Monday, January 30, 2012

Thing 2: Digital Storytelling

I poked around with several tools for thing 2, exploring how I might be able to use them in my library and school.  I tried out Knovio, and it looked really neat, and worked fine for my first test presentation, but when I went back to create a video to embed in my Prezi, it wouldn't record my audio and video.  I played with the settings, but it wouldn't come together.  I'll explore that one more later.  I think it could have real use for my teachers if we try the concept of flipped classrooms, which I've been hearing a lot about lately.  I also think it could work well for those students who are anxious about presenting or who cannot be present in a classroom when it is time to present.  I'm definitely adding it to my virtual toolbox. 

I signed up for a couple of other tools as well, including StoryBird, and will try those out in more depth in the future.  I've been meaning to try Prezi though, as I've seen some really neat Prezi's and really despise PowerPoint.  I haven't had time, so I decided that would be my tool.  I created a little Prezi using photos of my kids.  I wanted to try including a video, and had tried to do it with Knovio, but failing that, went back to my old friend Animoto and whipped up a quick video to include, just to see how it would work. I really dig the outcome and will try to incorporate Prezi into my prefessional work as well as using it with my students.

I am also really excited about the links to copyright-friendly images and sound and will add them to our library page listing those resources.  Yay for more resources!

Here's the Prezi I made: