ds what?!?

/ tiffstidbitsblog

Last night when I opened up the new week’s assignments, I saw “ds106” and immediately panicked.  panic-button-1375952_640I knew nothing about it, but when I continued reading the sheet and saw that it continued into a 20 day challenged, I freaked even more.  emoticon-1659346_640I even turned to my husband and asked him if he knew what any of it was. Nope. Great, no help there!

After doing some initial research this morning, I have learned a little more about ds106, but I’m not sure how I feel about it.  Ds106 is a way for people to tell stories via technology. I also saw something about it being done without a teacher? As a teacher, I find this peculiar, but I want to see how it works! The whole concept of ds106 sounds really cool and the ones I watched are quite amazing.  This excites me and terrifies me at the same time.  I’m excited at the thought that I, too, might be able to create something as nifty as what I have seen. I’m terrified because I have ZERO computer background. I can use a typing program and an excel program, but that is it when it comes to my knowledge of doing things!

The ds106 website was set up well and I was quickly able to find information about different programs and tools that will be helpful in all of this. I just downloaded Photoshop Express, a free version of Photoshop.  Going through the tutorial, it looks like it should be easy to use! I’m very excited about this because I’ve often wanted to know how to do some editing and now I will have a reason to! {Anyone that is a pro in this area, feel free to give me advice or pointers!}

I’m imagining using ds106 in my Journalism class, as well as occasionally in my English classes! I could have the Journalism students create news casts digitally!  Students in English could use it to give book reports or other presentations.  I have some kiddos that are very techy that would probably love the opportunity to utilize their gifts and passions in the room!

I’m excited to do this ds106 for myself because I’ve always been a little jealous of people with tech skills that can create really neat videos.  Now I will know, at least a little bit, how to do it myself! I’m imagining making one to show my students on the first day of school to introduce myself to them.  Playing a video might be a way to draw them in and let them get to know me, as well as show them I am open to creativity!

This might be my biggest challenge of the course, but I am very excited for it!

11 thoughts on “ds what?!?”

    • I’m scared of them all, but I think the audio will be difficult! (Actually, after doing a couple already, they are all a bit more difficult than I thought since I don’t know how to use my computer or phone for them! What do you think so far?

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  2. With your opening paragraph comma my heart sang, “She’s singing the song of my people!” Then, the rest of it gives me hope that this old dog can learn new tricks too.

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  3. I also panicked a bit when reading about The Daily Create and the 20-day challenge! Now that I’m 3 days into it, I think I might like it! I like the fact that we can go back and do old ones from prior days. That gives me some flexibility in my creativity, which helps for sure! Good luck, and I look forward to seeing what you post!

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  5. This is what I really love about ds106: no teachers necessary for learning to happen! The Daily Creates are a very low-stakes way to have a digital tools bootcamp where you quickly (and sometimes not so quickly!) learn about a lot of different tools and techniques for creating digital content.

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