Round 3 ( *boxing bell* Ding, Ding, Ding!)
What was your favorite topic, article or video? Why?
My favorite item from Module 3 was the article Using Twine as a Therapeutic Writing Tool for Creating Serious Games by Katryna Starks, Dakoda Barker, and Alayna Cole.
I think I was so drawn into this article and idea because I went to school for Creative Writing before coming back for Grad school and this immediately appealed to the writer in me. I had never heard of Twine, so uncovering such a great story telling tool was pretty awesome. Additionally, seeing the ideas of “serious games” and “therapeutic narratives” laid out with examples and detail was fantastic at fully grasping how Twine can be used for a wide variety of tasks and storytelling options. I think the article was a great piece for out hypothes.is discussions as well. A lot of people had great insight and it was fun to go back and re-read what everyone was taking away from the article as they made their way through it. While I think that I have decided to use the timeline tool in my final project Twine is definitely still in the running. Getting to tell a story in this fashion could be a lot of fun.
What was the best hypothes.is discussion? Why? Provide quotes.
- I think our (Earth that is) best hypothes.is discussion for Module 3 came over the video Virtual Identities by Fox Harrell. I think I enjoyed this video and hypothes.is discussion so much because we all connected to it in one way or another. I also thought it was interesting how these digital selves translate to the real world and effect the ways in which we look at people we know in a few different lights. Each member piggybacked of of something and added their own twist much like group discussions in a physical classroom. Pretty cool! I have linked the video and a portion of the discussion below.
— Virtual Identities
— — — — I’m interested in what the narrator said about the ICELAB’s “Airvatar” program. He said that this program was used to identify racial biases in video games — something I’ve been weirdly interested in (for someone who doesn’t play video games). I remember watching a video that someone put together of themselves playing a popular video game with a screen name something like “blackboy.” He was playing online and could hear other players. The video was a compilation of all of the racial slurs that other players said openly to him as they played together — it was an absolutely shocking display of open racism. Since watching that video, I’ve been very interested in the way that online personas — avatars — can give people a platform with which to spit absolutely venomous racism that I doubt would come out in person.
— Virtual Identities
— — — — — This is pretty interesting. Since the start of this program this has been something on my mind, this virtual identity is some version of yourself which is fun and interesting but with the lack of emotion and personality that can exist online, and this small frame of reference that people have, an online identity can be easily misrepresentation of ones real self. This is brought up in a way in the video. For example, I have friends and loved one that I have “unfollowed” on social media because the things they post and say online I am in fundamental disagreement with, but in real life take no issue with because one can alter the info shared to cater to those around them. Don’t like politics? Don’t have to talk about it. Online, digitally, your not really given that chance unless you simply choose to ignore. The idea of using digital selves to move past biases is great and one well worth exploring.
BriannaG40 — It is an interesting point you make about “unfollowing” friends on social media but not in real life. You make the point that virtual relationships are different than real life relationships you have with others. I am amazed sometimes by the contrast of peoples’ virtual selves and their real world selves. You can become a completely different person in the virtual world.
JenniferHolmes — That is a good point, you can’t help but see people at a function or event and you may have a relationship with them in person, while online it is difficult to understand their online identity. I have definitely experienced this. I was absolutely surprised by some of the media promoted by people I know in person.
anastasiaellis — Hunter, good point. I also have “unfollowed” people because I do not agree with what they post. Sometimes it can be political, but many times it is because they are pushing an agenda I do not want to be bothered with. For example, a couple of my colleagues are sales consultants for makeup or skincare brands. Although I find other content they post interesting, the fact that they post more about what they are selling overshadows more interesting content such as educational articles, posts about their kids, etc. Therefore, their virtual identity has a different persona that if that were them in person, I probably wouldn’t associate with them.
What was your favorite creation from a classmate? Who impressed you? Why?
- My favorite creation of this Module came courtesy of Kyle Smoker and his Nichole Pinkard on Digital Literacy Sketchnote. I think I enjoyed this one so much because 1) I really enjoyed this video in our weekly-watchlist when it came up and 2) I think that Kyle took a cool idea and used one a great tool to tell that story in a new way. I really enjoy those sketched out videos and this reminded me of one of those. I think seeing my fellow classmates get so creative with their weekly-things and challenges pushes me and makes me want to create better work each week. Keep it up guys! You’r e all doing awesome!
What did you make and what tools did you use? (challenges, dialogs, weekly-thing)
- Choose Your Own Adventure — For the choose your own adventure weekly-thing I read The Role of Music in your Life, which was borderline creepy and a lot of fun to work through. I didn’t create anything per-say except the description and explanation (see below).
