3. Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................5
2 THE POLITICS TOOLS ..............................................................................7
2.1 LEARNING ABOUT POLITICS (LAP) PLATFORM ..............................................7
2.2 POLITICS NATIONAL BLOGS...........................................................................8
2.3 POLITICS WIKI PAGE ......................................................................................9
3 THE POLITICS TUTORIALS..................................................................11
3.1 THE DIGITAL STORYTELLING TUTORIALS ....................................................11
3.2 THE WEB2.0 TUTORIAL ...............................................................................12
3.3 THE COPYRIGHT TUTORIAL .........................................................................13
3.4 THE EDUCATIONAL SCENARIO TUTORIAL....................................................14
4 GET STARTED WITH DIGITAL STORYTELLING........................15
5 GLOSSARY....................................................................................................16
6 USEFUL LINKS...........................................................................................18
7 USEFUL RESOURCES..............................................................................18
3
5. 1 Introduction
The Politics Brief User Guide addresses pupils, students, adults learners and
teachers interested to learn more about politics and active citizenship through the
use of collaborative digital storytelling and social tools. Produced in the context of
the Politics project 1 , the main purpose of this document is to explain the basic
principles of the project and to provide a comprehensive overview of its main
outcomes. Users are invited to use this Brief User Guide to familiarize themselves
with collaborative digital storytelling, Web2.0 tools and copyright issues and
become active digital storywriters.
The main Politics project outcomes introduced in this Guide include a
storywriting digital platform, the Learning about Politics (LAP) Platform
(http://learningaboutpolitics.eu), six national blogs with content in English,
German, Greek, Italian, Slovenian and Estonian and the Politics Wiki page
(http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics). Moreover, the project has produced a set of
educational resources such as digital stories, activities and multimedia resources
that aim at enabling school pupils, students and adult learners to develop a better
understanding of how modern society functions and develop skills in problem
solving, communication, language learning and writing skills. Tutorials and
handbooks are available to support users through the collaborative digital
storywriting process and use of the digital platforms.
The first two sections of this Guide present a short overview of the Politics digital
tools and tutorials, while the third one invites learners to read some of digital
stories produced by other users and get involved in digital storytelling either
individually (e.g. in Stories of Migrants) or collaboratively in a team (e.g. Straight
into Politics and Politics in the University). The last sections encourage users to
explore additional resources on storytelling, social tools and copyright issues.
This Brief User Guide is complemented by the LAP Platform Handbook available
at http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/handbooks/. For any additional support,
contact us at http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/contact/.
1Politics project (http://www.politics-project.eu) is a European project (2009-2011) funded by the
Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) of the European Commission under Key Activity 3, ICT.
5
7. 2 The Politics tools
2.1 Learning about Politics (LAP) Platform
http://learningaboutpolitics.eu
The LAP Platform is the central access point for all the Politics activities and
resources. It is a collaborative Digital Storytelling Platform built on WordPress and
BuddyPress and centered around the topic of politics and active citizenship. The LAP
Platform contains plenty of educational activities designed by learners and teachers
across Europe in different languages. The LAP platform provides you with the
opportunity to widen your political knowledge through creating and sharing content.
It offers channels for communication and discussion around political issues, political
theory or any other social challenging and relevant issue. Get involved by posting
stories either individually or collaboratively, creating or joining groups and
participating in forum discussions. If you are a teacher enter the Politics Active
Citizenship (PAC) Club to join a community of educators around Europe and explore
collaboration and funding opportunities together. Go to
http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/handbooks to download the LAP Platform
Handbook.
Figure 2.1: The LAP Platform
7
8. 2.2 Politics National Blogs
English blog: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/uksite
Greek blog: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/greeksite
German blog: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/germansite
Italian blog: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/italiansite
Estonian blog: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/estoniansite
Slovenian blog: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/sloveniansite
Accessible from the Learning about Politics (LAP) Platform, the six national blogs
host educational scenarios, activities, stories, articles, lesson plans and other
materials such as videos and pictures produced by learners and teachers around
Europe. Each blog contains resources in its national language, but also plenty of
English content. Overall the six blogs provide free access to over 40 educational
scenarios, 500 educational activities, 55 digital stories, 95 articles, 70 lesson plans, 10
interactive exercises, 475 multimedia files and others. In order to start using the
blogs and post your own content, all you need to do is join the main LAP Platform
and send a request to be added to a blog. More instructions are available in the LAP
Platform Handbook at http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/handbooks.
Figure 2.2: The Politics national blogs on the LAP Platform
Figure 2.3: The Politics national blogs
8
9. 2.3 Politics Wiki page
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics
The Politics Wiki page hosts the 3 Digital Storytelling Tutorials that invite you to
form online teams and write your own digital story with the use of Web2.0 tools.
