Deck the halls - Creating a multi-media poster.

Merry Christmas one and all, and although the last month has flown by, some of us are back in the swing of things and studying hard (after all there is an assignment deadline waiting in the wings). 

December has been about creating a multimedia poster in H818, in order to 'advertise' our presentation at the online conference which will be happening in February. So we have all been experimenting with different media and trying to figure out which one to use. (My next post will include my beta version!).

Challenge 1: what is a poster?
This was the first hurdle for many of us, as when you think 'poster', the concept of a physical, graphical presentation spring to mind (like the ones that you stuck all over your wall as teenager, only more educational). any of the tools tried out helped to present this more one dimensional approach. However, the guidance we were given was that it had to be 'multi-media. which means it needs to be raised from one dimensional, to at least two!

Challenge 2: Multimedia tools
Thus began the trek into the forbidden kingdom and an exploration of the tools and variety of format that one could choose to make a poster out of. For many of the tools, the companies like to suck you in with freebies, but if you want to make them available to others then you need pay up. The other thing is that you can spend 'HOURS' online creating new things, so you have to start getting selective.

One of the first things I tried was Toon doo, which wasn't really a multi-media tool, but I loved the cartoon strip that you could create. Hours of fun! You can even produce your own comic, and the graphics looks great.

By samsantics | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

I will be using this tool again in the future, and possibly using some of it for my final artifact. 

My poster

Following on from this I found Glogster. This is an amazing (american) site, where the tools can be used by students to create their own educational posters. There are hundreds of them to look at. I do wonder if anyone really using them as content or whether the emphasis is on the creation. This is a great way to get kids to be creative, and I wish I had this when I was doing my homework 30 years ago!  Anyway, this was a tool that had a great poster layout allowing for embedding video and audio content. I created a really rough draft to decide whether this would be the approach that I might use. The great thing about Glogster is that it also works on mobile devices. I ended up signing up to the service, as I will be using this tool in the future as a great way to get information together in one place.

So far this was the contender for the poster......

...then I came back to animation. I don't know why, by I like animation and so it was great to explore some different formats.

Firstly there was Moovly. I like the tool because it was a bit like the video and audio editors you get, although the characters and pictures were a little limited (I expect like most tools, you get more if you pay). This was very addictive! It allowed you to create a more classic version of the animated films you see a lot nowadays. I really liked it and could see some potential for creating both the poster and the artifact.

 

Then there was animoto. I am afraid this was the approach that I fell in love with! I have used some similar slideshow animations before, and I like the combination of text, images and music. I can't tell you why, but I think it's to do with the richness and also the emotive nature of the medium. 



So I asked what people preferred... I was still potentially leaning towards the moovly animation, but after talking to volunteers, a number of them preferred the immediacy of the animoto animation. Animoto however is REALLY expensive if you want to remove the watermark and get the video. And it's a great tool so I can see why it would be.

Challenge 3: Accessibility
As several people pointed out, the challenge with a full on multimedia approach is that it is not very accessible for those with impaired sight. We also talked about how some people like this multimedia approach and other's didn't. So my challenge was to consider whether to use the tool that I really wanted, and create accessible alternatives, or whether to use a different tool. 

Because I had created my storyboard using a slide show, I decided to explore other tools that I could use. Also, by using a slideshow, I could potentially create an accessible alternative that people could click through themselves and a transcript. I like this idea, as I have never tried writing audio descripton's before, so it seemed a good time to try!

Final tool - Wondershare slideshow creator
Not a free tool, but as it's Christmas I decided to treat myself.
The first version for review is below, but jump to the next blog post to see the second version which expands on this.

Project plan version XXO

As you know I am using this space to share my project for H818 and the work that I am doing around this. Part of this is to help me to share, and part of it is to make myself think out loud and be able to go back and look at how my thought processes have changed and developed.

So here is the next version of the project (I have forgotten what version).

Being Prepared. Adopting a values-driven approach to digital inclusion within a volunteer organisation.

Purpose. Scouting volunteers do amazing things with young people every day, but for some there still exists a fear of using online tools. Reminding volunteers of the values and methods of Scouting can help to overcome their fears and understand that the online world is another ‘undiscovered world’ of opportunity.

