Tech Tuesday

Finds and Thoughts about Tech Integration

PicPlayPost Palooza

March18

In the last few months, when I have consulted with teachers, I have found myself recommending over and over again the same app… and it seems like it’s been a non-stop party of great projects.

So what’s the app?

PicPlayPost is its name, and it’s very simple to use. You pick a frame of up to 6 spaces and plug-in pictures and/or videos. Then the frame or media collage can be exported and shared to your outlet of choice, such as a blog or webpage. While the end product can be impressive, the real power is in the process and preparations that students undertake. Essentially, students have to pull together items on a topic, making a synthesis of learning.

What do I like about this app, or better yet, the idea of media collages?

  • Non-subject specific: PicPlayPost or the concept of a media collage works with any topic.
  •  Paper and glue are not obsolete: Students can be very hands on using this technology. Students can make or find props to snap pictures of to include in the media collage. That means students still can build models and dioramas and/or color their own posters by hand if desired. There still is a lot of value in the old school creation process, and I know that many teachers do not want to abandon manual tasks. These pieces also can be a great home component to a media collage as the pieces come in on a specific due date, get photographed and then go right on back home (instead of taking up non-existent classroom space).
  • Planning is key: Making a media collage requires planning on the student’s part. Important choices have to be made in what will be displayed. Students develop decision-making skills as well as organizational and time management skills in order to assemble the overall product. PicPlayPost does not help students make the pieces of the collage; it is just a shell to share them. A lot of thought, energy and creativity have to go into how a student will show his/her knowledge on a subject. Research has to be completed; scripts drafted; reading practiced; and props designed all before even using a camera.
  •  The camera is the BIG tool: The app does not require anything more than simply using the built-in camera of the iPad (Mini). The camera roll is accessible within PicPlayPost, so if you can get what ever you have made to the camera roll, you can put it into your media collage. That opens the door to being able to use other apps (iMovie, Tellagami, Funny Movie Maker, Explain Everything) to create pictures and videos that are sent to the camera roll and then able to be inserted into the media collage.
  • Communication matters: Students still have to explain their learning with a media collage but through pictures and video. This medium is a nice change from the traditional report, which quite honestly, is not very exciting for an audience outside of teachers. Students are working on speaking clearly with expression as well as developing reading fluency.

At the bottom, please take a moment to visit each of these media collage projects that have been created at Abbot over the past few months. Some have been shared previously, but the last four are new!

Final thought: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a media collage?

Ancient Civilizations

MA Regions

Wampanoag Models

Folktale Comparisons

Zoo of Wildlife

Planets

The Museum

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