DIGITAL STORYTELLING ASSIGNMENT

The digital storytelling project was both fun as well as frustrating. But, I must admit, the fun out weighed the minor complications I experienced tweaking the piece. As someone in class had mentioned, hands on learning (at least for me) is the best way to learn how to use any software application. Going over digital stories before certainly helped drive home the many and diverse applications of editing tools like Movie Make.

There is a degree of truth in the power of images. In the context of education and instruction, the power of images has currency when shaping young minds. Likewise, the combination of images with a voice that is telling a story can evoke interest and, maybe, stir the soul. It is this convergence of stories/story telling and digital multimedia that can have a powerful application in education. The delivery of instructional content can certainly be enhanced through this medium if done well. Most importantly, I see an opportunity to make education more “interactive” for student personal development, in addition to its academic potential.

By including this digital stories/story telling into a curriculum, students can not only learn hard technical skills—how to use technology, as well as traditional academic subjects. But, students can learn other important “life” lessons (soft skills like interpersonal and communication skills) that can be built on as metaphors by the educator. For example, patience, prioritizing, meeting dead lines, and attention to detail are just some of the elements of movie making that I had to grapple with when finalizing my story. Also, the student can learn something about themselves, their peers, and home/community under a “supervised” and directed environment. It is this aspect of the learning process that I think is the most important learning experience of them all—when the individual learns something about themselves, or if they are lucky enough, learn something about who they want to become.

In the end, students may forget that ever escaping calculus formula or that chemistry theorem when they leave the halls of academia. The triumph, I would say, would be to prepare students for the responsibilities of the “real world” with both academic and technical skills, as well as interpersonal and social skills they learned throughout their school years. I think digital story telling is a positive and innovative step in that direction.

Instructional Technology Implemented

The university experience is one of immense challenge and diversity. Other than graduating, getting a job is one of the few common aspects of our collective experience. This summary documents the University Career Services’ (UCS) use of technology as one of many tools. The website, http://www.career.virginia.edu/, is the core technology discussed.

The UCS is located in Bryant Hall by Scott Stadium. Upon entering the hallowed halls of UVA football ubermen, the job seeking student is welcomed by a reception area, career materials, and several rows of computers. UCS managers and career counselors are responsible for providing support to students seeking internships, job training, jobs, and other employment opportunities. To this end, UCS representatives heavily invested in a website as part of the entire career services process.

The UCS website is one of many resources that are made available to enhance students’ job search. It serves as an easy to use portal through which individuals can access an enormous database of dynamic information. This particular technology attempts to provide timely access to the appropriate information. Thousands of job listings and career information is useless to the student who cannot get through all the content and get the right information. Since access and content outweigh volume, a well organized website is the best solution here.

Can a career website be classified as instructional technology? Also, how can this particular website be used for instructional purposes? Having been introduced to instructional technology, I’ve come to realize that there are many means to incorporate instructional technology in business or professional organizations. The career service center can be considered a bridge between academia and the business sector. So, the answer to the first question is yes. Instructional technology is being used in this case.

The answer to the second question can be answered in a variety of ways. Since this paper focuses on student need and core UCS services, the immediate answer is narrower. The way in which the website is used for instructional purposes is presently textual. Several links provide students with best practices in writing resumes and cover letters, interviewing tips, and career information. It also acts as an on-line calendar and organizer, storage space for resumes and cover letters, rollerdex, and career guide.

Instructional technology, I learned, is not simply PCs and software in schools. But rather, IT encompasses a larger learning system. In this particular case, the career website not only connects students to the right job, but also to employers and hopefully the right career. A variety of multimedia technology being used here enhances the timely acquisition of leads, which materialize into interviews.

The UCS website, like all website has to be tweaked now and then, and other tools intergrated as enhancements. Some may argue that the home page is cluttered, but so is the university home page. Also, after the initial touch and feel, it becomes managable. Presently, given the variety of on-the-shelt career software available, the website is suitable for students job needs, offering a diversity of services and information. It should be noted that the technology is not designed to get the student a job, but rather get the student right sort of lead.

As a technology professional, I am always interested in the application and implementation of different technology solutions in business and professional organizations.

Instructional Technology Implemented

The university experience is one of immense challenge and diversity. Other than graduating, getting a job is one of the few common aspects of our collective experience. This summary documents the University Career Services’ (UCS) use of technology as one of many tools. The website, http://www.career.virginia.edu/, is the core technology discussed.

The UCS is located in Bryant Hall by Scott Stadium. Upon entering the hallowed halls of UVA football ubermen, the job seeking student is welcomed by a reception area, career materials, and several rows of computers. UCS managers and career counselors are responsible for providing support to students seeking internships, job training, jobs, and other employment opportunities. To this end, UCS representatives heavily invested in a website as part of the entire career services process.

The UCS website is one of many resources that are made available to enhance students’ job search. It serves as an easy to use portal through which individuals can access an enormous database of dynamic information. This particular technology attempts to provide timely access to the appropriate information. Thousands of job listings and career information is useless to the student who cannot get through all the content and get the right information. Since access and content outweigh volume, a well organized website is the best solution here.

Can a career website be classified as instructional technology? Also, how can this particular website be used for instructional purposes? Having been introduced to instructional technology, I’ve come to realize that there are many means to incorporate instructional technology in business or professional organizations. The career service center can be considered a bridge between academia and the business sector. So, the answer to the first question is yes. Instructional technology is being used in this case.

