According to The University of Houston, Digital Storytelling is defined as, "the practice of using computer based tools to tell stories". Digital stories usually contain several forms of multimedia. Digital stories can contain images, video, audio, music, and text.
An awesome place to learn how to incorporate Digital Storytelling into your curriculum is the University of Houston, The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling website: http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/index.html . This website offers many features to learn about digital storytelling and to help you get started. Listed below are some of the features of this website:
- Examples of DS in many subject areas (you can view several examples of Digital Stories)
- Software: gives you access to links to some popular software programs that can be used to support your Digital Storyellling. According to this website, many of the software options may be obtained for free or for an inexpensive cost.
- Essentials: Under this heading you will find 7 elements to DS. Educational uses, goals and objectives, copyright laws associated with DS, and microsoft DS e-book.
- Create: this feature gives tutorials for gow to get started with DS. It gives step by step instructions to walk you through all the steps for DS. It also explains how to do storyboarding.
- Evaluate: This feature aligns DS with National Standards. It gives links to the stnandards. It also has a link to Rubistar. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
- Web 2.0: This feature has links to articles tha tyou can read about DS and how to effectively use it in the classroom. One beneficail article that I found to be helpful was, "Digital Storytelling Find its Place in the Classroom". http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm
This feature also had links to royalty free media and public domain sites. I found this very helpful as I was researching to find items for my resource kit.
Another thing that I found beneficial on this website is that you can use anything on this website for educational purposes. It really made me think about how I could use it to educate other teachers on the possibilities that are out there for DS. This website will answer most your questions about DS. It is a must have link for any media center. There are downloadable powerpoints that can be used for educational purposes. With the resources and information available from this website, there are an endless amount of possiblities.
As I researche DS, I discovered many great ideas and ways to use DS for instructional purposes. Below are a few ideas that I found:
- Teachers can use DS to hook students, they can use it to promote discussion on a particular subject, they can use it as a way to make difficult content more understandable, they can use it to incorporate multimedia into the classroom.
- DS is an effective learning tool tha tcan be used by teachers to teach "research skills, writing skills, organization skills, technology skills, interview skills, interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, and assessment skills" (University of Houston).
Not only is it educational, it is so much fun for students to create something that they will take pride in. This is a technology that we as educators need to find time to use in our classrooms and with our students. Before i began this class, I knew nothing about DS. I am simply Amazed at this technology and how we can utilize it. I am also amazed at the resources available to help us out. It makes it so easy for us. DS is something I want to begin with my students and I would also like to educate teachers in my building on the possibilities that are out there with this technology.
The power of digital storytelling is evident in our schools. In the classroom, it is obvious that digital storytelling adds another dimension to instruction. In my experiences, students are instantly more enthusiastic about this form of media when compared to traditional storytelling or books. Although some may say that the interest will wane once the novelty of new technology wears off, I believe that it plays a critical role in education and is here to stay. Marketers have already figured this out. Some of my students’ favorite websites use digital storytelling to push products. My students’ love of the Lego website provides more evidence reinforcing the power of digital storytelling (if you have time see what the buzz is about visit:http://atlantis.lego.com/en-US/Adventure/Default.aspx ). It is necessary that we capture the same enthusiasm for learning. This is the future of education and society and we need to embrace it. I have no doubts that in another 10-20 years, text books and media center resources will almost be entirely digital. The current popularity of hardware such as cell phones, laptops, Ipads, and Kindle type devices supports this assertion. We need to start incorporating this technology heavily today to be prepared for tomorrow.
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ReplyDeleteIn terms of the "hooking" aspect of Digital Storytelling, it seems that technology like this would fit nicely into either the "Activating Strategy" part of the Learning-Focused Strategies lesson plan format that my county requires us to use for our lessons or perhaps as a summarizing activity (depending on its complexity), when created by the kids using resources collected by a teacher/media specialist (as with our digital story project). Something like Digital Storytelling could also really showcase the individual talents of students who are interested in "playing around" with the technology and seeking out interesting and appropriate audio and video clips, allowing for greater task differentiation, as some students might require more assistance to complete a project that meets standards, whereas other students might be able to meet or exceed the given standards for the project using little assistance or guidance.
ReplyDeleteAs the complexity of the information you provided shows, Donna, there is so much more to digital storytelling than just throwing something together. So, this is one of those teaching aids that will have to be cultivated, researched, and carefully planned instead of used "on the fly." I appreciate the information on storyboarding, as that would be useful for both students and teachers who are new to the concept. Perhaps this topic would be an excellent one for future technology trainings.....it could and would replace the plain white poster with cut-out, slightly blurred pictures culled from Internet sources and painstakingly printed headings. :-) With great success and great pride on the part of both teachers and students, I might add.