The digital storytelling project was not the first time I have written a blog. In another one of my classes we respond to articles that we read for homework, and write a reflection with our opinions, ideas, etc. However, that differs from this class because those posts are individual, whereas the digital storytelling project was a collaboration project. I do not believe Google sites was the best way to complete this project. It took about 15-20 minutes to figure out how to edit the Google document, and only one of our group members could even get access to the page. Once we were in the page, it was easy to figure out how to add links, but our pictures were not showing up as we wanted them to.
In high school, we did an assignment similar to the digital storytelling project, but it was more formal. We worked in groups and wrote a definition essay. Each person in the group wrote a short essay on their own, and then we all went back and looked over each other’s papers, picking out details that we liked. This made it easier to get the final assignment done, and to make sure it was the best it could be. I think completing the digital story project similar to the way I did this assignment in high school would have made the project easier, and created a better end result. When we were writing our page, no one really knew where to begin, so we just began to ramble. We came up with it very quickly, and if we would have thought about it beforehand, it may have allowed us to include more relevant details, instead of just adding in random thoughts.
I believe the struggle with this assignment this has to do
with the differences between digital medium and print medium. When given a
digital assignment, it makes me feel like I can just go ahead and write an
entire paper, then go through on the computer and reread it, eliminating and
adding parts to make it stronger. In high school, I learned that this is not
the best method, and it is better to do editing on a printed version of the
story. Extensive editing is better done on print medium in order to have the
original version to compare to edited versions. This also allows you to review
notes that you or others have left. Erasing something on the computer and
typing something new doesn’t reflect how much editing has really been done, or
how much the first draft has changed from the final paper.
The digital story project is much different that writing an
analytical paper because it does not require as much preparation or reliable
information. Both the analytical research paper and the digital assignment
begin with an idea. However, the ARP then requires extensive research in order
to support your idea and add credibility. A creative writing assignment doesn’t
require much research. Once you have your idea, you can continue to add details
to make it more interesting, but no actual facts are required. The assignment
could be fiction or non-fiction. This is
different from an ARP, which is almost always non-fiction.
I do not believe any stories from class influenced the
digital storytelling assignment. Our group was one of the last pages, so we had
to base our page off of what was already written. I found that the story was
based on more on a dramatic television show, i.e. Lost, rather than any story that we read in class. Overall, I think this assignment had multiple pros and cons. I liked how you had to continue the story off of someone elses idea. This allowed for everyone to include some of their own creativity, but the story was still structured. I did not like completing the assignment on Google sites. If you have never worked on it before, it was confusing and it did not offer much guidance. I think the assignment could be improved by finding a simpler site that everyone can get on to work on this assignment.
You said that in high school, the teacher had everyone in the group write out their own ideas before meeting with each other. I agree that this would have been a better way to go about this digital story project. That would have insured that everyone’s ideas would have been shared. You would be able to get the best ideas from everyone instead of just a few ideas from each person. My group, however, didn’t have much trouble with the Google blog site. I thought this was a very effective website to use for this assignment. We were able to add links fairly easily.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about the complications that arose when trying to figure out how to use Google sites. Luckily I had been a little bored before my group decided to meet, so I logged on and spent practically fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to do everything. I also agree with what you said about the difficulties we encounter when trying to edit pieces of work online. I do not like typing up everything that is wrong with a paper. I honestly enjoy editing papers that I have a physical copy of and can mark up with an evil red pen.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that using Google sites was not the best way we could have done this project. My group also spent almost 15 minutes trying to figure out how we could add a page. Then, when we finally found out how to edit the story it took at least another 5 minutes to figure out the correct way to insert a hyperlink. I do not know what my group would have done if we were first because we used the previous pages as examples when trying to understand how we were supposed to do things. With a better site and a little more direction I think this project could be really fun.
ReplyDeleteI also had problems trying to work with Google to work on the digital storytelling project. I never did figure it out, because our group met in person and one of us had figured it out so we just worked off of the person’s computer. I did like how the groups had to work off of the group that wrote a page prior to them. I had never worked on a project that did this before so it was a really cool experience. If a different site, one that would be easier and user friendly, was used then it would have been a lot better.
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