If a hurricane could speak what would it say? Kevin Cordi asked his student.  At the beginning of a digital storytelling instructional process, Kevin asked her if a book about Katrina was missing anything. She wondered what he meant by this. Kevin continued, "What story is not told here that you can give a voice?"   In the book, the effects of Katrina are shared with readers through the voices of the two main characters, twelve-year-old Lanesha and her older caretaker, Mama Ya-Ya. Justine

This week I read an Educause article - 7 things you should know about Digital Storytelling   Link    https://soundcloud.com/alicia-newton-1/7-things-educause       

This week I read an Educause article - 7 things you should know about Digital Storytelling   Link    https://soundcloud.com/alicia-newton-1/7-things-educause       

The South is in a deep freeze.  23 degrees feeling like 17 might not sound too bad if you're from Minnesota or Rochester.  However, here in the ATL this means extreme weather advisory, LOL!   This Daily Create is a challenge for you to create a video of what you do on a cold winter night.    

The South is in a deep freeze.  23 degrees feeling like 17 might not sound too bad if you're from Minnesota or Rochester.  However, here in the ATL this means extreme weather advisory, LOL!   This Daily Create is a challenge for you to create a video of what you do on a cold winter night.    

  According to the Pew Research Center U.S. students are slowly improving in math and science but still lag behind other developed and developing countries.  Some trace the unraveling of best in class status to residue from blanket one size fits all policies like "No Child Left Behind."   This week I am critiquing Mary Bouley's story about the impact of No Child Left Behind on Lawrence Intermediate School in Southwest side of Tucson, AZ.  I found this story on Creative Narrations: Multimedia for

  According to the Pew Research Center U.S. students are slowly improving in math and science but still lag behind other developed and developing countries.  Some trace the unraveling of best in class status to residue from blanket one size fits all policies like "No Child Left Behind."   This week I am critiquing Mary Bouley's story about the impact of No Child Left Behind on Lawrence Intermediate School in Southwest side of Tucson, AZ.  I found this story on Creative Narrations: Multimedia for

Storytelling genius and literary icon, Kurt Vonnegut tackles some heavy topics with light-hearted humor in this fast-paced story about his life, his parents, and the mindset of a writer/storyteller.     In typical Vonnegut storytelling style he delivers the punch lines with perfect timing and an unconventional way that works. He switches topics artfully bringing the tale together.    I assessed this story on originality, voice, creativity, flow, organization and pacing, and story.     Kurt

Storytelling genius and literary icon, Kurt Vonnegut tackles some heavy topics with light-hearted humor in this fast-paced story about his life, his parents, and the mindset of a writer/storyteller.     In typical Vonnegut storytelling style he delivers the punch lines with perfect timing and an unconventional way that works. He switches topics artfully bringing the tale together.    I assessed this story on originality, voice, creativity, flow, organization and pacing, and story.     Kurt

Trudging through Chapter 2 I really had to focus.  Lankshear and Knobel do a painstaking job of explaining each concept.  I am not an academic, nor do I really need that level of detail to understand that as humans we want to belong and we create our sense of belonging through communication.  So, for the sake of argument lets call this communication literacy practice.    Lankshear and Knobel make the very salient point about diversity, variation, and the dynamic nature of these practices we

Trudging through Chapter 2 I really had to focus.  Lankshear and Knobel do a painstaking job of explaining each concept.  I am not an academic, nor do I really need that level of detail to understand that as humans we want to belong and we create our sense of belonging through communication.  So, for the sake of argument lets call this communication literacy practice.    Lankshear and Knobel make the very salient point about diversity, variation, and the dynamic nature of these practices we

Snow cappedSnow capped mountains, barns, buffalo, and Buffalo Bills; the history of the West is a adventure story of wild frontiers and frontiersmen. These legendary tales of triumph over adversity are prominent threads in the American tapestry.   As much as I love the terrain of the West and a good Bonnie and Clyde or Doc Holliday story I can’t think of cowboys and buffalo without thinking of Native Americans and the lust for their land. I have to leave the romanticizing of the West in the rear

Snow cappedSnow capped mountains, barns, buffalo, and Buffalo Bills; the history of the West is a adventure story of wild frontiers and frontiersmen. These legendary tales of triumph over adversity are prominent threads in the American tapestry.   As much as I love the terrain of the West and a good Bonnie and Clyde or Doc Holliday story I can’t think of cowboys and buffalo without thinking of Native Americans and the lust for their land. I have to leave the romanticizing of the West in the rear

Relationships have always been the secret sauce of success.  Companies spend millions trying to teach their leaders how to coach, inspire, and connect with their teams.  This semester my focal theme is Neuroscience and learning.  I will explore how breakthroughs in neuroscience can help the learning and development community create, deploy, and evaluate more effective learning solutions.   My learning goal is to improve my storytelling capabilities via digital mediums.     

