Photo Story- an ICT resource

About Photo Story
This software from Microsoft is free of charge and can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/photostory. The computer needs to be prepared with Windows XP or Windows 7. It also requires that Windows Media Player 10 is installed.

The program makes it possible to provide presentations through speech, music, text and photos. When creating a new story, the first step is to import the pictures you want to use. These can be your own productions as well as photos found on the Internet. The webb site www.fotofinnaren.se has an extended selection of material, which is free to use for educational purposes. There is also an opportunity to add different effects to the chosen pictures, as well as text and music. The program is prepared with different pieces of music, but if not finding anything suitable, a suggestion is to look at www.multimedia.skolverket.se/Arkiv/Musik/ for further options. In the flow of the story making, you will eventually come to the "recording point". This is where you add your voice to the photos and it can be redone until you are satisfied with the result.

Photo Story can be used by younger learners as well as by older pupils. The creation will be a product of the learners´ present level of knowledge and skills. When used by teachers, the topics and language can be adapted to fit the specific group who will take part of the presentation.

How Photo Story can be used by teachers
First of all, I think that this is a good tool when introducing a new topic or theme. The presentation does not have to reveal the actual topic, but can be built up for the pupils to guess. Clues will be given from the recorded voice and the pictures will serve as support for meaning and understanding. The same goes when using the program for storytelling. It can then be used as a listening activity, with included pre- and post tasks. Digital presentations can also be good starters for different discussions in the classroom.

The children´s own and final productions can be published on, for example, YouTube. Once they are avaliable on the Internet, they are items of public opinions. This gives an opportunity to have a discussion that highlights an appropriate behavior when commenting other peoples´ pieces of work, and the value of constructive criticism verses condescending comments. Due to the stories inclusion of pictures, a discussion about copyrights will have its natural place.

This way of working has the advantage of creating a rather informal learning situation. The pupils are allowed to pick up and produce language under fun and relaxed circumstances, which is beneficial to the motivation and thus the whole learning process. The digital stories can be contributions to portfolios used for assessment. It will give the teacher a chance to catch the learners´ pronunciation skills. When used as assessment material, the whole working process should be considered though. Not just the final result.

How Photo Story can be used by learners
This program is an excellent way for young children to get intouch with computers for learning purposes. It is simple to use and no pre-knowledge is required. Clear instructions and support from the teacher should be enough when making their own digital presentations. Producing a story offers opportunities to practice speaking, pronunciation and writing. The recording allows the learners to really listen to the own voice, which may lead to an awareness of the pronunciation and the importance of it. When consuming someone else´s story, careful listening is required. This gives the pupils a chance to practice and develop this skill.

The final result of a Photo Story is a very concrete outcome. In the end it will, hopefully, make the children feel proud of what they have created. YouTube publishes will make it accessible to parents and friends. This might push the pupils to make an extra effort.

Other considerations when using Photo Story
As concerning all teaching and learning, this way of working includes both advantages and disadvantages. There will be children who are less comfortable with having the own voice recorded for everyone to listen to. It is, indeed, a rather exposed situation. This can be softened up if the topic is familiar and out of interest. Since the access of computers usually is rather limited in schools, one idea is to let the pupils work in pairs or small groups, put together out of common interests.

There is a risk that computer work is considered to be less important than ordinary teaching. Explicit information of the learning purposes and the expected outcomes is one way to decrease that risk.