Digital Storytelling

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Digital Storytelling in Education
February 7, 2012 – 12:06 pm | View Comments

Bringing Social Media And Digital Storytelling To Jordan’s Public Schools

After having worked for so long in Jordan’s educational sector, it was good to be back to a Jordanian public school again. This time not as a student nor as an evaluator, but as a trainer to introduce students and teachers to the possibilities that digital storytelling can offer in the education field. In coordination with the Jordan Education Initiative, 7iber held two digital storytelling workshops to demonstrate the use of  blogs and multimedia content like audio slideshows. The first workshop was held for 15 students from the Princess Rahmeh Public School, and the other for ten teachers from  both Princess Rahmeh and Al-Shifaa Bint Awf Schools. One would have never expected the energy and enthusiasm coming from teachers and students sitting through an after-school training, where the only incentive or motivation offered is self-development.

Public schools teachers are challenged with meeting what the Ministry of Education promotes as “21st Century Learning”, especially in the face of big constraints like intense curricula, maximized classroom sizes and limited Internet, and computer resources. However, these constraints have also served to inspire them to look for learning opportunities beyond the borders of their schools and classrooms. How can these digital tools help out in the classrooms of Jordan’s public schools? For teachers, using tools like blogs or producing content like audio slideshows can even help reduce the class time needed to offer students feedback on their assignments and projects. Teachers noted that students generally shy away from engaging in self expression and participation in front of their peers. Thus, teachers viewed digital storytelling as a tool to encourage and build higher standards for constructive dialogue and critique between peers. Most teachers in the workshop agreed that utilizing blogs and multimedia creates an opportunity to move away from traditional teacher-students paradigms to increased students-students interactions.

It was surprising to know that despite the participants’ daily access to Internet, they never heard of “blogging”. Students even wondered outloud how they could have missed such a common communication tool, especially given the fact that it has been so influential throughout the region. Thinking about how blogs might help “spice up” their learning process, students found blogs a great tool for group-based projects where they can communicate and share ideas without having to physically be in the same place. Some of them expressed their willingness to anonymously blog about educational realities that they would otherwise shy away from expressing.

Most interesting was the way teachers and students separately looked at the issue of credibility of information presented on blogs given their independent nature. Students were more excited to publish anonymously in order to be able to speak their minds. On the other hand, teachers were more concerned about “controlling” the open commenting and contribution environment of blogs to assure appropriateness of content.
By the end of the two workshops, most teachers and students started their own blogs and produced a total of five audio slideshows, applying both the basic concepts of storytelling  and photography. One of the produced slideshows done by teachers can be accessed here..
لقاءات و حكايات : مخيم حطين ٢٤ -١٢-٢٠١١
January 16, 2012 – 7:26 am | View Comments

كانت المرة الأولى لي في مخيم حطين، كل ما أعرفه عن هذا المخيم أنه على طريق الزرقاء. لكني تفاجئت أنه على بعد عشر دقائق فقط عن دوار المدينة الرياضية. ذهبنا لقيادة اللقاء التصويري السادس …

Discussing Gender in Aqaba
December 13, 2011 – 9:28 am | View Comments
Discussing Gender in Aqaba

7iber hosted a meetup in Aqaba, in association with the Princess Basma Youth Organization to discuss gender, storytelling and produce stories about these topics. The meetup was hosted as apart of a larger project with …

لقاءات و حكايات: الجامعة الأردنية ٢٩-١٠-٢٠١١
December 7, 2011 – 2:36 pm | View Comments
لقاءات و حكايات: الجامعة الأردنية ٢٩-١٠-٢٠١١

كان اللقاء الثالث لمشروع “لقاءات و حكايات” مع طالبات وطلاب السنة الرابعة من قسم اللغة الإنجليزية الجامعة الأردنية يوم ٢٩-١٠-٢٠١١.  كان على الطلاب إنتاج فيلم ضمن مساق “نظريات نسائية معاصرة”.  في بداية اللقاء تعرف المشاركون …

A Thriller About the ‘Weird Loneliness of the Internet’
October 26, 2011 – 6:57 am | View Comments

Who says you can’t tell a story using only the Internet? This (very) short film is an Internet Story filled with mystery and suspense. The setting? The bizarre world that is the Internet. From online …

Blog Action Day: What The World Eats
October 16, 2011 – 1:44 pm | View Comments

In honor of Blog Action Day 2011, where the bloggers all around the world are talking about food, or the lack there of, we bring you a photo essay by Time Magazine based on the …

لقاءات و حكايات: لقاء عجلون ٨-١٠-٢٠١١
October 13, 2011 – 6:48 am | View Comments

في اللقاء التصويري الثالث لمشروع ” لقاءات و حكايات”،  اجتمعنا مع ١٢ شاب و شابة من عجلون ممن لديهم الرغبة في رواية قصص المدينة أو القرى المحيطة بها سواء كانوا يعيشونها يوميا أم شاهدين عليها.  بدأنا في التحدث عن مشاكل المنطقة بشكل عام و القصص …

The World’s Largest Stop Motion Picture, Shot On A Phone
August 4, 2011 – 7:20 am | View Comments
The World’s Largest Stop Motion Picture, Shot On A Phone

Put together three Nokia N8′s a crane and a beach, and what do you get? The largest stop motion video ever shot, and all of it done with the 12mp camera that the N8 comes …

Time Magazine’s LightBox: Capturing Stories Visually
July 20, 2011 – 9:17 am | View Comments
Time Magazine’s LightBox: Capturing Stories Visually

Time Magazine has recently launched a new blog by its photo editors called LightBox, where it explores the impact of photography on the stories that define the world today.

“This blog will be our opportunity to …