Tag Archives: Tumblr

365 Days of Glass – Seeking Student & Teacher Suggestions!

I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus since the end of #ETMOOC because I’ve been busy brainstorming and trying to prepare for Google Glass! In late March I heard that my Twitter entry was chosen as one of the winners for Glass, which means I can be one of the lucky users to integrate this:

… into education!

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited. I think there will be innumerable opportunities to re-examine classroom design and space after seeing things from the eyes of a student and to hack professional development by making it easier to stream events from one person who is out “in the  field” or who simply wants to record her or his own teaching without a lot of imposing accessories.

While these and other ideas are percolating in my mind, waiting for my notice from Google saying I can come pick up Glass, I have chosen one idea in particular to focus my energy on right now. That idea is to try something different with Glass every day for one whole year but I want these ideas to be innovative, creative, and unbiased by my own knowledge of what tech can(‘t) do … so I’ve decided to ask the kids! I created a new blog space on a platform (Tumblr) that I thought would be more conducive to short, image and video-heavy posts once I start using Glass and there I’ve posted a form for students and teachers to submit ideas. So, I will be starting 365 Days of Glass – Inspired by #IfKidsHadGlass!

Glas form

To make this project work, I am looking for submission from students (and teachers) around the world because I would like a global perspective on how I can use Glass in education and with my own students. I’m particularly interested in ideas from young children (Pre-K to 2nd grade) since those are the ages I work with most often but the form is open to anyone! Please pass this project on to any educators and students you know around the world so I can collect as many suggestions as possible! 

You can follow all of the project updates on my new site!

 

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Picture Poetry – More #ETMOOC Digital Storytelling

After experimenting with the 5 Card Flickr Story this morning, I wanted to try another medium that would allow me to more easily integrate text and images. I was reminded of a free app I had downloaded quite a while ago but never fully explored: Visual Poet.

This app lets you choose three images from Flickr, Google, Tumblr or your own photo library. Once you select an image, you can decide what portion you want to include in your story and then you can tap and add text on top of the image. You can then add a title, auto-insert credits for the photos you use, and add some comments about your story. From the app you can publish directly to Tumblr or you can email the story. The app hasn’t received very good reviews so I’m not sure if it works well on every device but I didn’t have any problems when creating my stories.

I tested two different ways of using the app. First, similar to the 5 Card Flickr Story, I made a story with the first images that came up (See The Cottage below) with I went to search for images. This required some spontaneity and creativity but less reflection.

The Cottage

Then, I tried creating a story with more purpose and forethought. I searched specifically for images relating to ed tech to start my story and then for images that matched ideas relating to where I wanted my story to go (e.g., possibilities, perspective). I consciously sculpted my story, searching for images that I felt could convey the concepts I was looking for without narrowing my search by topic (I used the “Today’s Interesting Photos” option in the Flickr search). This broadened my photo selection to images that I might not have considered otherwise and prompted me to progress down new paths as I developed my story. At first, I imagined my story ending with something about collaboration or sharing but when I saw the camera image, I loved the idea of saying something about the importance of perspective. And so I ended up with a story about ed tech, one that I had a fuzzy idea of when I began and a different understand of when I finished.

Anything is Possible

Photo Attribution:
Original imagery for panel one by Anonymous/Unknown
Original imagery for panel two by Neighya (Elné)
Original imagery for panel three by danska8

Has anyone else used Visual Poet for digital storytelling? What do you think of this method/medium?