWP/DS2006/
http://www.storycenter.org/canada/index.html
http://storiesforchange.net/
http://www.digitales.us/

Music and images are so vital to the production! Here are a few sites to help you find royalty-free media. I can’t list these links without a short soapbox rant - it’s always best to create your own sounds, music, images, and other media!! OK now (without added guilt) feel free to browse through these links:

Music & Sound Effects
Music in Production Library format. Dave’s favorite “canned music” site (if you don;t have Garage Band to create your own) http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
Sound Dogs used to have free samples, but QT Pro may be needed to capture the samples now http://www.sounddogs.com/

Images
ImageBase at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco http://www.famsf.org/
http://www.bigfoto.com/
http://www.freeimages.com/

 Here’s a PDF file of a Storyboard Template used by Dana Atchley to help others create digital stories. This kind of scaffolding can be considered a pre-production, and production tool.

My observed outcomes of “belief transformation” means I’ve been willing to engage in the challenging work of examining and shaping beliefs - even though it tends to move at a pace that is frustrating and maddening for those of us seeking reform. But I’m committed to classrooms, and teachers, that demonstrate a belief in student-centered learning.

A recent article in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education, an ISTE publication, helped me step back and consider the way beliefs are shaped and changed. It presents evidence that raises a sort of “chicken or egg” question. 

Authors Sung Park and Peggy Ertmer conclude that, “Changes in intended teaching practices may be an important first step in changing teachers’ beliefs regarding technology use and future teaching practices” (p. 259). This is an encouraging finding for anyone working with classroom teachers. Their finding aligns with conclusions from my own research that suggest the context (institutional expectation, opportunity for reflection, shared stories, etc) is perhaps the most critical element of technology integration in learning systems.

I know this is a rather “intellectual post”, but maybe that’s the contrast I’m trying to illustrate. We can engage in the intellectual work, examine beliefs and analyze research without waiting to engage in solid classroom practices. And perhaps doing them hand-in-hand will actually result in the faster adoption and authentic use of meaningful integration practices? This dual approach has short-term and long-term implications for the learning environments our teachers design for students.

Although Willard Daggett advises “evolution, not revolution” I want change to come quickly! I know this will not be the case, so what I really want is to invest time, energy and resources in a manner that produces an authentic difference in what we do.

 That leads me to the notion of how we spend our “curricular energy”. I wonder if we’re putting tremendous effort in the wrong direction. If US students suddenly surged to become the highest math achievers of any nation in the world would they have any better chance of landing a job when competing in a global economy? As professor Young Zhao asked in a conference in July, “what knowledge is most valuable?”. I parapharse the question for the title of this post.

Seymour Papert points to the same issue in The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School In The Age Of The Computer. On page 63 he observes, “Progressive educators do not see themselves as offering an alternative way for students to learn the same list of items of knowledge. They value a different kind of knowledge.”

Before I get a record number of (angry) comments I want to acknowledge the tension between core curriculum and 21st century skills/knowledge. I am not saying we should suddenly abandon our core curriculum (not completely anyway). I’m saying we have tipped the balance heavily in it’s favor - for far too long. Depth, not breadth, is a must!

So what do you know? What kinds of knowledge matter most? How can our outdated, yet deeply entrenched, system of curriculum and schooling respond to students in a relevant way? How can we create schools that will help our students to thrive in the years ahead?

We are re-aligning the grades of our middle and high schools, and this provides an opportunity to develop a revised program of study. All this background to pose a question for our conversation…

What should an 8th grader be able to know and do with technology when they exit our middle school?

 ISTE’s National Educational Standards for Students (NETSS) provide a great framework, but I’m interested in the less formal, in-the-trenches answer that you might have in mind. Our digital natives are bringing increased skills to the table, how will we respond?

A new Google tool I recently discovered (and can’t wait to share with our staff) is the custom search engine. You decide which URLs are being searched when your students enter their keywords. This is great for elementary grades, or a secondary class that has a specific project or topic to explore!

I found about this site from the Head Of Class section in Edutopia. What I like most is how QuickMuse makes the process so visible to students. I looked at a Poem Playback from Rick Chess. Very cool.

I hope the QuickMuse site will inspire you to get creative with your students’ writing - or your own teaching. As always, I look forward to your thoughts, reactions, and responses.

TeacherTube appears to keep the best notions of motion video, collaboration, and knowledge sharing and package it in a moderated context for a school audience. TeacherTube certainly holds out a broad challenge in their slogan, Teach the World. I resonate with the notion that we can change our world, but I’d be ecstatic to just change our K-12 system in the United States.

It’s unlikely that our students will abandon You Tube, but at least while we’re in school we can access similar resources for our own learning. I’ll be searching the site for some great examples. Maybe I’ll make my contribution to teach the world and post something on TeacherTube myself?

Zamzar does the conversion for free and emails the resulting file directly to you as an attachment. The 100MB file limit is more than reasonable, and the conversion options are plentiful - including .mov and .wmv options for video files.

The site will convert all sorts of media files, but the feature that really piqued my interest was the news that Zamzar will convert YouTube movies! I suspect your district is like mine - YouTube, MySpace, Google Images, etc. are all blocked. The tension between safety and teaching students how to use these resources responsibly is a topic for another post.

But for now Zamzar will allow you to login from home, choose the video you need, and email the converted file to your account. I think it will be a popular tool. Don’t forget to cite your sources when you use the videos during your lessons!