Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Technology Annotations


Technology Annotations

 Title                        Salient Point/Finding                                Implications                

Web 2.0 Visual Organizers - presentation
Web_2_0_Visual_Organizers_0.pdf (756.957 Kb) 
This presentation is design to explain how new technologies can enhance the arena of visual organizers.  A visual organizer is a way to visually represent knowledge, concepts or ideas. 
They help to: “ Relieve learner boredom, enhance recall, provide motivation, create interest, clarify information, assist in organizing thought and promote understanding.”


They can take many forms, including Venn diagrams, T-charts for compare and contrast, relational organizers, story and word webs and so on.  Which kind of organizer to use will be determined by what kind of relationship or concept you want to illustrate.

The presentation then outlines a history of visual organizers and then outlines why visual organizers seem to work.  This seems to be because they help learners connect the known and the unknown symbolically and intellectually.




















The presentation closes with an in depth look at a variety of websites or application which appear to be extremely useful for constructing visual organizers of all types, including concept maps, wire frames, site maps, network charts, and so on.

I think this is a very valuable presentation because of the variety of resources outlined in the second half.  I will definitely be hanging on to this one in order to refer back to it when I am creating graphic organizers for use in the classroom.

Tell a Story Become a Lifelong Learner
digitalstorytellingebook.pdf (2.348 Mb) 



Appears to have been designed by Microsoft at some point in the last few years to promote use of their software to tell digital stories.  Has a good breakdown of how to create digital storytelling projects on a wide array of topics and at varying degrees of difficulty.  I like the way each project is presented with a variety of levels you can take it to, I think this would help teachers plan differentiated instruction for students in their class with varying levels of technology proficiency.

It describes different types of digital story including personal narratives, oral histories, and instructional photo essays.





  Has some great activities and lessons.  A good alternative to give to students who don’t have access to Apple hardware or software at home or at their public library but who would like to use the digital storytelling format to do work outside of class hours.

This document also links to a great number of other resources on digital storytelling and therefore it could be used a jumping off point for further investigation by a teacher interested in incorporating digital stories into the their curriculum



Buzz
Buzz.pdf (35.255 Kb) 

This article describes the popularity of digital storytelling as a classroom tool to promote meaning making and knowledge retention across disciplines at the University of Houston.

The article then outlines how this technology has been utilized in education classes as diverse as Art Education, Early Childhood Education, Social Science education, and so on.

Because digital storytelling can be applied to personal narratives, historical retellings, science-based narratives, and so many more avenues of learning, it quickly became very popular at this University.

The researchers conclude that Digital Storytelling is a multifaceted technology tool and that it has diverse applications in teaching and learning which are being newly discovered. 




One point made in the article which I will take with me is that digital storytelling can be used to take something amorphous and impersonal (like the civil war) and make it very personal and immediately engaging.  The person making the digital story choses who it will be told, what the words and sounds and images and video will be, and how it all goes together. This makes digital stories unique and personalized, which increases out engagement.  Humans are interested in other humans.  It is strange, but the designer’s mind shines through this technology based format and makes the content more humanly accessible.

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