Digital Stories

    Last week, we watched everyone's digital stories in class. I thought they were great. Everyone in the class produced a working product, in my estimation, that reflected a professor's writing process in an interesting way. Thus, my opinion of the assignment was admittedly heightened after seeing the final products. I especially enjoyed to see how people made an interview into a story. Most of the projects were fairly straightforward considering how they dealt with the narrative aspects of making the digital story, while others used a bit of creativity to convey the writing process in such a way. It was especially interesting to see which stories used special animation and / or music to enhance a particular aspect or concept they were attempting to convey. Based on class discussion, it seemed that the majority of the class wanted or expected to hear music or placed emphasis on using special effects or some other sort of technology. In my opinion, the stories that did not use these features were generally prepared equally well - they were simply different stories, which is a good thing; this variety further enhances understanding of both the logistical aspects of the assignment and encourages a deeper understanding of the writing process.
     In terms of tutoring students, I am a bit nervous in terms of teaching others how to use (or how to struggle with) technology, but I am fairly confident I can encourage students to develop ideas about their topic and translate these ideas into what might be realized in digital form.