PHSgeek Digital Story: Story Core and Story Map

Central Challenge

• Do we ignore technological waste and inefficiency, or do something about it?
• If we do something about it, do we just address our own needs, or the needs of the larger community?
• Note: "We" is the Pacific High School community - staff and students.

Challenges and Character Transformation

• How will we deal with unknowns as they come up?
• Will anyone donate computers? Will people donate too many computers? What about donations that are too old or nonfunctional to work?
• Will students want to do the work required to make the computers reusable?
• Will the district continue to support us as the project grows?
• Will we ostracize businesses that sell new computers?
• Will we have enough school time to carry out the project
• Will students learn enough academics through the project?
  

Resolution

Current benefits of the program:

• Refurbished computers that work better than existing school computers;
• Students who can refurbish computers on their own;
• Students who are using refurbished computers in their homes;
• Students who want refurbished computers;
• Members of the public who want refurbished computers and are being referred to our school;
• An improved reputation for our school in the larger community;
• Continued donations.

Ambitions as the project continues:

• Continuous donations accepted, rather than donation windows;
• Distribution of refurbished computers to students and the public;
• Sale of computers, appropriate uses of funds from sales, fund ongoing electronics recycling for the community;
• Best donated computers stay in the school, so school's technology infrastructure is steadily improving;
• Publicize our work with the goal of replicating the project in other communities.

Story Map

Article Assessment #1: Ohler, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, Chapters 5 & 6

Overview

Chapters 5 and 6 of Digital Storytelling in the Classroom by Jason Ohler describes an approach to digital storytelling that helps storytellers create compelling stories. The goal is to create digital stories that demonstrate growth in characters, and avoid episodic stories that are simply a series of loosely-related events. These chapters discuss the story core, story maps, and briefly mention story boards. Story cores describe the central challenge that poses a problem for the main character, the tension and transformation that the challenge brings about, and a resolution to the challenge. The story map ensures that the story has emotional significance by mapping out the rising tension, struggle, and resolution that the main character goes through. The storyboard lays out the events and scenes in the story, along with technical notes to carry out the media work effectively.

Reference Points

• There are no formulas or rules in effective storytelling, only guidelines.
• Without a meaningful, significant problem or challenge to overcome, a story can rarely be compelling.
• The story core must be compelling before students begin doing media work; before they begin recording, compiling clips, and editing.
• Thinking in story core terms can help make school board and community presentations significantly more compelling. "What transformation do they [the school board, members of the community] need to undergo?"
• Many digital story rubrics make the mistake of being entirely technical. Thinking in story core terms, and basing rubrics on story map concepts, can avoid this problem.
• Requiring only a storyboard can produce technically proficient, but emotionally empty digital stories.
• The strongest stories bring about lasting changes in the audience as well as in the central characters of the story.

Reflection

While reading these chapters, it was easy to recognize how I and my students will create more compelling digital stories through the use of story maps. I have seen many projects in school that have little significance because they are episodic and lack tension or a central challenge. This even explains why some science and math writeups lack impact. If students focus clearly on the problem to which they are applying science and math concepts, we develop interest in their work. When there is no compelling problem to solve or challenge to resolve, we just see a bunch of operations or a bunch of facts or investigative steps. I look forward to applying the concepts of the story map to different kinds of content-focused work, and to a variety formats such as lab writeups and math investigations, as well as digital stories.

I also particularly like the emphasis on the universal application of story maps. Ohler makes the point that many school board and community presentations would be significantly stronger if the presentation were mapped out to include a strong challenge, period of tension, and resolution. I have been intending to make a presentation to our school board about our computer refurbishing project. If I had done that presentation before this reading, I would have made an interesting but fairly dry presentation about what we are doing. This reading makes me realize I need to focus as much on showing why we are doing the project, not just telling the board why we are doing it and assuming the significance of the problem is understood by everyone. I believe my final digital story, which will be presented at the April school board meeting, will do this well.

Reflection - Educational Philosophy Video

My educational philosophy video can be seen on youtube.

I really enjoyed this project. I have wanted to learn simple video editing for a long time, but have never put together a project. The process was fairly straightforward, and I have already been talking with students and colleagues about what kind of video projects might be worth pursuing. One possibility is the use of videos to create user guides for the software we are using in the PHSgeek project. The use of video screen capture programs, rather than just screenshots, would make this work interesting to students.

