Chapter 11. Response "The Media Production Process, Phase I"

“If your students are having difficulty understanding the five-phase media development process, I recommend having them translate something they already know how to do into this process…” (Location 1784)  This recommendation by Olher generated an idea for how educators could go about developing professional development guides for using media to create stories in the classroom.  Ohler is right that digital story telling is a process just like any other process we learn to do.  So, the same steps could be used to organize new digital media programs within a school.  Please note the outline I have provided below:

Five-Phase Media Development Process	Five-Phase Professional Development for Media Use in Instruction
Phase I: Planning	How does media instruction support your school’s vision? What educational objectives and standards align with the use of media technology and digital story telling? What other schools have also successfully implemented media into instruction? What limitations might need to be considered for media projects.  Site limitations?  Community Expectations?
Phase II: Identifying and gathering materials, expertise	What funds does your site/department have that can be used to purchase equipment? What equipment does the school/district already provide? Who are the media technology leaders in your site/district/community?
Phase III: Development and implementation	What projects demonstrate 21st century skills that every student should be able to perform at your site regardless of subject/grade? What basic skills do instructors need to support media use in classroom projects at your site? How do limitations with equipment and experience provide learning opportunities such as collaboration and problem solving?
Phase IV: Honing, editing, and finalizing	Be sure to include: Objectives Materials Procedures Examples Assessment Strategies
Phase V: Sharing with others	Have teacher’s complete activity / lesson / project as training.   Collect feedback.  Provide support materials.

Ohler, J. (2008). Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy,

                Learning, and Creativity [Kindle DX version].   Retrieved from Amazon.com