Maine Learning Technology Initiative

The slides for the July 28-30 Consultative Model sessions are posted here:

• The Consultative Model — Day 1: Context and Introduction
• The Consultative Model — Day 1: TPCK + SAMR: An Introduction
• The Consultative Model — Day 2: Curricular Development
• The Consultative Model — Day 3: The TPCK/SAMR Process Diagram
• The Consultative Model — Day 3: TPCK Resources for Vocabulary in the Context of Teaching The Call of the Wild
• The Consultative Model — Day 3: Assessment

For those people interested in the Consultative Model, a 5-minute introductory presentation can be found on iTunes U.

Many forms of digital storytelling rely upon the incorporation of powerful soundscapes as a crucial ingredient. Indeed, soundscapes can in and of themselves constitute digital narratives — but to do so, they must be carefully constructed. We will look at some of the elements that go into creating great digital audio, including music, voice, and environmental sound, and the tools and practices that translate them into a finished product.

Joining this Webinar:
This webinar will be offered twice on May 20 — once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm.
To register for the webinar, please click on the following link: Registration.
If you have not participated in one of these sessions before, guidance and support regarding how to access these webinars is available by clicking on the following link: Support.

Comics and video provide rich possibilities for digital storytelling; however, neither affords the viewer opportunities for interactive exploration. Interactivity allows viewers to delve deeper into different portions of the narrative, and choose their focus according to interest and necessity. Can this type of flexible narrative be created without extensive programming experience? We will see that in fact, it can, and look at two very different toolsets for doing so.

Joining this Webinar:
This webinar will be offered twice on April 8 — once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm.
To register for the webinar, please click on the following link: Registration.
If you have not participated in one of these sessions before, guidance and support regarding how to access these webinars is available by clicking on the following link: Support.

Bringing images to life in video effectively involves more than just sequencing them in a slideshow — it requires an understanding of how the language and techniques of film interact with the processes of digital storytelling. We will look at this interaction, and use the knowledge derived in two applied projects: one that focuses on using still images as its sole raw material source, and a second one that brings video shot on inexpensive pocket camcorders or computer webcams into the mix.

Joining this Webinar:
This webinar will be offered twice on March 4 — once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm.
To register for the webinar, please click on the following link: Registration.
If you have not participated in one of these sessions before, guidance and support regarding how to access these webinars is available by clicking on the following link: Support.

My thanks to everyone who attended the Images In Sequence webinar. Here are links to the recorded sessions and websites mentioned in the sessions:

Session Recordings and Slides:
Afternoon Session Recording: http://stateofmaine.na4.acrobat.com/p70522594/
Evening Session Recording: http://stateofmaine.na4.acrobat.com/p30587134/
Session Slides: click here to download

Toolkit:
iPhoto: http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/
Acorn: http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/
Comic Life: http://plasq.com/comiclife/

Three Nontraditional Webcomics:
Randall Munroe — xkcd
David Malki — Wondermark
Emily Horne & Joey Comeau — A Softer World

Photo Source Sites:
morgueFile: http://morguefile.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/

Additional Scott McCloud Resources:
The “Big Triangle”: http://scottmccloud.com/4-inventions/triangle/index.html
Comixpedia’s Summary of the Six Panel-To-Panel Transitions: http://www.comixpedia.org/index.php?title=Panel-to-panel_transitions
Brandy Agerbeck’s Illustration of the Six Panel-To-Panel Transitions: http://www.loosetooth.com/Art/Work/mcad.htm
Comixpedia’s Summary of the Seven Word and Picture Combinations: http://www.comixpedia.org/index.php?title=Word_and_picture_combinations

A Few More Webcomics to Look At and Analyze:
Kate Beaton — Hark! A Vagrant
Evan Dahm — Rice Boy
Josh Neufeld — A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge
Phil & Kaja Foglio — Girl Genius
Aaron Diaz — Dresden Codak
Kazu Kibuishi — Copper
Dale Beran & David Hellman — A Lesson Is Learned, But the Damage Is Irreversible

Sequential art – more commonly known as comics – marries images and text to create a completely new narrative space, with unique storytelling possibilities. However, like all narrative spaces, it also has its own unique grammar, with rules that need to be understood and incorporated into the creative process for stories to make sense. We will look at some of the key rules of this grammar, and put them in action as part of the process of creating webcomics.