The answer to the second question can be answered in a variety of ways. Since this paper focuses on student need and core UCS services, the immediate answer is narrower. The way in which the website is used for instructional purposes is presently textual. Several links provide students with best practices in writing resumes and cover letters, interviewing tips, and career information. It also acts as an on-line calendar and organizer, storage space for resumes and cover letters, rollerdex, and career guide.

Instructional technology, I learned, is not simply PCs and software in schools. But rather, IT encompasses a larger learning system. In this particular case, the career website not only connects students to the right job, but also to employers and hopefully the right career. A variety of multimedia technology being used here enhances the timely acquisition of leads, which materialize into interviews.

The UCS website, like all website has to be tweaked now and then, and other tools intergrated as enhancements. Some may argue that the home page is cluttered, but so is the university home page. Also, after the initial touch and feel, it becomes managable. Presently, given the variety of on-the-shelt career software available, the website is suitable for students job needs, offering a diversity of services and information. It should be noted that the technology is not designed to get the student a job, but rather get the student right sort of lead.

As a technology professional, I am always interested in the application and implementation of different technology solutions in business and professional organizations.

DIGITAL DISCONNECT

Doug Levin’s group sums up the core issue in, “The Digital Disconnect: The widening gap between Internet-savvy students and their schools,” with the following sentence. Simply, “Internet-savvy students are coming to school with different expectations, different skills, and access to different resources.”

I believe that like all other instructional tools, student use of the Internet differs from teacher’s intentions or expectations. I guess what I am trying to say is that students find innovative, sometime ingenious, ways to apply the latest tools for both academic and non academic purposes. To some regard, student use of the Internet far exceeds schools and teachers’ defined guidelines. Students have, taking blocks and filters into account, direct access to a wider scope of information, content, images, and other material faster, in many regards anonymously.

The discourse of digital divide between students and teachers is not a subject that is entirely unfamiliar, nor is it new. Less than a generation ago, a similar debate surrounded calculator use in class and on tests. Some may argue that this example is a stretch, however, consider the facts. Schools and teachers integrate something new in the lesson plan, or introduce their students to a new technology. In most cases, it is to enhance learning. However, through exposure outside the school, many students are already familiar with the tool or technology.

The schools and teachers learn at the same time students pick it up from the outside. And since the student grape vine is more transparent than the opaque school communication system, the student outpaces the instructor’s learning curve. Of course, there is always that one teacher, tech-guru, who knows more than everyone. But, that is beside the point.

I think it is cool, cost effective, and makes common sense that students become Internet-savvy. It develops critical job and life skills. By doing different education-related work, they build on these skills. Also cool is that, students employ the Internet as a textbook and reference, tutor, virtual study group, guidance counselor, and storage (locker, backpack, and notebook).

To address the issue that, “schools and teachers have not yet recognized—much less responded to—the new ways students communicate and access information over the Internet,” maybe the grown-ups can conduct focus groups and collaborate with the students and integrate a dynamic lesson plan suitable, as well as appropriate to students. This would seem to make sense, at least to me since according to the authors of the article, “Students’ experiences, and those of their states, districts, schools, teachers, and parents, strongly affect how the Internet is adopted in schools.”

This is a very interesting article. More interesting to learn, would be how school and teachers reconcile the digital divide between teachers and students.

DIGITAL DISCONNECT

Doug Levin’s group sums up the core issue in, “The Digital Disconnect: The widening gap between Internet-savvy students and their schools,” with the following sentence. Simply, “Internet-savvy students are coming to school with different expectations, different skills, and access to different resources.”

I believe that like all other instructional tools, student use of the Internet differs from teacher’s intentions or expectations. I guess what I am trying to say is that students find innovative, sometime ingenious, ways to apply the latest tools for both academic and non academic purposes. To some regard, student use of the Internet far exceeds schools and teachers’ defined guidelines. Students have, taking blocks and filters into account, direct access to a wider scope of information, content, images, and other material faster, in many regards anonymously.

The discourse of digital divide between students and teachers is not a subject that is entirely unfamiliar, nor is it new. Less than a generation ago, a similar debate surrounded calculator use in class and on tests. Some may argue that this example is a stretch, however, consider the facts. Schools and teachers integrate something new in the lesson plan, or introduce their students to a new technology. In most cases, it is to enhance learning. However, through exposure outside the school, many students are already familiar with the tool or technology.

The schools and teachers learn at the same time students pick it up from the outside. And since the student grape vine is more transparent than the opaque school communication system, the student outpaces the instructor’s learning curve. Of course, there is always that one teacher, tech-guru, who knows more than everyone. But, that is beside the point.

I think it is cool, cost effective, and makes common sense that students become Internet-savvy. It develops critical job and life skills. By doing different education-related work, they build on these skills. Also cool is that, students employ the Internet as a textbook and reference, tutor, virtual study group, guidance counselor, and storage (locker, backpack, and notebook).

To address the issue that, “schools and teachers have not yet recognized—much less responded to—the new ways students communicate and access information over the Internet,” maybe the grown-ups can conduct focus groups and collaborate with the students and integrate a dynamic lesson plan suitable, as well as appropriate to students. This would seem to make sense, at least to me since according to the authors of the article, “Students’ experiences, and those of their states, districts, schools, teachers, and parents, strongly affect how the Internet is adopted in schools.”

This is a very interesting article. More interesting to learn, would be how school and teachers reconcile the digital divide between teachers and students.