Digital Storytelling with Earfl

I stumbled across a new site called Earfl. It allows people to tell stories via cell phone (in 3 minute increments) that are posted online. They can be posted publicly or privately. In addition, you can add photos in the Earfl online account. One of my favorite aspects of this site (unlike audio-recording sites such as Voicethread, Gabcast, Gcast...etc) is that you do not need an account to get started! Just dial the Earfl number and tell your story (this is great for outside of class activities when you want students to document but do not have Internet access to set up an account).


I think this is a great resource for students/teachers who would like to do easy digital storybooks but do not have easy access to microphones and/or would like their students to get the audio portion of the assignment completed outside of class. Additionally students on field trips could call in their stories and then add photos later on (they could also use their mobile cameras to send pictures into their Flickr accounts). For example students who go to a historical village, could describe their experiences in the Noah Webster house, then go online and get images (via Flickr--which works with Earfl or other Creative Commons resources) and insert those images into their Earfl story. The stories can embed to websites, YouTube, and blogs too! Another great use for this site would be for students to use it as an oral diary or i-search project that spans over time. For example students could document their learning in a class by calling in once a week a story about their learning, then adding pictures associated with their learning. By the end of the school year, students have documentation of their learning and how far they have come over time.

There is also a nice group feature on Earfl, where you can join a group (and call in your story to add to a collection of stories, such as the Iowa Caucus story example below) or create your own group where people can join in and talk about their stories (again similar to Voicethread, and you do not have to have an account!). The stories play individually (which makes it easy to click and play the ones you are most interested in hearing). Also each individual story (while on the group page), has it's own embed code.





The last feature that I think is useful for classroom learning is the map feature. Here is one example of a map of stories about "tributes". When you set up a group, you automatically get a link to a Google map. Every time someone calls in to Earfl to add to a story to your group, the story (along with any images) will automatically be placed on the Google map. Therefore you can see exactly where in the world the stories are coming from! This might be a great feature for classes studying foreign languages or different concepts around culture and sociology.

Utterz...All-In-One mobile blogging! Free! Finally!

While there are some fantastic mobile blogging resources on the web, such as Gabcast, Gcast, Eyespot, Radar, evoca, Flickr, Jott, and Go@blogger.com, none of them allow you to post video, audio, text, and photos directly to a blog from their account. For example, Gabcast only posts audio, and Eyespot posts video, while Flickr only will post images. Now, of course you can set up accounts in all 3 of the aforementioned resources to post to the same blog, but the data will be housed in 3 separate places online. A little inconvenient for teachers and students. It is a also a reason why many teachers would be afraid to ask their students to mobile blog different types of media, because they do not want to deal with too many different web accounts. Now, I am come accross a resource called Utterz. It is the first resource I have found on the web that lets you mobile blog all 4 types of media to one place, from one account! Even better, it is international! So people from 25 different countries (and more), can use this free resource.

Let's look at the positives:
1) It is international, so people from around the globe can participate.
2) It is free to use.
3) You can use a landline (nice for students and/or teachers who do not have cell phones)
4) You can text, photo, video, or audio blogs from one account!
5) It has private options for posting!
6) You can post audio,text,images, and video on the same post from one phone.
7) You can "reply" to other "utterzs" and "listen" to them on your mobile phone.
8) You can receive alerts when someone comments or replys to your "utter"
9) The utters show up within a few seconds in your utter webspace.
10) You can "utter" back and forth with others via cell phone (no need to have computer or Internet access)

The downside:
1) Unlike some of the other resources I mentioned earlier, it is not a toll-free number (it is probably hard to do this since it is international), so if you use a landline, it will cost money (unless you have unlimited long-distance or use long-distance at an "unlimited talk" time)
2) there is some advertising (although it is off to the side and reasonable).
3) Utterz did show up on my blog posts within 10 minutes, but it showed up in my "drafts" box in blogger. This is not necessarily a negative because teachers who want to moderate posts, can then hit the published button after they have viewed/listened to the post. But if you want it to immediately post to a blog---it seems to have some trouble doing this, it might be because I have comment moderation on? I'm not sure.

Other than not having a toll-free number (maybe that will change?!), Utterz is a great resource for mobile blogging because it is all-in-one media blogging. This would be a great resource for students who are on field trips or a break from school. On their field trip, they could "blog" photos, videos, text, or audio to their Utterz account (or an external blog). Over Spring break students could do the same (maybe for extra credit...), for example if they are studying ecosystems in science class, they could post images of creatures and/or plants they find at the beach. Utterz could also be used as an up-to-date local newspaper. Students could post local event information, video, reports, and images as they are happening in their community.

