1. Helping your students become more creative?
2. Learning more about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers for your students?
3. Obtaining “digital backpack” equipment (including a new digital camera, digital audio recorder, headset with microphone, and more) you and your students can use to create videos for class assignments?
4. Learning how to successfully facilitate student video projects for class?
5. Learning how digital fabrication labs (FabLabs) can energize your students about STEM career fields?
6. Joining an educational community of digital storytellers in Oklahoma?
7. Obtaining a $500 scholarship to attend a three day workshop FOR FREE focused on these activities?

If so, you need to apply for the “Teaching Creativity and Innovation to Inventive Minds” workshop scheduled for Wednesday, August 3rd through Friday, August 5th on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. The application deadline is Friday, July 29th. This workshop is co-sponsored by the College of Education at OSU and Storychasers. Day one of the workshop will focus on ideas for student creativity, STEM careers, and “digital fabrication” labs which students use to design and create originally designed materials using special computer software and hardware. No prior experience with digital fabrication is required. Days 2 and 3 of the workshop are the “phase 1″ digital storytelling workshop offered by Storychasers for the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices oral history project. You will learn how to create a short, 3 to 5 minute video focusing on some aspect of creativity, STEM careers, or STEM themes discussed in our workshop and share it on the third day.

Please complete our online registration Google form to register and apply for a full scholarship to attend this workshop, or apply to pay with available professional development funds from your school district. Slots are limited, and a total of ten scholarships are available. A maximum of 25 participants will be selected for this workshop. Those interested in attending but NOT selected for a scholarship can participate for $499 or $249, depending if participants want to keep “digital backpack” equipment following the workshop. Selected participants are required to attend all three days of the workshop training, which will be held from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Participants will also be expected to facilitate at least one student-created digital storytelling project in the six months following the workshop.

The online registration form link is:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dHQxSlowZnhlSHBaQVItb1VuX1lIZmc6MA#gid=0
or
http://tinyurl.com/storychasers11

This workshop will be led by Dawn Danker, a certified Storychasers lead facilitator and the CIO of Yukon Public Schools, and Dr. Susan Stansberry of Oklahoma State University’s College of Education. If you have questions about the workshop, please contact Wesley Fryer, Executive Director of Storychasers by phone, email or Twitter.

(888) 384-5953
wesfryer@pobox.com
@wfryer

A 1 page PDF flyer about this workshop opportunity is also available. Please forward and share this information with other Oklahoma educators. Past participants in Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV) workshops are NOT eligible to attend this special workshop on scholarship, but may pay to attend. Anyone is welcome to join our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices online learning community, which now has over 900 videos created by Oklahoma teachers and students:
http://lc.celebrateoklahoma.us/video

Videos and membership on our learning community websites are moderated by Storychaser project facilitators. More information is also available about hosting a Storychasers digital storytelling workshop for your school or in your area, in Oklahoma or other locations:
http://storychasers.org/faq/

• June 28-29, 2011 in Haysville, Kansas
• July 25-26, 2011 in Greenbush, Kansas
• August 3-4, 2011 in Andover, Kansas

View Summer 2011: Celebrate Kansas Voices in a larger map

Be sure to check out some of the latest videos shared on our Celebrate Kansas Voices Ning website. We now have over 65 videos created by Kansas students and teachers!

Register to join us, and please forward this information to others you know who may be interested! A 1 page PDF marketing flyer about the workshop is available.

Why attend our 2 day workshop?

• Digitally preserve history
• Create and share a video
• Develop digital literacy skills
• Use MEDIA to meet curriculum standards
• Join a community of innovative educators
• Get cool technology gadgets

Workshop cost is $499 or $249 per person, depending on whether you want to KEEP ‘digital backpack’ equipment after the workshop. Submit the Storychasers Workshop Registration Inquiry and Storychasers will send you the official workshop registration link. Call or email Storychasers if you’d like more information.

If you have TitleIID professional development funds, or other professional development funds from grants or other sources, our two day workshop is a wonderful learning experience for educators that has direct, measurable impacts on classroom instruction through the videos students create with teachers afterwards. We hope to see you in a Storychasers’ workshop this summer!

Why attend our 2 day workshop?

• Digitally preserve history
• Create and share a video
• Develop digital literacy skills
• Use MEDIA to meet curriculum standards
• Join a community of innovative educators
• Get cool technology gadgets!

Workshop cost is $499 or $249 per person, depending on whether you want to KEEP ‘digital backpack’ equipment after the workshop. Submit the Storychasers Workshop Registration Inquiry and Storychasers will send you the official workshop registration link. Call or email Storychasers if you’d like more information.