I completed this project using entirely open source software. I used kdenlive for the video editing, and found it easy to use after reading one tutorial. The program was not as polished as something like iMovie, but after reflecting on the question of which software to use with students I come back to the principles of open source. It's not about price, it's about access. If we can make high-quality video projects with programs like kdenlive, we can install the software on any computer in the school without any concerns about licensing issues. Even more important, anyone with a computer at home can make videos on their own time. This is a huge benefit of open source software, and the field of video editing is one where this is likely to be significant. Not many students are going to write a paper at home for fun because they can use an open source word processor, but many students might try their hand at video editing if they have unlimited access to the technology.



There are technical aspects of this video that I could improve, but they are easy details to address in subsequent projects. For the purposes of this project, having simply put all the pieces together to make an edited video was a significant step forward for me, and one that I will use with students shortly.

Reflection - Energy Project Presentation Video

The video recording of my Energy Project slideshow presentation can be seen on youtube.

After twelve years of teaching,I am quite comfortable speaking to groups of almost any size, and any age. That said, it is always good to reflect critically on presentation style.

I feel my presentation focuses on clear communication. I always strive to be honest about my level of understanding of the current subject, understand who my audience is, and gauge their ongoing level of understanding and interest in the subject. I use tools such as slideshow software to facilitate a two-way conversation, rather than simply perform a one-way delivery of information. I try to set up presentations that allow for flexible delivery; every slide in the presentation does not need to be shown, and every section of the slideshow does not need to be presented. The structure of the presentation, particularly the use of a navigation bar on every slide, means these decisions can be made during a presentation with no interruption of delivery by right-click menus or by returning to the design mode to find a particular slide or section of the presentation. This also means that one slideshow can be used for many different audiences, for different levels of depth and different presentation lengths. One presentation can be used in front of students, colleagues, the school board, and the public, always choosing to share appropriate sections for the current audience, and easily skipping over levels of detail that are not appropriate to the current audience. This also means that questions can be taken mid-presentation, without causing any difficulty by taking a nonlinear path through the material being presented.

I have found two things most valuable in preparing this presentation. The first is the chance to focus on this particular material. We have been so focused on the technical work of refurbishing computers and learning new software programs, that we have not dug too deeply into the specific environmental benefits of the project. The research for this presentation helped lay the groundwork for a deeper understanding of this work, and will lead into some independent study opportunities for students, or an entire science or social studies class focused on these issues. The second thing I gained is a better understanding of how to share files online. It was frustrating to sort out file format issues among the different sites. I found I had to convert my files to PDF format in order to post them effectively. I will sort out some of these technical issues and begin to use these file sharing sites with students and colleagues. I look forward to the way these services can enhance the collaborative atmosphere we foster at our school.

Energy Project Sideshow

My energy project is about PHSgeek, a program I have started at Pacific High School this fall. We accept donations of old computers, and students learn to refurbish them by installing the Ubuntu Linux operating system and a suite of open source software. The project is causing students and a number of adults to rethink the role of technology and school in everyone's lives. For some students, the concept that any program we use in the project at school is fully available to them at home is eye-opening. Students who have not done homework in years have started to do "school work" at home because technological barriers have been taken down, and school and computers have been made fun again.

The project and slideshow presentation focus on the environmental benefits of this project. The spreadsheet that I made for the project examines the impact of scaling up the PHSgeek project, examining the amount of hazardous materials that can be removed from the waste stream or disposed of properly. The project could expand by processing a higher volume of computers, or by serving as a model program that other schools can replicate.

The presentation includes one feature I feel all slideshows should have a website-style navigation system. This is simple to implement, and breaks the presenter out of the linear-presentation mode that slideshows tend pull people into. For example, it is easy for a presenter to respond to questions if there is a navigation system on-screen that does not require a right click menu to access, and it is easier for audience members to see the overall structure of the presentation.

I have had some trouble getting the slideshow and spreadsheet posted with proper formatting online, so I will sort that out shortly and post the links. The spreadsheet should now be visible, but you will probably need to play with the zoom buttons on the right side of Google's pdf viewer. The slideshow is also visible now, although the navigation bar at the bottom does not work in Google's pdf viewer. If you want to see how the navigation bar works, you can download the pdf file and the links should work.

