Technology can be intimidating. After researching file formats and digital storytelling, it is evident that knowing too much or too little can easily frustrate a technology user. The articles listed below detail the extensive backgrounds of file formats:
The first article begins by separating video into two formats: Sharing and Raw video. It is important to choose the right file format for your goals. Different formats result in differing file sizes, and when considering the download speed of a user, some file formats or sizes may be inaccessible to the intended audience.
Regardless of knowing detailed information about certain file formats, it is important to know the differences between them, so proper files can be utilized when necessary. Please see the lists below, detailing common formats of video, image, and sound files.
Video
AVI - Audio Video Interlaced
FLV - Flash Video Format
MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group
MPEG4 - Good for file sharing
WMV - Windows Media Video
MOV - Apple Quicktime
Graphics
GIF - Graphics Interchangeable Format
JPEG - Joint Photographic Export Group
BMP - Bitmap
TIFF - Tag Interchangeable File Format
PNG - Portable Network Graphics
Sound
Uncompressed: WAV, AIFF
Lossless: FLAC, ALAC, APE
Lossy: MP3, AAC, WMA, Vorbis
Again, this is not a comprehensive list of file formats, but it does detail those that are most common. It is important to become familiar enough to know when a file should be saved in a certain way, but not completely necessary to understand how each file works. Also, now that Mac and Windows operating systems have become highly competitive, a user should be familiar with which formats work on either of the two systems. Technology varies from one school district to another, so a teacher needs to know how to make materials accessible to students regardless of the student’s technology platform at home.
Next, the video at http://lifehacker.com/5965703/the-science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-the-most-powerful-way-to-activate-our-brains explains the effect of digital storytelling on our brains. The author begins by explaining that our brains become more active during story telling.
Boring presentations tell our brains to decode words into meaning, and not much else. This may be why students tune out during lectures. On the other hand, storytelling incorporates many parts of the brain. By telling a story, you can plant ideas, thoughts, and emotions into a listeners brain. Also, evolution wired our brains for storytelling. When we hear stories we want to relate them to our own experiences.
The article http://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/v04/articlesThe_Art_of_Digital_Storytelling details four elements of good storytelling:
- Living in the story
- Unfolding a lesson learned
- Finding the lessons learned
- Sharing the stories that need to be told
The above article focuses on digital storytelling across the curriculum. The author states that we are mathematical, logical, and scientific. Storytelling is often considered only OK for language arts classes. This clearly can’t be true, as “living a story” brings the facts to life. Storytelling helps develop technology skills necessary to function in a knowledge based society.
File formats can be quite intimidating to many, but I think it's wise for today's teachers to have at least a beginning understanding of what they are and how they work. Then at least they can intelligently speak with their tech staff about their issues.
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