What a week of introductions, learning and activity; activations actually.  I have never created so many accounts in such a short period of time.  I now have a SKYPE account, the Toontastic and Haiku Deck apps, as well as an Xtranormal and a GoAnimate account. I also created a Refworks account during our Saturday morning session with Laurie Jones from UVic Libarary Services. I am looking forward to using this resource as it will save me time and keep my research organized. I noticed that Refworks contains an APA 6th Edition formatting and bibliography tool that will check your uploaded assignment for proper referencing and citations. I logged back into my neglected Twitter account and uploaded an avatar image.  I even added the app to my iPad.  I feel so accomplished; I tweeted and retweeted.  I must admit tweeting my Toontastic Introduction caused me to inhale sharply and hold my breath while hitting send.  I have procrastinated jumping into the Twittersphere for a very long time. I know it’s there; I just need to keep moving towards it.

I don’t know why sometimes I get frightened

You can see my eyes, you can tell that I’m not lying

–Split Enz

I enrolled in etmooc, added my blog to their website, and participated in two sessions.  I found the Twitter session reassuring as it started out very basic—demonstrating how one would enroll and defining what a hashtags is.  At one point the moderator asked participants what they use Twitter for but I found it hard to follow everyone’s responses on the scrolling chat message section. During the introductory session to etmooc, Alec Couros used the whiteboard screen and I really liked seeing all the participants’ responses being typed and drawn while Alec was talking.  I tried to type on the whiteboard space during the introductory session but was unable to do it.  I would like to figure out how to use that option as I have only ever typed in the chat section and private messaged people on Blackboard Collaborate.  One of the biggest learning moments for me this week is realizing that I have a huge network of people who are willing to help me with that; all I have to do is ask.

A fine romance, with no kisses

A fine romance, my friend, this is

–Ella Fitzgerald

This week I created my introductory video using Toontastic.  Toontastic is a digital storytelling app that allows you to create your own cartoon while also teaching the story elements of setting, characters, rising action, conflict, climax and resolution. My daughters are so much better at it than me and it was refreshing to surround to their guidance.  I spent the “big bucks” on upgrading our app ($9.99) in order to have the camera option; this allowed me to take pictures and upload them into my cartoon.  I asked (and had to reask) three of my students to speak during one scene only to discover, at home that night, that I had accidently deleted their audio.  My students’ voices are very quiet; in fact, I find the audio on this app to be one of its shortcomings. Unfortunately, I could not adjust the audio and in hindsight I should not have added music to my students’ scene as it makes it difficult to hear their voices. I do not see my cartoon as a high caliber product but rather as an experimental and experiential opportunity.  My next cartoons are going to be amazing!

Toontastic is a safe app for parents and teachers as an adult must approve cartoons and permit public sharing of any cartoons created.  Toontastic has their own built-in storytelling network aptly named ToonTube—this means you can not upload a cartoon to YouTube or export it off of your device.  As a parent and a teacher, that has used this app with students, I think this is a great feature.  ToonTube does permit sharing of the cartoon with others via email, Twitter and Facebook although I am currently having trouble viewing my cartoon’s link that I sent through email to myself. I wonder if the problem is that my computer does not have the app installed or if I am not logged in to my Toontastic account on my computer?  Perhaps it is a time issue, as yesterday at 2 pm I approved my cartoon to be uploaded to Toontastic and it was not viewable until this morning.  Teachers with more than one iPad in their classrooms will be happy to know that it is very easy to set up all your devices on one account.

I have had a frantic and fast-paced week full of interaction, participation and personal engagement.  Although I have concerns and fears about the unknown and where I may be going I have come to the realization that I will not be doing it alone.

Right here, right now

There is no other place I want to be

–Jesus Jones