Session 2

Task A

What role does digital storytelling play? Is it a resource or an activity, or something else?

Digital storytelling is the culmination of the fusion of traditional storytelling with modern technology. In education, its purpose is to stimulate students to create their own videos using research and personal experience.

It serves as a reflection of their knowledge and ideas and when effectively used highly engages students and the audience on the topic. It is an activity that requires students to research, select resources, develop multimedia skills, and involves collaboration and presentation. Furthermore, it causes students to select resources, but is not a resource in itself for the developer of the story. In fact, digital storytelling only acts as a resource for the audience to whom the story is being presented to.

Therefore, it can be concluded that in principle, digital storytelling is an activity.

Task B

Look at the video development process. Now, think about digital storytelling. Can you adjust this process to be suitable as a framework to guide students to develop their own digital video projects? What is your proposal?

The digital storytelling video process development for students needs to be evaluated when being incorporated for students. Prior to assigning them a project certain information must be provided in advance. This includes:

·       Provide students with the rubrics (understand standards to achieve)

·       Prepare FAQ list of glitches students may encounter while using software

·       People to contact when in need of assistance

Stage	Actions
Analysis	·       Determine the project (topic) and purpose ·       Give students a template – as a form of support to guide students in the process of analyzing, designing, developing and implementing their video ·       Software to be used (iMovie/ Camtasia) ·       Timeline for completion of digital video ·       Target audience evaluation (demographics, knowledge level of subject to be introduced) ·       Workload analysis and division (clearly defined roles and responsibilities of all team members) ·       Content analysis (access, analyse and evaluate) ·       Proposal document (sent to teacher to receive feedback)—in sync with the learning outcome/ given scenario and task
Design	·       Develop storyline and script ·       Develop the storyboard ·       Design specification
Develop	·       Collect and develop media (video, audio, animation, images, etc.) and clear any copyright issues ·       Author, edit and test final product
Implement	·       Upload and share the video link via the class webpage / forum
Evaluate	·       Summative evaluation – Presentation is made to audience and is evaluated by the teacher. A grade for the Presentation is counted towards the course grade. ·       Peer evaluation (series of comments – presentation, content, quality of media). Audience can share their views and comments. ·       Group assessment - every member of the presenting group evaluates the other members of the group.

Task C

Select one of the tools you think is great for your students to use to develop their digital video through digital storytelling process. Test the tool and tell us about it.

An extremely useful software to develop digital video content is called “Final Cut Pro X” made by Apple. Although it is an expensive software to purchase, apple provides it to students at discounted rates. It has all the tools one would require to for editing, adding audio, and delivery mechanism. It has many advanced and futuristic features such as VR Headset playback and 360-degree graphics video editing and effects. It also enables students to add captions without requiring an additional software.

The only drawback to this software is that it can only be installed and used on Apple manufactured computing devices.

Task D/E

Visit each of these and report how useful they are. Single out one that you think is the most useful.

Portal	Comments
School Tube	It is a video community dedicated to student from kindergarten to high school. All content generated by students is moderated by teachers. Not useful as its target market is American schools and education.
Blip (Disney DDN)	The website provides access to open source software from the Walt Disney Company. Most of the software is for advanced video developers and applications. Not useful for students unless they want to collaborate and provide content to Disney.
MIT Tech TV	Access to the website requires a ‘valid’ user login and is not open for free registration.
Jisc Media Hub	A paid service from which various types of multimedia across different subjects can be purchased. Not useful for students.
BBC Motion Gallery	This website consists of videos on many subjects. The videos are rights-cleared and need to be purchased. They are pre-produced and many are dedicated for educational purposes. Useful website to source content for videos.
ITN	A UK based service providing high quality video content from ITV News and Channel 4 News. Not useful to students studying in Hong Kong.
YouTube	The most popular and powerful video sharing network at present. Very useful for students to view and share content. Covers a vast number of subjects to learn from. Very useful for students.
BUFVC	It is dedicated to students studying in British universities, and provides knowledge on screenplays and film-making. Not very useful.
Teacher Tube	It is a website akin to YouTube albeit for educators to share resources, such as audio, video, reviews, etc. Very useful for teachers, but not students.
Vimeo	Vimeo is a video-sharing website where students can upload, share, view video. It specializes in short films and movies that can be purchased on demand. Useful for sharing short clips.
Flickr	The YouTube equivalent for photos. A useful sight to share photos through albums, captions, etc. Useful for students especially in younger grades.
Khan Academy	Free online resource for students to self-educate themselves from short lessons through YouTube videos. Available in many languages. Very useful for students.

I find YouTube to be the most useful resource for digital content. It contains more video and audio content on a single source than any other provider. There is content on almost every subject on the planet. The website allows individuals to upload and share content which can be accessed from almost every major platform. It is a free service and is one of the world’s most popular sources for information. It is for these reasons that I find it to be the most useful resource.