Digital Storytelling - What would I do in my school?

The project based learning initiative that I would like to implement at my school is the training and utilization of moviemaker. One primary reason is because it is already installed on all of the teachers’ and school’s computers. Therefore, this initiative could be accomplished at very little cost to the school or stakeholders. This is a tool that is readily available, but most teachers have never used it before, so they just ignore it. I think that if I presented them a demonstration on how easy both the teachers and students could implement its use, we could get many teachers on board.

Another reason is the fact that it is very user friendly – high school students would not have any problem mastering its use. Students are bored with PowerPoint presentations, and as the state emphasizes NBI (needs based instruction), this is a tool that could be very useful. Not only would it be teaching technology skills to prepare students for the future, it also would provide kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners the learning style they require. Students could use this for journaling, presentations, group projects and class “discussions.” Once they become proficient, teachers could create interesting multimedia presentations in almost the same amount of time that it would take to write their notes for a lecture. Realistically speaking, teachers complain about students being apathetic and not interested in their classes. Well, here is one way for teachers to get their students interested, paying attention and learning in all subject areas.