Module 5

Digital Story Telling - "The modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling"...I like that quote - very much intended for the 21st Century Learner. And I think we'll continue hearing that phrase thrown around for the next few years or so - we, as teachers, need to focus our teaching on that of the "21st century Learner"

...and I loved the "Hefelumps" - what a great way to satirically display many teachers anxieties and apprehension when teaching with computers. As they say - "it is the way of the times".

Once again, I refer back to my trusty MacBook, when I say I have used digital storytelling in the past. iMove and iDVD have been great tools for me in terms of displaying photos, creating movies and composing music. I spent hours last year creating a digital photo story for my Year 6 class to take away with them as a final farewell to primary school, only to be presented with the incompatibilty of Macs and PCs - unfortunately my kids missed out and I learnt my lesson.

Since this occassion, I am yet to give it all another go - however, the amazing Year one team at our school have created some excellent retells of Fairy Tales through Microsoft Photo Story.

The only problem I can see arising though, is, as usual, time constraints.

Photos need to be scanned and uploaded before calling up each individual child to record their voices in to the one microphone, before then having to wait for your classes IT Lab time to then all be working on the custom animation of their story - where have the teachers found the time to teach every other KLA spelt out in the Term's program?

So definitely, the benefits of Web Tools are extensive, but as I'm only learning all of this now, I think it will take time before all schools are equipped with the resources and professional development in-services necessary to accomodate the "21st Century Learner"!