Linking to the conference theme: a focus on Inclusion. Looking through the lens of 'inclusion', the project will investigate the wider issues of digital inclusion as seen through the four barriers identified by the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy (Access, Skills, Motivation and Trust)

Project aim and scope. The project’s aim is to explore barriers in relation to making the online world accessible to volunteers, focusing on motivational and trust barriers. Firstly, the ‘access’ barriers relate to connectivity and availability, over which the organisation has less influence and work is being undertaken by the government to address this. Secondly there already exists a wealth of debate about the ‘skills’ barrier, and it is assumed adults will need to learn new skills.

The ‘motivation’ and ‘trust’ barriers are social and psychological, as well as practical barriers to digital inclusion. These barriers require volunteers to explore their fears about safety and identity, and be able to translate their ‘offline’ selves to the ‘online’ world. The project activities will look at existing research and practices to identify the issues surrounding these barriers, in order to educate volunteers and provide a sound basis for taking an approach that links back to the values and methods of Scouting.

***************************************

Over the next few weeks I will be exploring the motivation and trust barriers, which neatly follow on from the discussions that Amanda Palmer brought up in the last blog post. So please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences about the barriers of being online, from a social or psychological perspective. 

working on a project title....Be Prepared

My job (hence my context)
I work for The Scout Association at Headquarters. My job is National Development Officer

(Safeguarding). Basically a large part of what I do is develop resources and training for volunteers to help them understand their roles and responsibilities within Scouting in regards to Safeguarding (Child protection, anti-bullying, safer recruitment). So I spend a lot of my time out and about meeting and working with volunteers and training trainers who will go on to deliver safeguarding training to volunteers across the country. It truly is an amazing organisation which can't really be paid justice to in a few words. Having worked for the organisation for nearly 7 years I am proud to be a Scout and share the values of the organisation.

My project
My project will be based on work that I already do around empowering adult volunteers in Scouting to use social media in a safe and fun way. For me safeguarding is about enabling people to do things, rather than stopping them - empowering rather than scaring.

You wouldn't climb a mountain...... without being prepared, and so you shouldn't use social media without doing the same!
Currently I offer guidance on a weekly basis about how to use social media safely, and so for my project I want to explore this, and link in research as well as create a multimedia artifact that can be used in work. 


Open education in an open landscape
Looking through the lens of 'inclusion', my project is focused on why adults don't want to use social media or why they feel social media doesn't include them. There are of course some physical barriers like internet access and personal knowledge and skills. However I think that the psychological barriers are the main thing that is making volunteers feel powerless or afraid to use social media. The media today is constantly telling us what a dangerous place the internet is, and e-safety messages for young people are about the risks and the harm that may befall them. For adults working with young people this makes the internet a scary place, especially as for some it's not their natural environment. So we need to help them understand that it doesn't have to be scary, and they can prepare for it in the same way as they would prepare for other 'scary' scouting activities (like climbing).

If we want them to use social media then we need to empower them by addressing their fears and giving them the skills. This will involve looking at the risks and helping them to see both the good and the bad of openness, and helping them to manage their own identities.

Psychological barriers = confidence (power), safety, identity. 
Self-efficacy= make them believe they can do it by adopting a scouting approach (values, preparation, risk assessment and openness)

Key messages:

• Social media doesn't have to be scary
• Use the skills and processes already have to undertake the activity
• Values-driven approach
• Take ownership of identity
• Stay safe by mitigating risk, behaving appropriately

Outcome - Volunteers do amazing things with young people everyday, and we help them overcome their fear of the online world and help them to be part of the open landscape, exhibiting their values and being appropriate roles models and effective 'digital' citizens.

Reality bites. Project planning and back to the drawing board.

We are now in week 6 of the module and at the final, crucial stages of thinking about our project plans and preparing for our first assignments. In true Sam fashion I had loads of ideas and thought about lots of different topics. Part of this module is about thinking and creating out loud, so here's some of the thoughts and processes that I have been through so far.

Phase 1: Initial thoughts (aka: lots of excitement and creativity but all over the place)

Originally I was focused on inclusion as a theme, mainly because a lot of the work I do is based around inclusion - and how we help people become a part of something, or make sure that we don't exclude. 

