Week 6 Case Study - digital storytelling

Focus questions

1 - The students gain skills with digital storytelling that they would not gain from writing, for example, a research paper alone.  Being able to represent something visually points to a much higher level of comprehension.  Students can learn a lot about a topic by writing a paper (which should also be a part of a digital storytelling project) but being able to put together a story with pictures and video, which is shared with their peers; means that they understand their subject matter not just in a theoretical sense, but also in a practical, real-world sense.  They also gain skills in the areas of problem solving and critical thinking, because visual representation rarely translates directly from a thought inside your head to final product on the screen- there are a lot of hurdles to overcome with representation.  This is on top of the obvious skills gained by such an exercise of writing and technology interfacing.

2 - The teacher needs to be well versed with the technology, both software and hardware, in order to implement such a project.  He or she needs to understand the programs inside and out, and be able to effectively pass this information on to their students.  They also need a high level of understanding in order to have a high level of vigilance regarding the students using the computers and software in a productive manner.

3 - Digital storytelling can be used to help shy students 'come out of their shells' and express themselves in a non threatening environment.  They are putting themselves on display for their classmates, but in a more reserved fashion and in a way that would eliminate a lot of dread and nerves.  Also, it was excellent that the teacher in this case only had students present in front of their classmates if they wanted to, which gives more outspoken students a chance to present to their classmates.

Week 4 Case Study - Wikis and plagiarism

1.  Miss Walker could have handled the plagiarism situation differently by first outlining the severity of plagiarism, in addition to the steps she took.  If the students, after given the opportunity to revise, still had plagiarized passages, a zero on the project is more than realistic/ appropriate.

2.   Wikis can be appropriate for any grade level, as long as the project is at the appropriate grade level and students understand how to site sources.

3.  To ensure involvement of all students, assess individual participation grades in addition to an overall group grade.

4.  As stated in question #1 above, a zero for the project is an appropriate response if the students were given the opportunity to revise.  This of course depends on severity of the situation as well as the ability level of the students regarding siting sources.  One warning is more than enough though.

5.  Overall, this case study outlined all major concerns with wikis.  I believe that wikis can be a very effective tool in the classroom if all of these concerns are monitored.