As teachers and learners we know that "every one of us has a story to tell." Digital storytelling allows someone to use multimedia (text, images, video, sound) to report on a historical event, explain an important time in ones own life, investigate a complex situation or event.
Ideas for Incorporating Digital Storytelling
The Center for Digital Storytelling
- Cookbook (http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.html) includes several examples of story types that you are commonly including. Certainly these types of stories are not applicable to all disciplines.
Character Stories
Memorial Stories
Adventure Stories
Accomplishment Stories
The Story about what I Do
About a Place in My Life
Recovery Stories
Love Stories
Discovery Stories
Assessing Digital Storytelling
A sample rubric is available at the work with Western Massachusetts Writing Project website.
Elements of Digital Storytelling
Digital stories take many forms and there is no definitive answer on what a digital story looks like however, the Center for Digital Storytelling developed a "cookbook" which describes seven essential elements involved in digital storytelling.
- Point of View What is the thesis for this story? What perspective does the author take?
- A Dramatic Questions Engaging viewers by introducing a question that will be answered by the end of the video.
- Emotional Content Position your video to make a powerful statement that pulls viewers in emotionally.
- The Gift of Your Voice Using your own voice presents the content more genuinely.
- The Power of the Soundtrack Match the tone of your story with corresponding sounds.
- Economy Providing enough context to your story while keeping it brief to maintain interest
- Pacing Keeping an appropriate tempo that matches your story.
Research
Center for Digital Story Telling
University of Houston: College of Education - Digital Storytelling
BBC: Telling Lives
Faculty Spotlight
"Super Slims" by Geoffrey Scheurman
"My Journey As An Eco Jock" by Bo Storozuk
"Our Journey to the Metropolitan" by Gay Ward
"Jerry’s Story: Servant Leader" by Florence Monsour
"The Land Tells US" by Alicia Aiken Cosgrove