Power: In particular I am fascinated by power. So I thought about doing something that focused on power and inclusion. I talk alot about power dynamics in training especially as many of the topics I deliver are sensitive, and I work with volunteers and young people, so power is important. Power is about making the language we use accessible and the way we approach our relationships. but it's also about giving people power to take action in their own right.  I think openness and power has some links to identity but also acceptance, whether it's academic/non-academic/age/gender/experience/disciplines

Changing relationships:I also had thoughts around creating a new discipline (innovation) and whether there were ways that the informal (non-academic) can influence the formal (academic). This has a direct link to something I want to do, and also links to implementation. In the charity/youth work field, there is no such thing as trainer training or qualifications in many of the subject areas we become experts in. So for example, my peer network and I talk to each other a lot about values based training especially in safeguarding. I would love to create a kind of open studio for us to develop resources together and share our expertise more widely and openly. Thus not only helping other practitioners, but also changing culture and teh way that people think about the subject area. I think our approach is already innovative, but by creating something open and online. Does a discipline/education/field have to start in academia?

The journey:Journeys through openness started to fascinate me too following a couple of tweets with George Veletsianos (the author of one of the papers I read whom I exchanged some tweets with.) and some of discussions about what we do, I started thinking about journeys. So here I am thinking about are there routes to openness, and do different disciplines afford different routes? Therefore how do decide on the best approach? So just like doing needs and people analysis in training, can we tailor an approach for different people?

Phase 2: 3 potentials topics.... (28th October and thought I was doing well!)

I then shared with my tutor group three potentials areas where I had ideas, in order to ask comments and get some feedback in what direction to go (below is the exert from the forum)

1. Bursting the bubble: Building digital networks that improve professional practice. Here I was thinking about how networks actually inform and develop practice. In particular I wanted to focus on this idea of making sure you have diversity of voice (filter bubble) and so your network has many voices, or at least you know how to chose the ones that will actively challenge and help you develop. There might also be something about how you measure that effectiveness (I am not sure that you can 100%, but so far there is a lot of anecdotal evidence about this but I am not sure there is so much research on outcomes/outputs). (As Louise is doing something about communities of practice then I might move this down my list

2. Seeing the tree from the woods: discoverability of non-academic Open educational resources. In this I was thinking about inclusion as welll as innovation and implementation. In my professional life I am non-academic, and I think that when you look for resources, then academic resources trump non-academic. This is probably because this is not a priority for, for example, charitable organisations. So this one was about recognising the dominance of academia, and considering how to get heard. There are a few ways that this could be honed to be more specific too.

3. Journeying the open landscape : can blogging lead to academic publishing for the non-academic scholar. Back on my non-academic thing again. I am really interested in the different journeys that digital scholars take, and also how people develop. I found a blog post as a starting point, and this is something that I think that I want to do as a practitioner....I think again this could have links to inclusion innovation and implementation

I had pretty much settled on the third option, as it linked to this idea of journeys, and my creative part of my brain was thinking about the imagery of journeys and how it would make a great little project artefact, with things like 'what to wear' for identity, 'what to pack' for tools, 'travelling companions' for building your network etc.

Phase 3: journeys of a digital scholar (or trying to go around the world in 84 days)  

So is started to flesh out my ideas, and considered my approach.

Postcards from a digital scholar"  From theory to practice:Blogging as a foundation for digital scholarship .My theme would be implementation, and basically my plan is to blog my way through the project/module, picking up on each of the themes that are suggested along the way in the module, with a particular focus on blogging and my practice/experience of blogging. My initial thoughts are that there is a lot of information out there about blogging, and this approach is not necessarily new, but if I want to improve my own practice then I need to review the research and practice there is, and reflect on what that means for my own practice and actually do it.

Therefore my artifact would probably be a 'journey planner' of some of the key considerations of using and implementing blogging, (for a practitioner who is not connected to a learning institution)  and I am thinking of a multimedia approach. (4th November 2014)

Now hear, let this be a lesson to you.....

I started to look at potential research and resources, and had got a few good suggestions and ideas from my fellow students. However I was starting to find it difficult to find exactly what I wanted. I then sat down on the 6th November and did a project timetable, with key dates and the actual number of days that I would be able to commit to the module and complete assignments. I realised that I was probably aiming too high, trying too hard and potential not going to have the time to cover what I wanted to. The module materials are quite good in suggesting that you think 'realistically' about what you can accomplish. Although I was still interested in my area, I just didn't have the time to learn and research a whole new subject area. 

I contacted my tutor and had a discussion about this and my proposal for a new idea, based on existing knowledge and an area of work that would also benefit from my final artifact. It was really important at this stage to make that decision and to be aware that my intended project was way out of scope for what could be realistically completed. 

So here's me telling my fellow students...and I will talk about my new project shortly.