Photo Story 3

What is it? 

Photo Story 3 is a free presentation tool for creating digital stories with photos, text, transitions, audio narration and background music. It is a modern day version of show and tell or story telling.

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Step by Step Process  

1. Download Photo Story 3 from the Microsoft website.
2. Have the photos ready that you want to use and create a storyboard to plan the story 
3. Open the program and begin a new story, click next.
4. Import pictures in order from start to finish, then click next.
   
5. If you wish to edit the picture i.e rotate, crop, color; the tools are below your photo.
6. On the next page you are able to add effects with the tool below the photo, i.e black and white, watercolour etc. You can also add text for each photo and edit your text.
   
7. The next step is customising the transitions between each photo, click customise photo, then the first tab, motion and duration sets how long each photo shows for, the second tab: transition, is for choosing the transitions between each photo. Now you can record your own audio by clicking the record narration button. 
8. If you'd like to add background music, select music on the next page. You can choose to use your own music or use the supplied music by clicking create music.
9. Finally, save your story and choose an appropriate name for it and your Photo Story is complete! You can now save it to USB, burn to disk or upload to a website for sharing.
   

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Availability 

Photo Story 3 for Windows XP is a free download from Microsoft.com. It takes between 1 and 13 minutes to download.

* Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP; Windows XP Home Edition ; Windows XP Media Center Edition; Windows XP Professional Edition ; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2

* Processor Required: Intel P3 700-megahertz (MHz) or equivalent processor, an Intel P4 1.7-gigahertz (GHz) or equivalent processor recommended.

* Memory: 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM, 512 MB of RAM or more recommended.

* Disk space: 400 MB of available hard disk space.

* Monitor: Super VGA (800 x 600) or

higher-resolution video adapter and monitor.

* Windows Genuine Advantage.

* Microsoft Windows Media Player 10.

* Microsoft DirectX 9.0 or later.

* Windows XP  compatible sound card and speakers.

* Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing

device.

* Microphone to record narration.

Unfortunately it is not available on Mac.

Which year levels can use it and which subject areas? 

The program is suitable to be used in all learning areas where students want or need to present information, pictures and audio. The only limitation is that R-2 would probably benefit from teacher led, whole class projects, to familiarise them with the variety of options and steps. It is also a great tool for teachers to use to introduce lessons or units of work.

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How can it be used in schools?  

English- For poetry, you could share a specific type of poem with students i.e haiku or acrostic and discuss the structure and rules of it. They could then write their own poem and draw illustrations or google images or create pictures using image software. The pictures would also link up with Art. Next students can add the text of their poem and record themselves narrating it as well as choosing their own music. They could do the same thing with a fiction/non fiction story they have written.They could also create a movie trailer for a book they have read in class or make a visual book report.

Music- Students could create their own tunes to add to their Photo Story or they could make their own music videos.

Health & PE- You could do a unit on identity and students could make their own photo story with images and text that represent themselves.For P.E they could make their own photo story of how to do a basic skill step by step i.e shooting a goal or throwing a ball.

Languages- Students could make a guessing game for the rest of the class through Photo Story, they could say in audio narration how to say a word in the language they are learning and have students guess the english meaning and then have a photo as a clue then show text of the answer. They could also make news reports of themselves in an other language or have a photo story on the culture of a country.

Design and Tech- Students could critique a product and explain how they would improve it through photos and text. They could also have a photo story of the process taken in creating a model of a new product.

Science- Students make a presentation of an experiment step by step with discussion of the results, then have a class viewing to see how all the other experiments turned out. Could also do a presentation for a research project i.e the planets or plant life etc.

SOSE- After a class excursion students could use photos to do a review of what happened and what they learnt. They could also do a presentation of an event in the past that they have researched. They could interview someone in the community and create a biography for a unit on community heroes.

Maths- Whilst studying patterns, shapes or tesselations, students could take photos of examples around the school.

High-school students might use photos and music to raise awareness of social or ethical issues in science, civics, and literature classes. They could create a public service announcement about non profit organisations.

Teachers can also use it to create visual mini lessons, teach objectives, an introduction to the class video, a revision tool, creating instructional videos i.e how to wash your hands correctly or an example of daily class routine. If you are introducing a new book to the class, you could scan the pages and write the text to view while you read it, then students are able to see the pages of the book while you read. You could also use it to present new vocabulary or a letter/number of the week.

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Audacity

Audacity is another free tool which can be used for recording music and audio and then adding to Photo Story. Audacity has better editing capabilities and allows you to have several voices/different music in the same audio file which is great for group work. If a mistake is made it is really easy to edit that part out. Click here to download Audacity.

Click here for a tutorial on how to use Audacity in partnership with Photo Story.

