So I am taking the plunge and having my students make digital stories. The next unit in my World Cultures class is Latin America and one of the lessons in the unit is the impact of the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. It is a lesson that connects geography, economics, and culture in the region. After presenting a slideshow from slideshare on the Amazon Rainforest (that received honorable mention in the best slideshow contest 2008, and happens to be very zen) to go along with a handout, students will use Animoto to create digital stories with pictures, text, and music. This will be a great way for me to apply and test what I have learned in CEDO 530 and see how students respond. They seem to be itching to do something more on the creative side and this project would seem to fit that. To hopefully make the project more time efficient I plan on placing them into groups to complete it. It may even be fun to view them as a class and vote on "best picture" or something along those lines. If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them...
As for the rest of the work this week I am looking forward to testing out Prezi. I've had several students make them for class projects but never have I actually made one. Students in my Government class are doing presentations and one group used Prezi, which I am excited to see. Most of the students I've had use Prezi really like it and make good presentations. I've truly enjoyed getting to implement the tools we have used in this program and my students seem to be more engaged when using them.
That sounds like an exciting class project and animoto would be a great way to create it.
ReplyDeleteDo the kids have any easy way to add their own audio or video or will they be using only premade internet sources?
As for awards, I would have them vote for categories like most informative or most creative. Being more specific then best might limit the just choosing their friends vote.