documentary – iLearn Technology

Soo Meta: Digital Storytelling Tool

April 10, 2013April 15, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3081 views

What it is: Soo Meta is an awesome new site that lets students build mixed media stories. Students can use this storytelling tool to collect, sort, edit and publish web content easily.

There are two options for login, with name/email/password or through Facebook. For students who don’t have their own email accounts, you can have them login using a temporary inbox like Tempinbox (just type in a word or words followed by @tempinbox.com and you are in business!).

After students have logged in, they will be asked to enter a title for their new story. Then, they can search for videos, pictures, sounds and text or copy and paste their links into a new story. Videos can be trimmed and edited, pictures resized and text edited.

Soo Meta is incredibly simple to use. Just search the web, choose content to remix and off you go! You can also simply drag and drop content from your computers desktop to create something new.

When finished, just publish the story and you can share it via link on Facebook or Twitter or you can embed the story like I did above. (I literally spent a grand total of 2 min creating this story!)

How to integrate Soo Meta into the classroom: Soo Meta is a fantastic online tool for digital storytelling. It makes the process incredibly easy and the possibilities are limited only to your student’s imagination.

With Soo Meta, students can compile research on any topic or subject and create their own digital “textbook” of the learning to share with other classmates or students around the world. I love that Soo Meta combines the research component with the creation piece. So often students want to skip right to creation…with Soo Meta the two are so interdependent, it would be impossible to do one without the other!

Teachers can use Soo Meta to create learning stories for their students. Pull together various videos, pictures and articles and mash them up for your students. Embed finished video stories on a classroom website or blog.

Older students can create interactive video stories for younger “buddy” students. They can solidify their own learning of history, math, science, geography, etc. by putting together learning opportunities for younger students.

The storytelling aspect of Soo Meta is fantastic! Students can do story re-tells, current event mashups, historical documentaries, political commentary, science discoveries, etc.

Tips: Don’t be discouraged if your students are too young to create their own Soo Meta stories, create your own mashups for them to enjoy!

I’ve been nominated for a Bammy Award for Educational Blogger. I’d appreciate your vote to help spread the word about iLearn Technology. Vote here. Thank you for your continued support!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Soo Meta in your classroom.

The Future We Will Create: all the in-between important stuff

March 20, 2013Kelly Tenkely2 Comments21223 views

A few years ago I watched the documentary TED: The Future We Will Create. Being a fan of TED talks, I was curious to learn more about the behind the scenes of TED talks and how the conference came to be. I had heard snippets here and there that the TED conference was like a boys club…you had to have money and “be” somebody to get into a live event. The documentary pulled back the curtain a little on the intentionality of the way that TED conferences are set up. They are intentionally packed with entrepreneurs and successful people from various walks of life to bring together change makers. The actual speakers may not be well known (at least not prior to the talk), they have a limited time to speak, and they share an inspirational message. But TED isn’t really about the talks, TED is really about the talks that happen in between the talks. It is about those serendipitous moments that happen when people are exposed to a shared inspiration and then have opportunity to dream about it together. The magic is in those moments when people with different perspectives come together and share their thinking from that unique vantage point. It is really about the in between moments, that seemingly empty and unimportant time. TED does something else that I wasn’t aware of, they offer one TED speaker a “prize”. Only the prize isn’t really a prize (not in the way we typically think about prizes), instead it is that this person gets to make a wish. They get to cast a vision and a “what-if.” They get to challenge the audience to solve a problem that matters to them. Then comes the incredible part- these people actually use their unique gifts and talents and perspective to help make it so. World changing. A future that we create. Together.

As I was pulling together resources for our current inquiry block about “sharing the planet,” I came across several fantastic TED talks that could act like a catalyst for deeper thinking and additional curiosity. As I watched each video, I kept thinking about the behind the scenes, the in-between talks that aren’t documented. The change happening as a result.

Then it hit me, we could do this at Anastasis. We could watch these talks together, and then allow for the in-between talks. We could be intentional and let our students engage in the discussion, the serendipitous moments of one thing leading to another, and another. We could give our students time to just talk and wonder and discover together. We could narrow it down to 3 or 4 TED talks and provide our students with serendipitous in-between. We could open up the opportunity for our students to come up with the “wish” or challenge that the others would work to make happen. We could empower our students to go through this same process and then watch them use their unique perspective, gifts and talents to find solutions and dream up new possibilities.

I’m excited to try this. I believe that we are in the midst of genius every day at Anastasis. These kids are really incredible. I want to see what unfolds when we offer just a little inspiration related to our inquiry and then give them some space to just explore and talk. I want them to see that when hunches collide, BIG world changing ideas happen. I want them to understand that they are world changers.

Has anyone else done this with students?

I think that this will be a starting point. For now we will watch talks. Next year, I would love to have our students plan their own talks. I want to invite the best-and-brightest from around the world to come listen to our talks. I want to provide the in-between moments where change is enacted.

Stay tuned…

We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For

April 7, 2010Kelly Tenkely4 Comments3164 views

What it is: We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For is an inspiring documentary film that explores education in the UK and challenges us to dream of something more. Big names (Sir Richard Branson, Germaine Greer, Henry Winkler, Bill Bryson, and Sir Ken Robinson) share their experiences with education and offer new ideas for how education can be done. If you are in the UK, take advantage of the free DVD offer and get the full documentary to share with your students. Those of us not in the UK can enjoy clips of the film on the We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For website. There are several clips from the documentary and each of them will leave you inspired and thinking about how education can be transformed. The site also features some excellent games for students to play. The first game is called “The Test You Can’t Fail”. This little quiz asks students a variety of questions and gives them creative career paths to consider based on their interests. Many of these your students may not have considered and will give them insight into the places they shine. The second game is called “Future Me”, it is a Bebo App that lets students predict their friends future.

How to integrate We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For into the classroom: If you can get the documentary for your classroom, do so. Be inspired by the documentary as a teacher, but also share it with your students. They need some inspiration for their education and future. This film is sure to offer plenty. If you aren’t in the UK, share the webisite clips with your students. Challenge them to think differently about education. At first, they may struggle with this task (the way my students did), they expect that there is one right answer. This is a sad statement about what education has been up to this point, we have primed them to believe that there is only one right answer with a myraid of tests and worksheets that have told them it is so. Have your students take “The Test You Can’t Fail” quiz, it leads them through a variety of questions and activities. Students tell what their favorite subject is, swat or save a fly, order grocery items in order of price, connect a video game to the Internet and TV, choose what to do when they get lost, design a t-shirt, memorize a phone number, and arrange a computer desktop. When students are finished they are given a list of things they are good at, some surprises (things students may not know about themselves), and thoughts about possible career paths. It seems to work well, my results were education, computers and IT. 🙂 So I guess I am on the right track! Talk with students about their results. Do they agree/disagree? Were their items on their list that they hadn’t considered? It is good to dream with students, it gives them aspirations and goals for the future and lets them know that they aren’t the only ones dreaming.

Tips: In the “About the Film” Section, students can watch videos and read bios of the students that star in the documentary.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using the We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For in your classroom.