Additional Tutorials hosted on the Politics Wiki page include the Web2.0 Tutorial
with guidelines on using 8 social media tools; the Copyright Tutorial that makes sure
sharing and remixing of resources respect copyright laws; the Scenarios Tutorial that
explain how you can help others learn about a topic of interest by creating an
Educational Scenario. In addition, the Politics Wiki page informs users about
available contests, Workshops and relevant events. Teachers and trainers can fill in
on the Wiki page a Form to join the Politics and Active Citizenship (PAC) CLUB
where they can find information on European and national funding opportunities.
Figure 2.4: The Politics Wiki page
Figure 2.5: The Events section on the Politics Wiki page
9
11. 3 The Politics Tutorials
3.1 The Digital Storytelling Tutorials
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Digital_StoryTelling
Three Digital Storytelling Tutorials are available, each built around a Story Pathway.
Choose the one that suits you best and get started in writing your own story. For each
Story Pathway we offer a Tutorials focusing on how to collaboratively write stories,
how to use the LAP platform to publish it, which Web2.0 tools can help you enrich
the story and how to address copyright issues.
-> Straight into Politics for upper basic school and secondary school students
Straight into Politics is a story in 10 chapters that invites you to use your creativity and
organize with your classmates an election campaign that would change your society. We offer
you the pathway and invite you to fill in the missing gaps and make the story yours. Available
in English, Greek, Slovenian, Estonian, Italian and German.
-> Politics in the University for university students
Politics in the University is the story of a young man who, by becoming an adult, discovers
what politics is and what he can do to make a change. Throughout the 11 chapters we invite
you to set up a campaign with your university colleagues, design and form your own political
party and get involved in the local elections. Available in English and Greek.
-> Stories of Migrants for adult learners with interest in intercultural dialogue
and migration
Story of Migrants is about identities, being part of the society or being an outsider. Add your
own chapter to the story. Share your experience in a foreign country. If you are not a migrant
or expat yourself, share other stories that are worth spreading. Available in English.
Figure 3.1: The Politics Digital Storytelling Tutorials
11
12. 3.2 The Web2.0 Tutorial
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Web2.0_Tutorial
Facebook Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Facebook
Flickr Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Flickr
Wiki Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Wiki
Prezi Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Prezi
SlideShare Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Slideshare
Smilebox Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Smilebox
Wordle Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Wordle
YouTube Tutorial: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Youtube
The Web2.0 Tutorial includes guidelines on using social media tools to enrich digital
stories or to produce digital stories. Eight tools are introduced, described and
analyzed by their educational potential: Facebook (www.facebook.com), Prezi
(http://prezi.com), SlideShare (http://www.slideshare.net), YouTube
(http://www.youtube.com), Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/), Wordle
(http://www.wordle.net), Wiki pages and Smilebox (http://www.smilebox.com/).
Each tutorial includes links to additional web resources, such as articles and papers
that discuss the potential use of the tool for education. To get you started, step by
step instructions are included in each tutorial.
Figure 3.2: The Politics Web2.0 Tutorial
12
13. 3.3 The Copyright Tutorial
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Copyright
The Copyright Tutorial explains how to make sure that sharing and remixing of
digital resources respect copyright laws and suggest using the Creative Commons
(CC) licenses (http://creativecommons.org/). The Creative Commons licenses are
free and easy-to-use and provide a standardized way to give the public permission to
share and use creative work under specific conditions. The Copyright Tutorial
explains how users can license their work using CC licenses and presents tools such
as Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/), Connexions (http://cnx.org/), CK-12 Foundation
(http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/), Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org),
OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm) and the Public Library of Science
(http://www.plos.org/) that provide openly licensed educational resources.
The Politics Wiki page and the Politics stories are licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) that allows users to share and
remix them under specific conditions.
Figure 3.3: The Politics Copyright Tutorial
13
14. 3.4 The Educational Scenario Tutorial
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Copyright
The Politics Educational Scenario Tutorial explains what an educational scenario is
and how to build one around a topic of interest. In Politics project educational
scenarios were produced by teachers and project experts to raise students awareness
on specific political issues, but most importantly to help them acquire knowledge on
specific topics by completing educational scenarios. Each scenario comprises of
several activities, that include task for the learner. In most cases these tasks require
exploration of digital resources, such as videos, articles etc. in order to be able to
complete the task.
Figure 3.4: The Politics Educational Scenario
14
15. 4 Get started with Digital Storytelling
Collaborative digital storytelling helps you find a voice while building
a community. It develops your ability to refect critically on your
experiences while nurturing your creativity.