Article Assessment #3: Ohler, Orchestrating the Media Collage

Ohler, J. (2020). Orchestrating the Media Collage. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Orchestrating_the_Media_Collage.aspx


Overview

In "Orchestrating the Media Collage", Jason Ohler describes literacy as an evolving concept that goes beyond the reading and writing of text. He describes the need for students to be able to make a "media collage" composed of writing, sound, images, animation, and any other relevant media that develops. Ohler points out that newer forms of media demand new forms of literacy, and that these new forms of media are usually participatory and collaborative. The lag time between a new form of communication being "read-only" and when it becomes "read/ write" is shrinking as well. Ohler goes on to list eight insightful guidelines for teachers in working with this concept of evolving literacy.


Reference Points

• The ability to integrate multiple forms of reading and writing into a meaningful whole is a sign of fluency.
• Literacy is an evolving concept. Being literate means being able to read and write "in the media forms of the day, whatever they may be."
• A shift from text-focused work to media-collage focused work is appropriate. Students can and should represent their learning, curiosity, and creativity in a way that combines multiple modes of communication.
• Traditional essay writing and the visually differentiated writing of the web should support each other, not work against each other in school.
• Highly creative, effective writing is the foundation for most new media, if it is to be done well. That writing is not the end product, however.
• Art concepts are essential to effective literacy in its multiple forms.
• The report-story continuum offers a rich opportunity to explore areas of interest.
• People need to develop literacy both with and about digital tools. Learning how to use digital tools is not enough. Students must also learn when to use them, and the consequences of their use.

Reflection

This is one of the more insightful articles I have read about the overall changes in education related to the collaborative nature of the internet. One quote near the end of the article caught my attention in particular: "The fluent will lead, the literate will follow, and the rest will get left behind." A teacher who understands the changing nature of literacy and learning can help students become fluent in existing media forms, and comfortable with the unknown changes that will come. Effective teaching and learning is an ongoing intellectual challenge, and one we should all embrace for the opportunity to significantly improve our practice.

Article Assessment #2: Richardson, The Read/ Write Web

Richardson, W. (2006). The Read/ Write Web. Retrieved November 28, 2009 from www.corwinpress.com/upm-data/10848_Chapter_1.pdf


Overview

In "The Read/ Write Web" Will Richardson discusses the evolution of the internet from a primarily one-way platform to a collaborative tool. Richardson considers the earlier internet one thtat focused on reading, while the current version of the internet balances reading with writing, the consumption of content with the production of content. Richardson discusses specific examples such as Howard Dean's use of blogging in his 2004 presidential campaign, and the use of blogging in language arts classes. He lists the tools of the collaborative internet including blogs, wikis, RSS, social bookmarking, online photo galleries, and audio/ video casting.


Reference Points

• The original intent of the internet, according to the people who created its early structure, was to make a collaborative environment.
• Students today are not only readers and writers, but editors and collaborators of online content.
• There is an important distinction between publishing and managing information. Anyone can publish information online, but it takes a more critical mindset to manage information effectively.
• I would like to begin using wikis and social bookmarking with students.
• I would like to learn more about the Children's Internet Protection Act, and research effective filtering practices. Overly restrictive practices take away much of the collaborative nature of the internet. Anyone who doubts this should try working behind a filter that blocks all blogs and Google Images.
• In the first video, Richardson calls writing on the internet "connective writing". I like this way of thinking about the difference between writing that stays in the classroom and writing for an online audience.
• Richardson also says we "read as editors" online, taking information from less polished posts.
• Richardson says, "I don't save anything on my hard drive anymore," and adds that he posts everything online to facilitate collaboration. This seems to be an exaggeration; it is hard to imagine he wrote a book through an entirely transparent process. This form of exaggeration misleads people who look to Richardson to help them understand how to use the current version of the internet.
• Richardson quotes Clarence Fisher, who speaks of "thinly-walled classrooms". This metaphor sounds better than the more commonly heard "classrooms without walls". Some walls are important, but recognizing the need to go beyond them is important as well. Fisher's phrase captures the balance we should all be after.

Reflection

At first I found little of significance in this article. The internet has become steadily more collaborative over the last five to ten years, so many of these concepts are not very new. It was interesting to rethink the long history of the internet, however. At its beginning the internet was fully collaborative, fully read/ write, because everyone using it knew how to share content. As the audience expanded, many new users started out as "read-only" users. So the "evolution" towards a read/ write web is really a return to a more level playing field for most users.