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Links to examples

You Tube tutorial

Step by Step Process from Microsoft Website

FAQ

Example of a Photo Story created by students on Ancient Egypt -This is an overview of a unit, so its a great way for students to show what they have learnt for assessment time.

A Photo Story made by a teacher as an introduction to students on Cells. It is a model or guide for students to use when they create their own Photo Story on cell structure.

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What are the disadvantages?

• Photo Story 3 is not available for Mac. But there is a mac alternative at www.digitalstoryteller.org
  
• The size of the window has a set size and cannot be maximized.
• To teach with Photostory you will need enough computers for the class and the use of microphones which are not always available in schools.
• You will need a quiet space for voice recording which can be difficult in schools
• It is time consuming and something which must be completed in class time as not all students have access to computers at home
• With younger students there is more preparation as you will need to help them find/take appropriate photos and explain in detail how to use the program

What are the advantages?

• At any time when you are creating a Photo Story, you can go back and edit your work.
• Students are using the same skills they use in book reports/research projects, but it is much more engaging.
• Students gain computer skills which they need to be successful in the future world.
• Students feel a sense of pride for their published work and it is easy to share with others.
  
• Its fun for teachers too! Grading videos is better than reading and grading long reports and teachers can also use Photo Story to instruct/explain the lesson too.
• Photo Story can be used for group or individual work.
• When you are playing your story, it is hands free so you don't need to click through slides.
• Children who don't feel comfortable doing oral presentations can still express themselves and present information by pre-recording their narration in Photo Story.

Teaching Strategies  

Have students research, prepare a storyboard and take all their photos before computer time. Storyboards are a great way for students to improve their planning and designing skills and ensure that their story flows well. A storyboard should make the sequence of events clear and get students thinking about what audio they want to interact with the visual images, as well as choosing the visual transitions to tie together the images. Teachers can simply photocopy a sheet with 6 squares on it, and students can draw their image in each box and the text and then write the sound and effects they are going to have. If they are doing narration, they should also plan out exactly what they are going to say.

Its helpful for students to teach a detailed tutorial on Photo Story first, so most of their questions can be answered before beginning work and their computer time can be maximised.

Spend time getting to know the program and make your own Photo Story so you are able to answer all questions easily.

Photo Stories should go for about 2-10 minutes.

Incorporate a way for students to share their work i.e on a class website, a class viewing or sharing at assembly or parent teacher interviews.

In reference to teaching strategies, you could use De Bono's Six Thinking Hats, this would be a green hat thinking task, Green hat thinking requires imaginative, creative and lateral thinking about a topic. It would also require the white and black hat during the planning process. White hat thinking focuses on the information available and needed. Black hat thinking examines the difficulties and problems associated with a topic. You could also apply Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, as creating a Photo Story involves creating, evaluating, analysing, applying, understanding and remembering.

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Examples from Students 

Year 5 example                            Year 7 example

Comments from the students about using Photo Story 3 -

"Everything is set out well"

"It looks good and is easy to use"

"It makes the project look good in the end"

"It could be improved by making all of the instructions clearer because it sometimes gets confusing"

"I would use Photo Story 3 again for a school assignment, but probably not for fun"

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Teacher Interview

-with a teacher from Holy Family Primary School

What subjects have you used Photo story for?

Religion, for a unit on Mary and SOSE when we studied the environment.

Have you used it in any other ways?

I have shown the student's Photo Story's during mass and assembly and to other classes. As well as using it to showcase photos of the students work during assembly.

What year level can you use it with?

My JP students picked it up easily, but it works with any year level, you just need to adjust the criteria to suit their level.

What process did you take when the class made Photo Story's?

When we did the Mary unit, we collected lots of images of Mary from google and then put them in a shared folder for everyone to use. The students chose their own song which made them think of Mary, next they thought up key words to describe her and typed them as text over the images. The Photo storys were shown during our mass of The Assumption of Mary.

During the SOSE unit, we walked to a nearby park and students took photo's of nature as well as ways we are destroying it, i.e rubbish and pollution. They researched some information about how we can save the environment and added it as text. They then showed their Photo Stories to other classes to share what they had learnt.

Do you think using Photo Story is an effective way to learn?

Yes, because it engages students through the use of ICT, which always produces better outcomes. Myself and the students found it very easy to use and they picked it up quickly and easily. I was able to have more teacher facilitated lessons rather than alot of instruction. Also, when they watched everyone elses, they learnt from each other and found out more about the topic as well as improved their skills for the next Photo Story. That was alot more effective than me telling them all the information as they were learning from their peers.

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References

www.pre-kpages.com/ppts.html

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/21973.aspx

www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196604105

http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/2006/05/tes_ict_blog_no_5.html

http://cnx.org/content/m19686/latest/

https://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=36049

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