Final Reflection of TPTE

At the beginning of this class, I thought I had a solid understanding of technology. I thought I know a lot about the many types of software available and the skills for using it. Over the course of the semester, I learned that there were so many things I did not yet know. I learned about creating digital stories, digital diagrams, flip charts for interactive whiteboards, and the skills to go along with these. One of the major things I learned is that technology can be useful even for working with young children. It can easily be embedded into an early childhood classroom. I can't wait to use some of the knowledge I gathered in this course in my future classroom.

My favorite thing I learned is how to make a flip chart. I can definitely see myself using those in the future to teach my students certain skills. I especially like the one I made about math concepts and
plan on using it in the future.

I think the most important concept this class taught me is how to troubleshoot when something goes wrong because technology is not always compliant. For example, when I was creating my digital story, my pictures were completely blurry when they loaded into iMovie from the cell phone where I captured them. After a great deal of troubleshooting, we finally figured out that when I e-mailed the pictures to my computer, the picture files were compressed. I also learned a lot about being patient with technology. It is those types of understandings that will benefit me in the future. I am thankful for this class because I now know so much more about technology.

 As a final wrap-up for this class, I created a website for my future classroom that contains all of the work or links to the work I made throughout the course. I am proud of the work I have done. I think my website embodies my hard-work well. The image below is a snapshot of a page from my course website about my favorite project, the flip chart.

 

Critique of U of Houston Digital Storytelling Website

The University of Houston Digital Storytelling Website is a great resource for learning all about digital storytelling. Upon entering the site, the layout quickly catches the eye. There is a nice balance between the use of bold colors and graphics to draw in the user. Many of the graphics are also helpful for explaining the information provided on the page. For example, the Getting Started with Digital Storytelling page provides a graphic that breaks down the process of creating a digital story. An image of this is included below. There are also quotes on many of the pages that relay the impact and importance of digital storytelling. After looking around the site, it is apparent that the pages are organized and easy to navigate, which makes it easy to decide where you can find the information you need.

In addition to the visual appeal and layout of the site, the quality of information it provides is fantastic. One particularly helpful attribute of this site is the actual abundance of information about digital storytelling. If you are not familiar with digital storytelling, the site provides descriptions, educational uses, the 7 elements it incorporates, the skills it builds, and more. Another helpful attribute of this site are the links to actual examples of digital stories. There are even options to look up examples by their subject categories, and there are many categories provided. Perhaps the best parts of this site are the how-to pages that describe each step of creating a digital story. These pages provide in-depth descriptions of all of the necessary information. This site also offers links to other sites where software for creating digital storytelling can be found. From learning, to creating, to sharing your digital story with the world, the University of Houston Digital Storytelling Website is a great resource.