Read the Politics stories at:
http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/ (in Digital Stories)
Choose a Story Framework
For upper basic school and secondary school students: Straight into Politics
Read it at: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/ENGLISH_version
For university students: Politics in the University
Read it at: http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Politics_in_the_University
For adult learners interested in migration issues: Stories of Migrants
Read it at: http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/story2/
Follow step by step the Digital Storywriting Tutorials or Posters
For Straight into Politics
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Get_started_with_Straight_into_Politics%21
or
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/images/Straight_into_Politics.pdf
For Politics in the University
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Get_started_with_Politics_in_the_University%21
or
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/images/Politics_in_the_University.pdf
For Stories of Migrants
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Get_started_with_the_Story_of_Migrants%21
or
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/images/Stories_of_Migrants.pdf
Familiarize yourself with the LAP Platform
Access the LAP Platform Handbook at http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/handbooks/.
License your story with an open license
Go to http://creativecommons.org/choose/ to choose a Creative Commons license for your
story.
15
16. 5 Glossary
Creative Commons licenses
free and easy-to-use licenses and provide a standardized way to give the public
permission to share and use creative work under specific conditions. Here is a list
of the Creative Commons licenses: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Educational Scenario
an educational activity in real life situations and not in theory, adapted to fit one
or more learning goals and making use of digital resources. Here is an example of
a Politics Educational Scenario:
http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/greeksite/2011/04/15/globalwarming/
Digital story
A first person narrative created by combining text, video, images, music or other
digital sounds. Here is an example of a Politics Digital Story:
http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/story1/
Story Pathway
a story skeleton that learners can built on in order to write their own story and
complete with various resources e.g. videos, pictures accessible on the LAP
Platform or elsewhere. Here is an example of a Politics Story Pathway:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/ENGLISH_version
Web2.0 tool
A tool that allows users to interact and collaborate with each other as creators of
user-generated content in a virtual community. Facebook, YouTube, Flickr are
examples of Web2.0 tools used by the Politics project to create digital stories.
16
18. 6 Useful links
Politics project website http://www.politics-project.eu/
Learning about Politics (LAP) Platform http://learningaboutpolitics.eu/
Politics Wiki page http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/
Politics Active Citizenship (PAC) Club http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Join_us
Politics project on Blip.fm http://blip.fm/LearnpoliticsUK
Politics project on Diigo http://groups.diigo.com/group/learning-about-politics-_-project
Politics project on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/learnaboutpolitics
Politics projetc on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/LearnPoliticsUK
Politics project on Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/LearnPolitics
Politics project on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/51057719@N02
7 Useful resources
Digital Storytelling
10 Tools for Digital Storytelling in Class
http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2011/06/10-tools-for-digital-storytelling-in-class/
Center for Digital Storytelling
http://www.storycenter.org/
Digital Storytelling Resources for Educators
http://www.techteachers.com/digitalstorytelling.htm
The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/
Integrating Digital Storytelling in your Classroom
http://its.ksbe.edu/dst/
Introduction to Digital Storytelling (a Prezi)
http://prezi.com/y653zkwgn5ac/introduction-to-digital-storytelling/
18
19. Web2.0 tools
Smilebox (http://www.smilebox.com/)
Politics Tutorial on Smilebox:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Web2.0_Tutorial
Classroom projects on Smilebox:
School is cool
http://smilebox.me/uBrJCA
Mrs. Moore projects
https://sites.google.com/a/apps.edina.k12.mn.us/mrsmooresclassroom/smilebox-creations
Articles about Smilebox:
Smilebox – 21 Century Digital Storytelling
http://www.web2teachingtools.com/smilebox.html
Reflections on Teching, Learning and Technology: Smilebox
http://malchowsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/01/smilebox.html
Similar tools to Smilebox:
Scrapblog http://www.scrapblog.com/
Picnik http://www.picnik.com/
Photopeach http://photopeach.com/
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/)
Politics Tutorial on Facebook:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Facebook
Facebook groups on Citizenship:
Ashoka's Full Economic Citizenship:
https://www.facebook.com/AshokaFEC?sk=info
Association for Citizenship Teaching:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-for-Citizenship-Teaching/135703793135461
Articles/papers about Facebook:
Opening Facebook: How to Use Facebook in the College Classroom
http://www46.homepage.villanova.edu/john.immerwahr/TP101/Facebook.pdf
Facebook vs Education: Is Facebook Bad for College? The Research States Otherwise
http://www.collegescholarships.org/research/facebook/
Similar tools to Facebook:
Google+ https://plus.google.com/
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/
MySpace http://www.myspace.com/
Tagged http://www.tagged.com/
Bebo http://www.bebo.com/
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/)
Politics Tutorial on YouTube:
19
20. http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Youtube
Articles about YouTube:
YouTube Facts & Figures (history & statistics)
http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-
statistics/
Is Education Ready for YouTube?
