Week 9 Blog: What's your story?

What's your Story?

Everyone has a story they want to share.  Their experiences, their reflections, and their thoughts are just screaming to get heard.  In this blog, I'll not only give you programs you can share your story on, but ways you can collaborate and hear others.  I'll also give you another way to share the adventures burning inside!  Let's see how you can share your story. 

This week, we were asked to read chapter 4 out of Untangling the Web by Steve Dembo and Adam Bellow.  In this chapter, they discussed a few different of social networking tools. The first one that really stood out to me is the one we use in our class this semester; Edmodo. This program was launched in 2008. It is a place for teachers to bring their classes to collaborate, complete assignments, and even take quizzes.  This digital classroom also sends alerts and shows your progress/grades. 

The next one that was discussed is one of the most popular social networking sites in today's society is Twitter.  This is simple and to the point! Only 140 characters per post! The great thing about this microblog is that its an easy way to make connections all over the world.  What you put into it, is exactly what you will get out of it.  

The last program mentioned that really stood out to me was TodaysMeet, which is where teachers can create private communication boards for students to come together and collaborate.  This program has the potential to change the dynamic of the classroom and enhance learning processes.  This is beneficial for the students so they can ask questions inside and outside the learning environment.  Teachers can also have students answer questions during a movie on this as well.  TodaysMeet also has a time limit for however long the facilitator wants it to stay open.

Earlier in the week, we also learned about some amazing tools to create a digital story!  We had the opportunity of learning from Hannah Clemmons, Jonathan Wylie, and Shannon McClintock.  Hannah, from LaunchPadToys showed us how to use Toontastic to create our very own cartoons! Super easy to use!  You just select background, character, and you just move your characters as you narrate the part.  You can also add music if you want to create that emotional level as well. 

Following was Jonathan, who showed us how to use animoto. This is a very easy and straight-forward program to use.

Furthermore, was Shannon, who showed us how to use flipsnack and storybird!  Flipsnack is more about adding an already existing file, such as a pdf or Google presentation and adding from there.  As for storybird, it is an artistic way of storytelling!  Very good for younger students to use to show their understanding of concepts. 

Lastly, Professor Calderwood told us about Voki. Voki is like virtual people that you can make talk.  It's actually really neat and easy to use! There are also many more apps and programs that are easily accessible.  Let's see what kind of stories you're able to create! Goodluck!