Digital Storytelling using the iPad

For my literature review, I chose this Webinar, Digital Storytelling using the iPad. (http://simplek12.com/tlc/on-demand/storytelling-ipad/)

Sam Gliksman, the founder of the iPads in Education Website, (http://iPadEducators.ning.com) is a Director of Ed. Tech at a California high school.   In this Webinar, he discusses the potential of students utilizing iPads in the classrooms.  The forum for his website is populated by roughly 3,000 teachers and administrators who discuss their opinions and methods about this opportunity.

 He tells us that Digital Storytelling is about the passing of information, whether factual or fictitious, from a teacher to student or even from a student to another student. It is a means of expressing knowledge through images, video, audio, etc.  In the beginning of this Webinar, he took a quick survey of who currently uses an iPad in their classroom or school, 56% of the viewers were currently doing so.  iPads are quickly becoming popular for school use because they are simple and easy to utilize among both teachers and students.

Digital Media is important in our current society because many children love technology, it keeps them engaged and interested in education.  Technology has always shaped education but for centuries, education has been text-based.  This method is cost-effective and simple; however, students are inundated with technology outside of school and quickly grow bored with textbooks, lectures, and frequent quizzes and tests about said textbooks and lectures.  With Digital Storytelling, a teacher can keep these students interested and active during their time in school.  Gliksman described a few different iPad Apps which students can utilize in order to create digital media. 

By using the iPad camera, his students were able to tell a story by using a single picture; these were called Student Photo Projects and both he and other teachers have been using this function of the iPad to help keep their students active and engaged in learning.  This helps students turn an abstract concept into something real; which they can actually touch and show to other students in the classroom.  One possible science project could be to go outside with your students and have them take pictures of trees, leaves, rocks, bugs, etc. and later on, research and analyze these pictures in order to better understand who or what lives in our environment.  Another possible project could be to have your students take pictures of various objects and identify their shapes with their corresponding geometric shapes.

Personally, I was interested in his 2^nd iPad App called Lifecards.  In this App, students are able to use up to 4 of their own photos and design their own Postcard.  The Postcard could also contain text, maps, images, stickers, effects, etc.  If I were to use this App for my future students, I could have them write to various historical figures and “tell” them about their accomplishments, achievements, and their effect on our current time.  In order for students to better understand Caesar, they could ask him what his life was about, whom and where did he fight across Europe, what activities did him and other Romans enjoy, etc. and then later, research and analyze him by library research or internet research. Since these are the students own questions, I’d assume that they’d be interested in discovering the answers.  Gliksman suggested students using 1^st person narratives on say, a travel around the globe with Marco Polo or Columbus experiencing the wonders of exploration.

By listening to this Webinar, I learned how the iPad can effectively promote student learning in the classroom by actively engaging students; rather than just being lectured to and being told to take notes for future quizzes and tests. With this new information, and the iPads in my classroom, I could increase my students’ interest in learning through using this technology. Going forward, my teaching practices could change even more because Apple releases newer and newer Apps for the iPad; Gliksman reiterates, throughout the entire Webinar, that iPads are effective for students’ learning because students are able to easily use the technology to learn and express themselves through the various visual, media, and audio functions.  Lastly, I believe that I, along with other future teachers, would be able to share this information from Gliksman’s Webinar easily through discussing the potential of utilizing iPads in the classroom.  

    

               

#1 - Demonstrate the understanding of how technologies can effectively promote student learning.

#2 - Evaluate and use a variety of current technologies to enhance content instruction and to

advance students' technological literacy.

#5 - Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices

related to digital information and technology.

#7 - Demonstrate an understanding of the use of adaptive technologies and other digital resources

to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student.

#8 - Evaluate, adapt and reflect upon emerging tools and trends by participating in local and global

learning communities and by reviewing current research and professional literature