http://www.convergemag.com/edtech/Is-Education-Ready-For-YouTube.html
The Value of E-Learning with YouTube: Video Sharing for Education
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/65889/the_value_of_elearning_with_youtube.html
YouTube Beats Facebook & Twitter For Educational Social Video Potential
http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-beats-facebook-twitter-educational-social-media-potential/
Similar tools to YouTube:
YouTube EDU http://www.youtube.com/education
SchoolTube http://www.schooltube.com/
TeacherTube http://www.teachertube.com/
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/)
Politics Tutorial on Flickr:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Flickr
Classroom projects on Flickr:
Art classes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsyt/sets/72157624918431218/
Haiku project
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdcurry/sets/72157600261872309/
Articles about Flickr:
7 Things You Should Know about Flickr
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7034.pdf
Educational Uses of Flickr – SlideShare presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/shaunna/educational-uses-of-flickr
Using Flickr in the Classroom
http://www.jakesonline.org/flickrinclassroom.pdf
Similar tools to Flickr:
SmugMug http://www.smugmug.com/
Photobucket http://photobucket.com/
Fotki http://www.fotki.com/
Wikis
Politics Tutorial on Wikis:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Wiki
Articles about Wikis:
Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study
http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf
Wiki Pedagogy
http://www.profetic.org/dossiers/dossier_imprimer.php3?id_rubrique=110
20
21. Will Wikipedia Mean the End Of Traditional Encyclopedias?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115756239753455284-
A4hdSU1xZOC9Y9PFhJZV16jFlLM_20070911.html?mod=blogs
The Wiki as Knowledge Repository: Using a wiki in a community of practice to strengthen K-12
education
http://ateacherswrites.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/the-wiki-as-knowledge-repository-using-a-
wiki-in-a-community-of-practice-to-strengthen-k-12-education/
Wiki Software:
MediaWiki http://www.mediawiki.org/
WikiSpace http://www.wikispaces.com/
PBWORKS http://pbworks.com/
Prezi (http://prezi.com/)
Politics Tutorial on Prezi:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Prezi
Examples of Prezi on Active Citizenship:
Active Citizenship
http://prezi.com/qwl7tmujikt5/active-citizenship/
Understanding of citizenship
http://prezi.com/jdlbkp1vruix/understandings-of-citizenship/
Articles about Prezi:
Storytelling with Prezi (rather than Death by Powerpoint)
http://storytelleruprising.com/2010/09/13/storytelling-with-prezi-rather-than-death-by-
powerpoint/
Challenging the Presentation Paradigm: Prezi
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/challenging-the-presentation-paradigm-prezi/22646
Thoughts on using Prezi as a teaching tool
http://prezi.com/rfsnedhqmhqa/thoughts-on-using-prezi-as-a-teaching-tool/
Similar tools to Prezi:
Sliderocket http://www.sliderocket.com/
280slides http://280slides.com/
Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/)
Politics Tutorial on Wordle:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Wordle
Articles/papers about Wordle:
Ways to use Worlde in the Classroom
http://www.slideshare.net/hharvey102/wordle-in-the-classroom
Tag Clouds Gallery: Examples And Good Practices
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/11/07/tag-clouds-gallery-examples-and-good-
practices/
An Assessment of Tag Presentation Techniques
http://www2007.org/htmlposters/poster988/
21
22. Similar tools to Wordle:
Wordsift http://www.wordsift.com/
Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/
Tagul http://tagul.com/
SlideShare (http://www.slideshare.net/)
Politics Tutorial on SlideShare:
http://wiki.agroknow.gr/politics/index.php/Slideshare
Articles/papers about SlideShare:
World’s Best Presentations Contest 2010
http://www.slideshare.net/contest/worlds-best-presentation-contest-2010
Learning in Networks of Knowledge
http://www.knowledgenetworklearning.net/tools/10standardtools/slideshare/
Pushing Past PowerPoint with Web 2.0 Tools
http://scholarspace.jccc.edu/sidlit/34/
Similar tools to SlideShare:
authorSTREAM http://www.authorstream.com/
Scribd http://www.scribd.com/
Sliderocket http://www.sliderocket.com/index-b.html
Copyright & Licensing
Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/
Creative Commons Education
http://creativecommons.org/education
YouTube Creative Commons
http://www.youtube.com/t/creative_commons
Complete Guide to Finding and Using Incredible Flickr Images
http://www.skelliewag.org/a-complete-guide-to-finding-and-using-incredible-flickr-images-
162.htm
22
23. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained
therein.
23
