Digital Maker Playground

March 22, 2015 by margaretsmn

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Cathy Mere and Julie Johnson have started a Google+ Community set around the design of the Digital Maker Playground Workshop. Every two weeks they are meeting face to face with educators who are interested in playing with digital literacies. Some of us are joining the community virtually.

Digital Maker Playground is a unique opportunity open to everyone near and far. All educators are invited to play with us as we explore new tools, create and compose projects around the themes listed, as well as share and collaborate with other educators around the world. Our work will be housed in our Google+ Community, which will allow us to connect with each other easily. Use #P2Lmooc when sharing your work on Twitter for another way to connect with others.

Our makes: February 17: One Little Word

March 5: What’s Your Maker Space?

March 19: Lift a Line from Literature

April 2: Make a Statement

April 16: Rock My World

April 30: Connected

I am behind on the last two makes, so I took some time yesterday to do them. I showed my maker space using Nutshell which is an iPhone app that others were using. It uses a great deal of space on the phone, so my first problem with it was I didn’t have enough space. I had to delete. I did not know that your phone stored every single text message ever sent. That was a lot of space. Then I took my pictures. I did not know that it continued to record even after you snapped the picture, so you will see some weird door opening and hear Charlie’s tag tinkle as I come back inside. You also see me hide a dragon sculpture before taking a picture of my talisman collection. I feel like this was a way for the silly dragon to exact his revenge about not being chosen for the photo. I am not really sold on this app.

I went back to an old favorite, Animoto, to make a poem movie. I used a quote from St. Teresa of Avila. You may have seen the original poem in my Spiritual Thursday post. I used nature images that I had taken. (The hawk was borrowed from my friend Chere Coen.) I like the way this one came out.

My student Kielan experimented with Animoto this week to write one of her slices. She is a fifth grader, and I love her comfort level with using technology to express herself. I am pretty sure her images are copyrighted, though. We have a blocker on our network that keeps us from getting free Flickr or Creative Commons images.

Would you like to join the Digital Maker Playground? It is a fun place to play. Go here to join the Google+ community. Lots of creativity happening here.

Posted in Digital Learning, Slice of Life | Tagged Animoto, Digital Maker Playground, lift a line, maker space, Nutshell, poem movie | 14 Comments

14 Responses

on March 22, 2015 at 1:11 pm | Reply Michelle Haseltine

Keep playing with nutshell. I LOVE it!!! Don’t give up on it yet! I have avoided “maker space” everything because it’s something I know NOTHING about. I’m even more confused now. Maybe I should join that Google community.
- on March 22, 2015 at 5:46 pm | Reply margaretsmn
  
  I didn’t know much at all last summer when NWP was doing CLMOOC. I had never even heard of the word “maker.” Julie and Cathy are great leaders who are easy-going, no stress kind of people. Just do it!
- on March 22, 2015 at 10:59 pm | Reply Catmere
  
  Michelle, I hope you will join us. We’re all learning together and it’s a great community. Please let me know if you have questions or if I can help in anyway.
  
  Cathy
on March 22, 2015 at 1:23 pm | Reply bennisbuzz

Great creative, informative post! Our small community is going to be the site of the Google Educator Summit on April 11 and 12. I’m going to join your community as I love to learn about new technologies. So many wonderful apps and creative presentation tools to engage students. Along with a scholarship to attend the conference, I am the proud of owner of a special surprise! I have a brand new Chrome Book for the conference. I have used animoto, but do not know about “maker space.” Looking forward to learning with other educators. Thanks for the invite! D 🙂
on March 22, 2015 at 1:34 pm | Reply jarhartz

You are involved in so many communities. Thank you for the invitation. I am intrigued by this but, frustrated too. I can make things at home, but when I get to school there are troubles. Not giving up though.
- on March 22, 2015 at 5:40 pm | Reply margaretsmn
  
  Most of mine have to be done at home. We are able to use Animoto. But some other sites have been blocked and I have to send an email to tech to get them opened up. Usually it works out. Helps to know people in the tech dept.
on March 22, 2015 at 1:35 pm | Reply Jaana

My annual testing period is almost over. Perhaps I now have time to discover some new digital tools! I feel Animoto calling me…. Thank you for showing the way!
on March 22, 2015 at 3:05 pm | Reply cvarsalona

Margaret, the digital playground is a place for us to allow our creativity to explode. I agree about Nutshell. I am not sold on the app either. It will take patience to figure out different maneuvers so I agree Animoto is a preferred option. Thank you for sharing your lovely poem.
on March 22, 2015 at 3:16 pm | Reply Linda Baie

Thanks for letting us know about all this, Margaret. I know about Nutshell, but am really more interested in apps for laptops, which many of my students have. Animoto is still a favorite. I’ll look again at Nutshell.
on March 22, 2015 at 3:25 pm | Reply freegriffa

I’m another teacher who doesn’t know nutshell or any of these new digital literacy tools. Good for you, jumping in with both feet!
on March 22, 2015 at 4:31 pm | Reply maryannreilly

Love the work you posted. Inspiring. Good luck with the communities you belong to:)
on March 22, 2015 at 10:32 pm | Reply Holly Mueller

I like that we both featured Animoto on our posts today! 🙂 I wish I had joined Julie and Cathy’s workshop from the beginning. I just can’t put one more thing on my plate – ha. Maybe they’ll do another one in the future that I can participate in – I think it looks like great learning!
- on March 22, 2015 at 11:02 pm | Reply Catmere
  
  Holly,
  We’re a low key operation. Stop in and just learn from what others are doing. If you’d like to post you are welcome to add a make. You can start where we are, go back, or just do your favorites. It really is about everyone doing what they want/need to do to learn.
  
  Cathy
on March 22, 2015 at 11:05 pm | Reply Catmere

Margaret,
I was a little disappointed with Nutshell at first as well, but the more I play with it I do start to see some of its possibilities. It reminds me a bit of vine, but with a few more ways to make the video interesting. I’m hoping Michelle will share some of the ways she likes to use it.

I really need to use Animoto more. I rarely go to it even though it can do so many things.

I’m so glad you have joined the community. I am so inspired by the contributions and conversations going on as we learn on The Digital Maker Playground. It’s a fun place to play and everyone is always welcome.

Thanks for hosting. Sorry I am late to link, but I’ve been out enjoying this beautiful day.

Cathy