The Role Of Music In Your Life
(From Slack)
I did The Role Of Music In Your Life through fivedails.com. This was pretty interesting. It got kind of spooky really. The story started out with what felt like a survey asking you about the kind of music you liked (Rock, Pop, Rap, Classical, Etc.) and how you most enjoyed taking it all in (Streaming services, youtube, cd’s, Vinyl) and began to shift out from there asking about your musical background and morphing into a story. I found myself pausing for a moment about halfway through and thinking “when did this shift from a survey into a story.” It was pretty seamless. Longer dialogue bits began to appear and I became a piano teacher who was being interviewed by a perspective students mother. This student, who they called “Carl” and I say called because thats the verbiage used in the story. Not named but “we’ll call him Carl.” Carl seemed to have some issues and the narrative shifted and I was talking to him. It got creepy. I’ll stop there, I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I think the choose your own adventure can be a great tool in the class, especially for those students have low reading endurance or are easily distracted while reading longer works. It could be a great way to get them to “buy in” and make reading more fun. I also have thought that the choose your own adventure route could be great for telling immigrant stories. A way to allow students to empathize and “live” an immigration tale. This was a pretty fun #mixtape #weekly-thing !
- Race Card— For the Race Card weekly-thing I read a few different “cards” from the website but went with one called DNA Can’t Recall My Race. I didn’t create anything per-say except the description and explanation (see below).
My DNA Can’t Recall My RACE!?
(from SLACK)
I chose Mckenzie C. I think her 6 words were what drew me into story; “My DNA can’t recall my race.” She goes on to talk about while DNA can give a person insight into their genetic background, but that it does nothing to define our race. I found this interesting as I had a friend, who believed themselves to be Mexican and whose family rooted themselves in that belief proudly, recently take a DNA test which came back with surprising results. She was not Mexican. Not one percent. That’s why this race card interested me so much. If someone believes themselves, is raised in the culture, is shaped by an understanding, and then that is all stripped away from them, what are you left with? Who is to say they cannot identify as such? Race is a social construct designed to separate us and I think that is the bigger picture that Mckenzie is tapping into. DNA can do nothing to tell you who you are. It can tell you a lot about the genealogy but race is something else entirely.
I really enjoyed the Race Card project. It might be a fun way to get students thinking. It’s a way to have them take a step back and look at the bigger picture and question what it means to be defined by something so trivial at times. Could be a great WTL activity. #weekly-thing
- Module 3 Challenge — 10 Ways To Read A Book— For the creation of the video challenge I used Filmora which was extremely user friendly, looks beautiful and easy to use (only downside is that the video has a big watermark which will go away if you pay to upgrade). I had a lot of fun with this one. I actually came up with a few ideas but ended up going with 10 Ways to Read a Book. I felt that reading was something I do enough of that it would be fun to highlight the different ways to tackle a good book.
- Dialogue #2 — For the second dialogue of the year me and my group (John Foyle and Anastasia Ellis) hopped on the online meeting tool Zoom which allowed us to find a comfortable spot and sit down and chat for a while across the country. I was short sighted this time and signed in through my CU email as not to get kicked off this time around after 30 minutes. This one was a lot of fun (though the site was down when we all needed it the most). We dove into NSA Files Decoded which is a sort of digital, interactive website covering Snowden and his exposure of the NSA tracking. John acted as our dialogue leader and got us all thinking on the same page and it turned into a great conversation all and all. Looking forward to the next one!
Week-9-Thing — For the week-9-thing I researched some final project storytelling tool websites and decided to use time-line for my final project. Where I am going to with it is still a little bit up in the air but I love the possibilities with this tool and visually it is the most appealing to me and I think that I can have a lot of fun with it and create something pretty fun and really get into the learning.
From #SLACK — Okay, one thing that I am absolutely sure of is that I want to use timeline because I think it is a great tool that allows for a lot of great possibilities, plus it is by far the most visually appealing to me which is important. Where I am running into trouble is deciding on what to create a story about. You have all laid out such great ideas that I am getting a little intimidated! As of right now I am toying with a few ideas. The first is kind of personal and may seem very self centered, but, my wife and I have a fairly interesting timeline that led to us being married and I thought that would be a lot of fun to explore through this medium but I don’t really know if that will work for this program and task. At my site school my students are embarking on a community based research project so I thought maybe making a time line of some kind of issue facing Aurora would be fun and lend so credence to the classroom. The last idea I was toying with was creating a time line for an author I love or perhaps a book series or film series (Marvel, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Etc.). PLEASE let me know what your guys thoughts are? I am feeling a little lost on where to go with this thing so if you think something sounds cool please let me know, or if you have a better direction I am completely open to hearing that as well! #weekly-thingHow did you challenge yourself?
What was your biggest stretch?
- My biggest stretch for Module 3 was definitely the 10 Ways To Read A Book video that I made. I researched a number of video making apps and tools before I came across Filmora which is fantastic and easy to use but leaves an ugly watermark unless you pay up to remove it. All those other options were not, by any means, user friendly and did not come with nearly as many tools to build a nice product. After finding Filmora it was the clear frontrunner. It was fun because it allowed to me get a little creative with my project and also allowed me to pull my wife into the fun. Like most of us, I enjoy youtube and the ability to find just about anything on there so it was fun to actually create some content this time around. The stretch came in finding options for reading that would come across fun on screen, music and writing the “script” for the short video but it took a good amount of time and I think the stretch was definitely worth it in the end.
