Email 1

    Email 1: Thank you for showing interest in the Digital Storytelling and the African       Storybook Project.

Dear All Thank you very much for showing interest in SchoolNet and Saide's short, free online digital storytelling course starting on 21st July 2013. I am really thrilled that you have decided to come on board. We'll be directing all our writing at the wonderful African Storybook website.  We are very grateful to Saide's enormous generosity in making this course free to educators. Please encourage any of your colleagues whom you think may be interested to join us.  Thank you too for writing me an email to inform me you have joined. I am always concerned that something might go wrong when filling in a form. In this mail I am going to try and answer some of the queries mentioned on the form when folk filled them in Dates of the course This will be a five week free, online course held during the third term 2014, from  21st July  - August 23rd 2014. However youwill have till the end of the third term to submit your stories. We are also hoping that if you are responsible for a class, whatever their age, youwill get them writing and submitting stories as well.     Levels of stories created This course will differ slightly from the last one in several ways. One way is that we will be concentrating on creating Level 1 (First words) and Level 2 (First sentences) stories. This is where the great need is at the moment. One can always write longer stories and then reduce the words for the final submission.     Which device to use? The course can be done using any device platform - PC, Apple Device, iPad, Android, Windows phone etc. We will give guidance on the application to use on your device, however. The African Storybook Project website is based on PowerPoint so I will advise you on which application to use on your particular device after trying out different ones. The application needs to be PowerPoint friendly. I'll be trying out all the devices and their applications in the next couple of weeks and will keep you posted. (I am rather a 'gadget-girl' I have to say, and have acquired all the different devices over time!)   How will we submit the final stories?    Last time I created a Dropbox folder with directions on how to upload a story (you will receive directions for every step of the course). Some participants preferred to email me their stories.   What if we drop out of the course? Well, we do hope you won't choose to do this. The worst that can happen is that you'll forego a Certificate of Completion. But I am sure you'll love doingthis digital storytelling course. Everyone loves a story - our lives are all about stories! The course is for self-development and not for any grading. The Certificate of Completion is given if each week's very simple task is carried out.    Can the stories be written offline and then uploaded? The course itself will be presented online by means of a blog and a Facebook group, but the stories will be written offline depending on how your device works. They will then be submitted to us via a Dropbox folder or email or even via Google drive (we'll go into all the options and will provide directions). The African Storybook team will then start their selection.     I don't want to go on to Facebook. Is there an alternative? It's true that there are some who don't want to go on Facebook. However a Facebook  closed group is a great way to run the interaction part of anycourse. You do need to have joined Facebook, jowever, in order to do this. My advice is to join Facebook but don't upload any information about yourself, no pictures etc. Joining will give you the ability to become a member of the group. Otherwise you can easily participate via the blog only and add your commentsthere but you may miss out on any gems shared by others!    Can I use the story for other things?  Yes, we will use a particular Creative Commons license which gives you this freedom, and we'll learn all about that. With this license you can use your own story in other ways, even sell it, as you are the original creator.      Are there other costs? Is this a national certification?  There are no costs. This course has a purpose - to help the younger, Foundation Phase age children of Africa obtain suitable downloadable reading material in their own language, and to address the literacy crisis on the continent.  The certification is a Certificate of Completion but you will leave with a lot of exciting knowledge and a chance to be really creative.    Blogposts about the African Storybook website The course itself is advertised on the Schoolnet blog at this URL  http://schoolnetsa.blogspot.com/p/courses.html. I have also been working with the African Storybook website with Grades 1 - 6 in ICT lessons and have written posts about Grades 1,2 and 3 to date.  ·  Grade 2 students love reading the stories on the African Storybook website ·  The African Storybook website and Grade 3 students - using the story circle idea ·  Introducing Grade 1 students to the African Storybook Project website  Lorato Trok, our other moderator who is part of Saide's African Storybook team, has been piloting the website very successfully with students at a school in Atteridgeville.  I'll be writing with more information about devices and applications, the Facebook group and the blog in the next week or so. Warm regards Fiona Beal and Lorato Trok