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digital, digitalstorytelling, history, oklahoma, oklahomastate, oralhistory, osu, storytelling, workshop

1. COV 1-2 Jun 2011 Muskogee, Oklahoma (2 sessions)
2. CKV 14-15 Jun 2011 Greenbush, Kansas
3. CKV 20-21 Jun 2011 Andover, Kansas
4. COV 23-24 Jun 2011 Stillwater, Oklahoma
5. CKV 28-29 Jun 2011 Haysville, Kansas
6. CKV 25-26 Jul 2011 Greenbush, Kansas

These dates are listed on our Storychasers’ Public Events Google Calendar:

A “digital backpack” of digital storytelling supplies is included in the registration cost. Our workshop lasts two days, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm each day, and costs $500 to attend. Participants learn to create a 3 to 5 minute digital story / video using a digital audio recorder, Audacity software and either PhotoStory3 or iMovie, depending on the computer platform used. (We teach both Windows and Macintosh users!) More details about our workshops and information about Storychasers is available in our FAQ.

photo © 2008 Wesley Fryer | more info (via: Wylio)

To register for an upcoming Storychasers workshop, please fill out the “Storychasers Workshop Registration Inquiry” form online. After we receive your request, we will send you a Google Form registration link so you can enroll in your desired workshop. Our mailing address and W-9 form are available on our contact page if you need that information for your school purchasing department. Workshop payments can be submitted via school PO, check, or credit card. If you have professional development funds remaining in an existing grant or school technology bond initiative, we would love to work with you to provide Storychasers digital storytelling training for as many of your teachers as possible.

Remember ANYONE can “volunteer a site” to host a Storychaser workshop. More information and an online request form is available on our FAQ page. Storychasers now supports Celebrate Oklahoma Voices (COV,) Celebrate Kansas Voices (CKV) and Celebrate Texas Voices (CTV.) Over 880 videos created by teachers and students have been shared on our learning communities to date, and we look forward to many more this summer!

Please contact Storychasers if you have questions about our workshops. We’re serious about “empowering digital witnesses” to share their voices constructively on the global stage of the Internet! We hope you’ll join us in this important work in our communities.

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1. A “Celebrate Oklahoma Voices” digital storytelling and oral history workshop April 7-8 in Midwest City, Oklahoma, to be held in MidDel Public Schools
2. A “Celebrate Texas Voices” digital storytelling and oral history workshop April 18-19 in Lubbock, Texas, to be held at ESC Region 17
3. A “Celebrate Kansas Voices” digital storytelling and oral history workshop April 21-22 in Manhattan, Kansas, to be held at Kansas State University

In this two day workshop, participants learn how to use free software (Audacity and PhotoStory3 or iMovie) along with a “digital backpack” of equipment to create short, 3-5 minute videos shared online in our moderated learning community. Participants can either pay $500 to keep equipment or $250 to borrow equipment for the duration of the workshop. People interested in registering should complete our online form available on:
http://storychasers.org/contact-us/sc-workshop-registration-inquiry/

More information about the workshop and Storychasers is available on our FAQ page:
http://storychasers.org/faq/

If you are interested in “volunteering your site” to host a summer 2011 Storychasers workshop in Oklahoma, Kansas or Texas, please contact Storychasers soon!

photo © 2008 Wesley Fryer | more info (via: Wylio)

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• Schools
• Education Service Centers / Educational Service Units
• Regional Technology Centers
• Libraries
• Museums
• Historical Societies
• College and University Departments

Conference rooms can be used for BYOL (bring your own laptop) workshops if a computer lab is not available. Our workshops are cross-platform, meaning they are offered in both Windows-based and Apple/Macintosh-based computing environments.

photo © 2009 Wesley Fryer | more info (via: Wylio)
Storychaser phase 1 workshops are 2 or 2.5 day opportunities to learn the basics of creating a digital story using a “Digital Backpack” of supplies. Participants learn how to use portable audio recorders, microphones, audio editing software (Audacity) and video software (PhotoStory3 or iMovie) to create short, 3 – 5 minute videos using audio and still images. To get a better idea of the kinds of videos workshop participants create, check out some of the 850+ videos on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices and some of the 30+ videos on Celebrate Kansas Voices currently. Our project has been underway in Oklahoma since 2007, but just started in 2010 in Kansas. We’re starting this year (in 2011) in Texas.

If your school, school district, or organization currently has grant dollars for professional development / training which need to be encumbered by a specific date, we’ll be glad to work with you in scheduling a Storychasers workshop in your area for teachers to attend.

More information about our workshops and Storychasers is available on our website frequently asked questions (FAQ) page. If you have other questions don’t hesitate to contact us by phone or electronically!

Remember we have three upcoming Storychaser workshop opportunities on our calendar in April, and registration for these classes remains open!

• Celebrate Oklahoma Voices 7-8 Apr 2011 (Midwest City, OK)
• Celebrate Texas Voices 18-19 Apr 2011 (Lubbock, TX)
• Celebrate Kansas Voices 21-22 Apr 2011 (Manhattan, KS)

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photo © 2008 Wesley Fryer | more info (via: Wylio)

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• 7-8 April (Thu – Fri) Midwest City, OK
• 18-19 April (Mon – Tue) Lubbock, TX
• 21-22 April (Thu – Fri) Manhattan, KS

Our 4-5 March workshop has been rescheduled for 7-8 April. All our 2011 workshop dates are listed (and will be added) to our 2011 workshop page and to our unified Google calendar, which includes all our workshops in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.

