Nothing is impossible-ds106

If the title of this class isn’t cool enough, let me tell you what ds106 really is! Ds106 is a class call Digital storytelling, this course is open to anyone who wants to join and leave whenever they want. This course is offered from the University of Mary Washington. More detailed and interesting videos can be found on about ds106.

In Jim and Martha’s video on ds106, Jim had mentioned that people from all over the country do the ds106 assignments. People from different places come up with the assignments and whoever wants to do them, do them. Ds106 is a class based on creativity and storytelling with digital tools. People use their digital knowledge and creative skills to make something beautiful out of it and share it for the world to see. People share their ideas and learn from others’ ideas. Students try new things with different digital tools and be creative with it. A lot of great videos of examples in ds106 are on the website about ds106. The one video below is the one I enjoyed watching and showed me what ds106 is like and how I can use it in my classroom someday.

This video is great because it is math related, there are a lot of videos of examples in ds106 but this one spoke directly to me. I can see ds106 in my classroom by giving students the freedom to create what they learn or take from my classroom. They can create whatever they want using digital tools and be creative with it.

When I read and watched videos about ds106, a lot of projects came in mind. One thing that would be great for a project using ds106 is to have students create something about them using digital tools. Most teachers spend a lot of time during the first week of the school year or semester to get to know their students. A great idea would be give students the first week to explore different digital tools and have students create something about them and share it by the end of week 1. I think it’s a great way to get to know students and have fun with the class. One thing the teacher can do is to show a video he/she created about the class as an example of what students should do. That way it explains what the teacher is expecting for the project and the class. Teachers can also use ds106 throughout the school year to keep up the learning progress of students instead of a boring paper/pencil assessment. Ds106 is an adventurous class because you never know what you’re going to create until you create it.

Photo CC-Sean MacEntee