Blog Talk Radio...EASY cell phone Podcasting

Thanks to a twitter forward from Adam Sutcliffe, I have been playing with a new cell phone podcasting tool called (CINCH) Blog Talk Radio. This is probably the easiest podcasting tool that I have ever used. You do not even have to create an account before doing a podcast from your cell phone! You simply call the international number of 1-646-200-0000 (so easy to remember), and you just say your podcast after the tone. When finished, you can hang up, and the podcast will immediately post the feed and downloadable MP3 to the Internet at:
http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/yourcellphonenumber



Let's discuss the pros and cons....
The positive

1. It is so easy to use.
2. No accounts.
3. No login and passwords.
4. No embedding files.
5. International callers might have a better chance at using this than Gabcast or Gcast.
6. No Website maintenance.
7. Can focus on the content and not the technology.

The Negative

1. It is not a toll free call, so students could use a landline if they do not have a cell phone, but they would have to pay for it (students with cell phones should not have a problem).
2. The subscription code includes your (or your students) real cell phone numbers...this could be a privacy issue if students want to give out their subscription feed to others. Of course students could just use this as a data recording device for interviews, note-taking, and narrative recordings where they can download the MP3 and use it to edit with in iMovie or another application.
3. Only one cell phone or landline per channel (so it would be hard to have a "class podcast" because everyone would have to podcast from the same phone).

Learning Applications
There are some obvious learning connections with this resource. First since teenagers never leaver home without their cell phone, they can document interviews, field trip notes, brainstorming, or even original poetry or story ideas on the go! They do not have to have an account to post their feed. They can be mobile citizen journalists and report on local events as they happen.

Hurray! For Gcast Podcasting...

I want to share an article about one of my former Master's students. Pat Sattler is an innovative and very creative technology teacher in Southeastern Michigan. She works at a Catholic K-8 school where she wanted to do podcasting, but did not have lots of cash for equipment. She turned to the cell phone coupled with Gcast and Hipcast so that her students could podcast and create Radio Theaters. She only used one cell phone (her own, a basic Motorola Razr) with many students to create some fantastic Radio Theater. The projects continue and each podcast gets even more creative and interesting. And it all started with one cell phone and a free website! Even the state-wide Catholic school journal decided to publish about her successful project! A great lesson for me from this is that you do not need every student to have a cell phone in order to have engaging learning activities from them.

Poetry Slamming with Cells...

A great idea that one of my inservice teachers came up with for cell phones was a Poetry Slam. While many schools and coffee houses host events for students to read their original poems, why not create a Poetry Slam Blog or Podcast where they could broadcast their original work to the world! Published! Using Gabcast, Evoca, or Gcast students could call in their poems, read them (with all the gusto and sound effects necessary), then post them immediately to their Blog or the Gabcast/Evoca/Gcast Podcasting site. If they post to their blog, they could "dress up" the poem with images and text. The benefit of using cell phones is that students could record their poems when they are "inspired" rather than having to be in front of a computer to record it. In addition, they could record "drafts" of their poems, save them in the private Gabcast or Evoca unpublished space, and then publish the draft they think is best. By publishing their poems on Gabcast or on their Blog, they can receive feedback with the comment buttons. Here is a sample Poetry Slam from my inservice teacher.

Podcasting with Cell Phones in schools...

Probably one of the easiest ways to use cell phones in learning is through podcasting. While podcasting is often done with iPods or audio editing devices such as Audacity, podcasts can be created more easily through cell phones (coupled with a few of my favorite FREE web2.0 resources). For example, instead of recording a podcast on an iPod and then loading it to itunes and uploading it to your webspace, you can simply dial a number on your cell phone, narrate your podcast, and then hit the # sign to publish immediately online. This can all be done with the assistance of websites like Gabcast(free), Gcast(free), Evoca(free & paid options) and Hipcast(paid). All of these sites allow you to create an account that will store your cell phone audio recordings! Fantastic! You simply dial a toll-free number and then record your podcast. All three sites also give you an RSS feed so people can subscribe to your podcast. Each site also allows you to post or embed the podcast into your blog, MySpace, Wiki, or other website. The best part is that your students do not have to have an iPod or special computer software...in fact they do not even have to have a computer. Simply a phone (since all the sites have a toll-free number, students who do not have their own cell phones can simply use a landline!). So, how can cell phone podcasts be useful for classroom learning?....here are a few ideas:
1) Conducting Interviews
2) Radio Broadcasts
3) Radio Theater (listen to a great example from St. Joseph's K-8 here).
4) Poetry Slam
5) Oral presentations
6) Recording Field Trip experiences (such as sounds at a zoo, or observations)