Relationships have always been the secret sauce of success.  Companies spend millions trying to teach their leaders how to coach, inspire, and connect with their teams.  This semester my focal theme is Neuroscience and learning.  I will explore how breakthroughs in neuroscience can help the learning and development community create, deploy, and evaluate more effective learning solutions.   My learning goal is to improve my storytelling capabilities via digital mediums.     

Here we are in a digital storytelling course. When you hear storyteller ascribed to you and your skill set how does it make you feel?  It was quite disconcerting for me. Instructional designer, technical writer, writer of kick butt demand letters yes; but storytelling, I needed a serious paradigm shift to embrace that one.   It was at that moment I longed for an N or an F in my Myers-Briggs.   This TedX talk by Garr Reynolds co-author of Presentation Zen made it all better.     Summary: Do not

Here we are in a digital storytelling course. When you hear storyteller ascribed to you and your skill set how does it make you feel?  It was quite disconcerting for me. Instructional designer, technical writer, writer of kick butt demand letters yes; but storytelling, I needed a serious paradigm shift to embrace that one.   It was at that moment I longed for an N or an F in my Myers-Briggs.   This TedX talk by Garr Reynolds co-author of Presentation Zen made it all better.     Summary: Do not

Family, friends, Nancy's Pizza, that's a good look on a Friday night!     

 When he said _________ I thought __________.  How many times have you thought "oh no you didn't!@*"  How our brains signal trust or distrust, fear or flight and how to calm and redirect these reactions has become a flourishing industry due to incredible breakthroughs in neuroscience.     We now know trust serves up a feel good cocktails of chemicals like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin.  Distrust serves up a toxic mix of cortisol, norepinephrine, and testosterone.  Neuroscience proves we all

Family, friends, Nancy's Pizza, that's a good look on a Friday night!     

 When he said _________ I thought __________.  How many times have you thought "oh no you didn't!@*"  How our brains signal trust or distrust, fear or flight and how to calm and redirect these reactions has become a flourishing industry due to incredible breakthroughs in neuroscience.     We now know trust serves up a feel good cocktails of chemicals like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin.  Distrust serves up a toxic mix of cortisol, norepinephrine, and testosterone.  Neuroscience proves we all

Critique of a digital story related to my theme   How does our wiring; how our brain works, influence our ability to connect with others and work together to build better relationships, communities, organizations and ultimately a better world?   Cigna implemented a virtual, voluntary learning community to help their managers become better coaches.  The level of participation and improvement, based on employee engagement scores, exceeded expectation. Encouraged by these improvements Cigna

Critique of a digital story related to my theme   How does our wiring; how our brain works, influence our ability to connect with others and work together to build better relationships, communities, organizations and ultimately a better world?   Cigna implemented a virtual, voluntary learning community to help their managers become better coaches.  The level of participation and improvement, based on employee engagement scores, exceeded expectation. Encouraged by these improvements Cigna

We are reading Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel's book New Literacies.  Research into new literacies in the Digital Age.  An informative and eye-opening read; here are my reflections on the first chapter.   What are your main insights and ideas from the given L&K Chapter?   I had never really thought about the evolution of reading and writing competence to “literacy” until reading this chapter (Knobel, 2011).   The concept struck me as similar to knowledge is not power; the application of

We are reading Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel's book New Literacies.  Research into new literacies in the Digital Age.  An informative and eye-opening read; here are my reflections on the first chapter.   What are your main insights and ideas from the given L&K Chapter?   I had never really thought about the evolution of reading and writing competence to “literacy” until reading this chapter (Knobel, 2011).   The concept struck me as similar to knowledge is not power; the application of

What if there was no color?     #ds106 ILT5340   https://soundcloud.com/alicia-newton-1/colorless-world    

What if there was no color?     #ds106 ILT5340   https://soundcloud.com/alicia-newton-1/colorless-world    

How many times have you been confronted with situations that affect your life but you have no answer or clue to what the outcome will be?  Your Company has been acquired. You’ve been downsized, laid off, or fired.  You feel pressure from your spouse or significant other to do/act a certain way.  Your marriage/relationship has ended.  You receive a diagnosis.  You or someone you care about is suffering with an addiction. You can’t find a job.  Your children are teenagers.  You listen to the news.

Are your tools relevant?    http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory/top-100-tools/best-of-breed-tools-2015/      

This is a webinar I developed and facilitated to teach presenters how to incorporate the princples of C.A.R.P. (contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity) to increase engagement and retention.