This webinar will be offered twice on January 21 — once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm.
To register for the webinar, please click on the following link: Registration.
If you have not participated in one of these sessions before, guidance and support regarding how to access these webinars is available by clicking on the following link: Support.

From “Once Upon A Time” to “Happily Ever After”, every child knows the “proper” way to tell a bedtime story — and woe be unto the narrator that knowingly or unknowingly deviates from the expected framework. Some narrative frameworks have utility that goes well beyond soothing sleepless toddlers, though: these frameworks will form the focus of this session. We will also see how to integrate them into a digital toolkit, and how to use them as a basis for collaborative digital storytelling.

Joining this Webinar

• This webinar will be offered twice on December 3 — once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm.
• To register for the webinar, please click on the following link: Registration.
• If you have not participated in one of these sessions before, guidance and support regarding how to access these webinars is available by clicking on the following link: Support.

How simple can a digital story be? Does it always require text? Audio? Could it be as simple as… five images? We’ll look at Five Card Nancy and Five Card Flickr, and see what they tell us about the structure of digital stories and how to use them in the classroom. Then, we’ll refract the “five card” approach through the lens of the Center for Digital Storytelling’s “seven storytelling elements”, and construct a (very) short story that effectively integrates images, audio, and video.

Joining this webinar

Make sure to choose the correct time for the webinar you want to attend and click on the link provided:

Thursday, October 22 – 3:15pm Webinar: http://stateofmaine.na4.acrobat.com/mlti102209a/

Thursday, October 22 – 7:15pm Webinar: http://stateofmaine.na4.acrobat.com/mlti102209e/

Please follow these steps to connect to the meeting:

• Click on the link for the webinar you want to attend.
• Enter your name in the box when prompted.
• In order to listen and speak during the meeting, you will need to be connected by telephone as well as the Internet. To help you connect by phone, a box will appear asking for your phone number so the Connect conference room can call you back. If you have a telephone with a direct-dial phone number, please accept this option, enter your phone number, and we will call you right back.
• If you have a telephone with no direct-line phone number (if your phone is only reached by a switchboard), please click on CANCEL when the call-back box appears, then dial-in to the meeting using this access combination:
  • Dial-In: 1-800-201-2375
  • Pass-Code: 714892

To participate in the web conference, you will need:

• a computer with a broadband connection to the internet (Cable, DSL, or WiFi); Dial-Up will not work!
• Adobe Flash Player (Flash 7 or later) installed on your computer; most computers already have the Flash Player installed – however, if yours does not, or if your Flash Player is in need of updating (version 6 or older), you can download the player for free from Adobe by clicking on this link: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?promoid=BUIGP; this is a safe and quick download.
• An open phone line; we recommend using a hands-free headset or speakerphone.

Tell me a story.

In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.

The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

 

Robert Penn Warren, Audubon: A Vision

At the heart of every meaning-making attempt, whether in the sciences, the arts, or the humanities, is the desire to tell a story. A remarkable development of this digital age is the capacity to bring together in the storytelling process text, sound, image, and movement in a plurality of ways that augment and strengthen each other, and that would have been impossible or prohibitively expensive in an earlier era. Digital Storytelling, then, is just that: the set of practices, current and potential, that bring together different media digitally to produce meaning in powerful ways.

Side-by-side with the development of digital storytelling is the set of tools and methods that comprise the creation of each of the different types of digital media. The skills associated with digital media production go well beyond the technical: good digital video requires more than just knowing how to hold a camera and the ins and outs of iMovie, it also requires a knowledge of the grammar of the moving image.

Throughout this blog, and associated podcasts and webinars, we will be looking at various aspects of the digital storytelling and media production process. By way of introduction to these goals, let me wrap up this post by highlighting two digital storytelling resources:

• An introduction to “classical” digital storytelling by Joe Lambert, one of the pioneers of the field, and Executive Director of the Center for Digital Storytelling.
• An article I wrote in 2008 on alternative approaches to the teaching of digital storytelling.