*I am currently working my way through my fourth semester of the Information and Learning Technologies master’s program at University of Colorado, Denver.  This is the seventh post within a series of reflections that I’ve been assigned to write for a course titled Digital Storytelling.

Weeks 14 & 15

The semester is winding down and although I couldn’t be more ecstatic to have 12 weeks off of school, I keep finding myself thinking of ways to stay immersed in digital storytelling.  I’ve become addicted to the creativity, exploration, and engagement that comes with telling stories in the digital world and I think I will continue to explore all throughout the summer!  I’m not going to write too much here because I’m working on a more in-depth media reflection that I’ll post next week.  But here is a list of what I’ve done over the last two weeks with a few details about what I created and learned.  Thanks for reading!

• I shared a book of poetry that I found in downtown Durango for a Daily Create.  This was an assignment where I loved the actual “story” behind what I had created!
• I found myself, or rather my name, on a boat in Spain and shared it for a Visual Assignment Bank assignment.  This was another assignment where I loved the “Story” behind the project.
• I critiqued a TEDTalk titled The Hunt for General Tso, given by Jennifer 8. Lee, who is quite possibly, one of the world’s most accomplished women!  I learned so much from her talk which was entertaining, humorous, witty, informative, educational, and an all-around great story.
• I “responded” to a piece of digital storytelling “scholarship” which was a great article from the Harvard Business Review titled, How to Tell a Great Story.  The author covered six key elements for telling a great story in a business setting and listed some key principles to always keep in mind.  I liked reading something that truly related to my real world work life. 
• I sent a postcard from Miami for another Daily Create and loved the idea of telling stories using an assignment like this in a classroom!  Maybe I was a teacher in another life.  
• I critiqued a short film clip on the surprising science of how we “taste” food.  It’s another piece done by National Geographic and I’m utterly hooked on every single thing their website has to offer.  They’ve amassed thousands of digital stories in almost every form you can think of.
• I wrote a response to Chapter 5 of Bryan Alexander’s The New Digital Storytelling.  I learned quite a bit about how podcasts, web videos, and VoiceThread have evolved and become incredible platforms for digital storytelling.  There was some very interesting history covered and then several great examples were explored in detail.