Create Your Own Vlog

I found this project on CNET site about creating your own vlog. It is in the form of a vlog. Another great site that has a tutorial is freevlog. Then I stumbled across this vlog from the TILT(Teachers Improving Learning with Technology )site that Julie Matz worte to us about. Scroll down the page till Episode 14 "So you want to be a videcaster?". Of course I haven't found the time or courage to start my own vlog on my blog. I keep thinking of this article I read Thinking of video blogging? You should probably forget it by Penelope Trunk. I mean all I would vlog about is the topic of vlogging although I find the topic to be interesting I am not sure if my vlog would be good. Well maybe one day soon I will gather up the nerve and vlog,vlog, vlog until then it just me and my good old reliable blog.

iTunes, Apple Applications and Education

This week the topic of discussion was iTunes. You can access music, television shows, movies and podcasts from the iTunes store.On the iTunes podcastand education website there is a link on the left side that will open your itunes application. There is a podcast about creating a podcast.




Apple is an bringing education to a new level with all their wonderful applications such as iphoto, imovie, garage band to name a few. There are some wondeful movies created by K-12 schools on the apple website for social studies, language arts, math, science, and other, using these applications. It inspires me to see the possiblities.

Oh a Vlogging We Will Go

The second topic I will be blogging about is Vlogging. Vlogging is just like blogging but with video. When a vlog comes to mind I think of Rosie O'Donnell since she has a blog that she vlogs on. I never really go to that site but I will say when I was on maternity leave 6 years ago and she was raving about Mac computers and making iMovies of her family I was inspired to get Macs for my library. The a few years later we were given the Manhattan Borough Grant to do over the library. You could spend the money on anything but books so my inspiration became a reality. I know have a cart of 15 iMacs. I also ordered 28 emacs to build a technology lab for our students.

On my quest to search vlogs I came across this vlog about the iphone on this site http://www.webpronews.com/ I love the way they have vlogs on their site.

In this article I found this quote"Vlogging gives average citizens an audience and a chance to make their voices heard." However I believe that there is use for vlogs in the educational community. My quest is to now search for that perfect educational vlog and when I come across it I will let you all know.

As for now I must go and search and who knows during the next six weeks I will attempt to create a vlog that I can post on my blog. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Here is looking forward to the journey of vlogging.

Asia's Digital Poem

I just viewed Asia's Digital Poem about "How Much is a Life Worth?". This digital poem was powerful and I know will reach out to my students in East Harlem. The article of how Asia's digital poem came to be is on an archived section of Voices of Urban Education. She did this project with Digital Underground Story Telling for Youth (DUSTY) located in Berkeley, California. I can't wait to show this to my students in the fall to show them the possiblities of digital storytelling.

I also found this insightful article about Co-authoring identity: Digital storytelling in an urban middle school by Alan Davis. It mentions Digital Underground Story Telling for Youth (DUSTY) and other afterschool programs. A must read for anyone interested in creating digital storytelling in their school.

Digital Storytelling as a Reflective Portfolio

I was searching for more interesting information on digital storytelling and I came across this this website electronicportfolios.org created by Helen Barrett. Dr. Barrett's paper on "Digital Sotries in ePortfolios:Multiple Purposes and Tools" is a must read I really like the linking of digital storytelling and electronic portfolio. She used her grandaughter Victoria and made a digital story using only her voice and iPhoto to create the story. There are other interesting examples of digital stories on this site that have inspired me.

Gloria will be happy to know that this site made us of mapping to get the point across.about ePorfolio and digital storytelling. I love that on the map there is an arrow pointing to digital storytelling and it says"Strategies that promote Intrinsic Motivation to maintaing the process for Lifelong Learning. " That to me is the goal of digital story telling with our students.

This site also has a page about "Creating ePortfolios with Web2.0 Tools". It is a very useful website. This was all so foreign 6 weeks ago and now I really can see the possiblites. I guess you can place me in the Lifelong learning catergory anyone want to join me.

Once my collbrative technology digital storytelling project is completed my students will have their first electronic portfolio. Hopefully something the students will look back at with a smile Iknow mine will be from ear to ear.

Digital Storytelling and Apples iMovie

For the collabrative technology project my team and I want to make possible an iMovie. Today while searching I found this directory of additional digital story resources from the University of Houston College of Education I mentioned in my very first posting on Digital Storytelling. Did I mention I love that site. That led me to this site about iMovies in Education. Today I tried my hand at the opening title to the iMovie about the Sistine Chapel project. I worked with 3 fifth grade students who seemed more interested in producing a PowerPoint presentation on this project. Who knows maybe we will do both. I must say that they are very motivated about digitilizing this project and so am I.

Introducing Surface by Microsoft

Professor Ross Todd emailed us the other day about the new Surface computer that is being developed by Microsoft. I am in awe of this new computer and I bit shocked that it is Microsoft and not Apple that is producing this innovation in the the digital world we live in. We discussed in our IST 611 class how this would be great to have in our schools for the little ones, ESL and disabled students. I can envision my library tables will one day become equipped with Surface computers and the PS108 library will be changed forever. I want to thank Professor Todd for making us dreamers of what our world can become.