Anyone interested in attending one of these upcoming Spring workshops should submit our online “Workshop Registration Inquiry” form. Seating is limited for each workshop!

We have simplified our workshop participant cost model for 2011. As our updated FAQs explain:

Generally, there are two pricing options for our workshops, depending on whether or not participants choose to keep provided “digital backback” equipment.

1. $499 per person, including “digital backpack” equipment to keep
2. $249 per person, borrowing during the workshop (but not keeping afterward) “digital backpack” equipment

Discounted pricing is available for workshop attendance in some cases when grant funds are available to offset participant fees, or when partnership agreements apply. Note this pricing has been updated for 2011. Costs are the same for the 2 day and 2.5 day workshop models. (The agenda meeting times are longer if a 2 day model is used.)

Please view our complete list of frequently asked questions and answers for more details about our workshops. If your organization in Oklahoma, Kansas or Texas is interested in becoming an official partner with Storychasers and offering discounted workshops for your members, please contact us!

photo © 2008 Wesley Fryer | more info (via: Wylio)

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• Celebrate Oklahoma Voices 19-21 Jan 2011 Yukon, OK
• Celebrate Oklahoma Voices 2-4 Mar 2011 Midwest City, OK
• TBA 6-8 Apr 2011 (location TBA)
• TBA 20-22 Apr 2011 (location TBA)

Ten slots remain available / open for next week’s “Celebrate Oklahoma Voices” workshop in Yukon, Oklahoma. Visit our “Attend a Workshop” webpage for more information, and the link to submit an online inquiry for registration. We’d love to have you and others from your school or community join us!

Pricing for our 2011 workshops has been reduced and simplified. The “standard cost” for our 2.5 day phase 1 workshops, including digital backpack equipment each participant keeps, is $499 per person. If participants (or schools) do not want to pay to keep equipment, the “standard cost” for the workshop is $249 per person. In 2011 we are extending offers to several state organizations in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, to formally partner with us and offer discounted workshop options for their members. More information about workshop pricing and partnership opportunities is available.

We are in the process of updating and combining information from various websites in a new Storychasers’ informational website: info.storychasers.org. If you have any feedback, suggestions, or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. We hope to empower many new “digital witnesses” in 2011. Please help spread the word about our workshops so your local community can gain more digital storytellers this year!

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We are anticipating scheduling additional Celebrate Oklahoma Voices 2.5 day workshops later in fall 2010, before the Christmas holidays. These workshops will most likely be grant-supported and therefore discounted, as grant funds will be used to offset participation costs. (Which will include “digital backpack” supplies, of course!) As soon as those dates and pricing information are available, we will notify all members of our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices learning community. If you want to stay updated and have not already, please join the COV Ning and also follow Storychasers on Twitter. 824 videos have been shared on “Celebrate Oklahoma Voices” to date, including over 65 student-created videos.

We want to schedule additional Celebrate Kansas Voices (CKV) workshops in 2011 to coincide with the celebration of Kansas’ Sesquicentennial. We hosted our first CKV workshop in Manhattan at Kansas State University this past summer, and it was a big success. To date as of this writing, 29 videos have been shared on our Celebrate Kansas Voices learning community. Several have been added in the last two weeks, so please check them out, rate them and leave comments. If you have not joined and are interested in Kansas oral history, please join the Celebrate Kansas Voices learning community.

To facilitate the scheduling of Storychasers workshops in Oklahoma as well as Kansas, we have created a new online request form. This is now linked from our main Storychasers’ project wiki, our “Attend a Workshop” wiki page, our COV wiki homepage, and the homepages of both Celebrate Oklahoma Voices and Celebrate Kansas Voices. Please share this link with others you know who are interested in our projects and work. Pricing information is included on that page, and will be updated as we develop new pricing models based on grants and other initiatives.

We’re the “Storychasers,” so we certainly need to be using multimedia and video to “tell our story” on our websites. To that end, we’ve installed the EmbedVideo extension on our main StoryChasers wiki. This permits us to embed video from a variety of hosting sites, including YouTube. The plugin does NOT currently support embedding from Ning. If you know how to embed Ning videos on MediaWiki sites, please let us know by commenting here! We’ve added videos to our our StoryChasers wiki “What is Storychasers?” About page, Attend a Workshop page, and “Become a Workshop Facilitator” page. These are all videos which have been cross-posted from COV and CKV to our Storychasers YouTube channel. If you have a Google account and use YouTube, please subscribe to us!

Our Storychasers board has been in conversations the past couple months about the possibility of starting a digital storytelling and oral history project in Texas. Those conversations are including discussions with TCEA representatives. We are currently outlining a “Storychasers Partner Proposal” which would apply to our current projects in Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as new projects potentially in Texas and elsewhere. Our goal is to complete that proposal in early November. With this document, we want to outline the roles, benefits, and points of potential collaboration for organizations interested in becoming formal “partners” with Story Chasers Inc.

We have a few more ideas and plans in the works, but that’s about all we can share publicly for now. Thanks for your interest in Storychasers! Together we’re going to keep doing GREAT things for our students, our communities, our families and our schools.

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