Tech Task #5 Storytelling and Creation

For this tech task, I decided to take the classic "Annual Letter" to a whole new level. I found 12 pictures, one from each month from 2012. Then I came up with delightful captions for each. My vision was to be able to share my stories from this year via a storytelling tool.

First, I picked the storytelling tools. This was a more challenging job than I anticipated...

Mixbook.com would have been great, if I wanted to pay for publishing.

OurStory.com would have been great, if I could get the photos to upload.

Glogster.com would have been great, if I could have figured out how to use their template.

Imageloop.com would have been great, if I had an iPhone

This is how I felt

Two hours later, I began a Slideroll.com project. I was able to finish my project, but I was sorely dissapointed with the tool. It was impossible to delete or rearrange slides, edit the text, or add more than the most basic effects. If I were going to make a slideshow, I would use PowerPoint, save it as a PDF, and email it to my friends.

Here is my finished project from Slideroll.

By this point I was getting a little fed up with storytelling tools. However. I gave Wayfaring.com a go and I fared way better.

Take a look at a map of my journeys in 2012.

Wayfaring allows you to plot points on maps and tag the point with an address and a description. You can connect points together with "routes" (altho' the routes are "as the crow flies", not following roads). I was glad to experiment with this website, because it's a good way to bookmark places on a map for later reference. I'm planning a road trip to the sourthern States this summer, and Wayfaring is one option for how to plan for the trip. However, I wish that it was linked with google maps so that I could easily search for places.

I don't if I would use either of these storytelling tools in the classroom. They are both very limited in function in comparison with he time they would take to teach. I need to check out the other slideshow tools as well as Google maps, however, to see if there is a better alternative.

Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/88955553@N00/4423387852/">nettsu</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>