Sunday, February 22, 2009

Once Upon A Time...

Stories, telling stories, hearing stories, creating stories...? Great! I love this stuff; I am good at this stuff. I have always been the storyteller in friend circles, I have a Major in English Literature because I love stories, I teach every single day with stories. But wait, their is rules to this stuff, like not to have too many rules, but enough rules. There are good ways to utilize stories and ineffective ways to give "slide shows of vacations". Today, Keynote speaker Dr. Jason Ohler shared his own story, of being a learner, an instructor, and the power of story telling. He was full of wonderful ideas and slides of structures, but what resonates with me (always in these sorts of things) is his story, and his deep personal belief in the power of others stories. It makes me want to help others share their stories more effectively and in new and exciting ways. It also makes me wonder how I can share my story in these new technological ways.

So... here I go... Step One.

Literacy.... consuming and producing the media forms of today, whatever they are. They need to be able to write whatever they read.

This statement, subconsciously, was my biggest motivating factor for taking this program. I can no longer write what I read. My news, relationships, and relationship with information in the world has changed significantly, thanks to the internet and my iPhone. So my huge need to communicate with others and the world (ENFP) drove me to engage in technology despite my best reservations.

There were so many great technical ideas about writing and the steps to writing, and I have included a few key notes I took from the presentation below, but as i do, I tend to take in a wholistic impression of the address, because that is how I make it mine. For me, the most important part of today's learning was to recognize that he is a story teller... and the focus of his presentation was how to tell a story... the technology was a tool. This idea is coming around again and again these last few months... I like that.

OTHER THOUGHTS FROM HIS PRESENTATION WORTH CONSIDERING
Digital Literacy Guidelines

1) Shift from text-centrism to new media collage

2) Value writing more than ever.

3) Adopt art as 4th "R"

4) Follow DAOW of literacy (Digital, Art, Oral, Written)

5) Attitude is the aptitude

6) Practice private and social literacy

7) Develop literacy about digital tools

8) Fluency, not just literacy

9) Harness bot report and story... embrace story.

Stories need to have transformation... somebody needs to change.

Good problems allow for transformation... the story of the process of learning naturally creates these problems and solutions.

A story will lack good production... often a good production lacks a good story.

Use story maps... not story boards

Be a door opener...

Can't comment on all of them but my favorite point he made was story first, technology second.

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