Clover: Connecting technology and character education using personally-constructed animated vignettes

Abstract

K-12 schools need effective methods for delivering technology and character education. In this paper, we describe the iterative design, use, and evaluation of a tool that enables kids to construct animated vignettes expressing personal experiences. By building, sharing, and responding to vignettes, kids become engaged in reflection and problem solving moral and social issues, activities that build character. By creating their own vignettes, kids are able to acquire and apply technology skills within a learning activity meaningful to them. Evaluations of our tool were conducted with both teachers and kids. Results showed that all users were able to build meaningful vignettes, our tool was easy to learn and fun to use, and our tool's multimedia features were often used and wellliked, facilitating the creation of vignettes not possible with paper. Others can download and use our tool and draw upon our design rationale, results, and lessons learned when building similar tools.

Cartoons beyond clipart: A computer tool for storyboarding and storywriting

“…However, the prototype's main aim is to gather formative data on the proposal's feasibility rather than to hold up a fully polished product, so its relatively unrefined nature as compared to, for example, modern games, is considered acceptable. Additionally, the graphical sophistication of the latter is not reflected in the kind of art which children and adolescents generally make (compare the resources found in these games with the examples shown by Bailey et al, 2006, which students made themselves). Thus the more elaborate and detailed presupplied content becomes, the greater the danger that it will become more difficult to freely modify, transform and be included alongside user-generated content.…”

“…• Clover: Developed and described by Bailey et al (2006), Clover has been designed to allow 10 to 14 year-olds to create their own animated stories, principally for relating realworld situations and experiences in stories referred to as "vignettes". It integrates tools for planning, scripting, character design, scene design and animation, notably offering substantial process support for these stages.…”

“…The Government's 2005 report on the national curriculum explicitly calls for "moving image texts" to be more fully used throughout English teaching (Ofsted, 2005), and there is suggestive evidence that the use of such texts can benefit English and literacy across a wide age range (Burn and Leach, 2004;Parker, 2002;Oldham, 1999;Marsh and Thompson, 2001); this may have links to theories of writing (Madden et al, 2004). Further afield from the UK too, there is interest in the role which moving image texts may play in students' communicative and narrative abilities; Erstad's report (2002) gives a Norwegian perspective, Fee and Fee (2003), Donovan (2003), Bailey et al (2006), andMacGregor (2002) describe related topics studied in the USA, and Burn and Leach (2004) describe how the English curricula of Canada, Australia and New Zealand also consider the medium.…”

Sharing Stories “in the Wild”

“…Yet, the body of research that combines integrated design for storytelling, a focus on children, and mobile devices is relatively small [Franckel et al 2010]. Most research has typically targeted one design goal, such as a desktop tool that supports the creation of personal narratives by adults [Landry and Guzdial 2006]; similar nonmobile interfaces for children [Bailey et al 2006;Klerfelt 2006;Ryokai et al 2009]; mobile-based multimedia toolsets for adults that lack integrated storytelling features [Wu et al 2007]; or similar mobile text-messaging tools designed for children that lack story creation support [Makela et al 2000]. Fails et al's [2010Fails et al's [ , 2011 work to support collaborative mobile storytelling by children (8-11 years old) represents one strand of research that integrates all three facets (children, mobile devices, shared storytelling).…”

The Arthur Interactive Media Study: Initial Findings From a Cross-Age Peer Mentoring and Digital Media-Based Character Development Program

“…The usefulness of technology to enhance learning has been recognized for several decades (Clark, 1998;Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003); however, much of this work has focused on the role of technology in promoting cognitive or academic success. Much less research has examined the application of technology to promote character in young people (see Bailey, Tettegah, & Bradley, 2006;Narvaez, Mattan, MacMichael & Squillace, 2008 for some examples).…”