Digital

Storytelling in
the Classroom
By

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 July 29, 2014 DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN THE CLASSROOM

Table of Contents

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom ............................................................................................... 2

What is Digital Storytelling? ......................................................................................................... 2
The Importance of Digital Storytelling......................................................................................... 2
Using Digital Storytelling in the Classroom ................................................................................. 3
The Process of Storytelling ............................................................................................................ 5
Archiving Digital Stories................................................................................................................ 8
Sharing Digital Stories Online ...................................................................................................... 8
Digital Storytelling as an Effective Teaching and Learning Tool for Teachers and Students .. 8

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Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

What is Digital Storytelling?

Digital Storytelling is the art of telling stories using technology. The advent of personal
computers and approachable communication technologies has allowed storytelling to
become digital. The ability to personalize stories with pictures and personal narration gives
the story a special meaning for the creators and listeners. Digital storytelling provides new
ways to combine various technology mediums such as graphics, audio, video, animation and
website publishing to create powerful stories for all to see and hear.

The Importance of Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling can be a very powerful tool for many students as it can address various
types of learning styles and modalities. It allows students to use their auditory, visual and
kinesthetic skills and hence provides meaning to their learning. Students are also required to
use higher order thinking skills in their creativity of their stories. Digital storytelling is made
powerful through collaboration and teamwork. In a collaborative environment, students are
actively engaged in the exchange of ideas and are not only responsible for reaching their
own academic goals, but the goals of others in the group. This encourages students to think
critically, thereby promoting life-long learning.

Digital storytelling is an effective way to engage students in their learning. It gives

importance to the perspectives of students. It allows students to express their creativity in
ways other than just text by giving them the ability to tell their story in a variety of ways,
through sounds, music, graphics, photographs, and original artwork. The skills used in
creating digital stories helps students build planning, organizational, and time management
skills.

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Here are ways in which digital storytelling benefits students:

• Storytelling helps students develop the ability to interpret events beyond their
immediate experience.

• It introduces students to communicating ideas in a multimedia format. It requires

students to have a wide experience with verbal, visual and textual communication, if
they are to achieve success.

• It helps students develop social and cognitive skills through sharing experiences.

• It introduces them to classic tales that explain the shared background of a

community and help students appreciate their own cultural heritage as well as the
heritage of others.

• It helps enrich various areas of the curriculum, such as language arts, history or
science.

• It helps develop listening skills, provide entertainment, build motivation and also
aids in vocabulary development.

Using Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

There are a myriad of ways in which digital storytelling can be used in the classroom. Telling
personal stories helps students learn about voice in a narrative form, as well as the
perspective of a first person. Modern communication involves writing with pictures and
music and having students create digital stories helps them build these skills. Digital
storytelling can also be used to address curriculum areas beyond language arts and media
literacy. For example, students can retell an event from the life of a famous person they are
studying to help others understand why this person acted the way they did. They can take
the voice of a drop of water and show its progression through the water cycle or path
through a watershed. Younger students can become an animal and discuss habitat, food,
predation, and other life cycle issues. Public service announcements can be used as both a

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 July 29, 2014 DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN THE CLASSROOM

persuasive writing exercise and a way to address science content such as health or
conservation.

Digital storytelling is now being widely used in the classroom. Through it, teachers not only
show digital stories of others but also have students present their own stories and those of
others that they like. Students usually do not like to dig into research, but the use of
multimedia makes research interesting for them. When students create stories about
famous historical figures, they learn history as well as the creative skills required to tell
stories about others. It also helps students develop skills of reflection which helps them
understand history by relating to their own experiences. In the process, students build on
their communication skills by creating narratives that are reflective of their own insights and
also learn to write for an audience.

With digital storytelling, students also gain valuable technology skills that are important for
them. They get to learn and use the digital and online tools for editing stories and
presenting projects online. In the process of creating a digital story students get the hands-
on learning experience in which they are in charge of creating the characters of their story
with media. Students also learn how to utilize different media effectively and together to
fully develop an entire story and share it. It helps create a positive learning environment
where children are encouraged to use their creativity, imagination and higher-order thinking
skills. It makes students eager to learn new skills including those with multi-media elements.

To create digital stories, students are asked to gather resources teaching them the
importance of research. Students are required to indulge in research by gathering and
locating materials to use in their stories from books or websites, find images, and listen to
speeches in order to create their final digital story. This teaches students the research
process and how to find and use valid resources. Digital storytelling can also benefit
students who are learning English as a Second Language. By telling and creating their
stories, these students can reflect in the English language and also develop their verbal skills
in the language. With the help of multimedia, stories can be developed and shared more
broadly and students learn to connect their own stories from life to school. Students can
also connect to their community through digital storytelling bringing them closer to the
community, community resources and community involvement.

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 July 29, 2014 DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN THE CLASSROOM

Midge Frazel, author of, ‘Digital Storytelling: A Guide for Educators’ summarizes the benefits
of digital storytelling in the classroom. They include:

• Digital storytelling builds creativity and fosters innovation.

• It improves communication and strengthens collaboration.

• It helps develop research skills and information fluency.

• It helps develop higher-order thinking skills like critical thinking, problem-solving,

and decision-making.

• It helps build digital citizenship.

• It helps in the understanding of technology operations and concepts.

The Process of Storytelling

Prairinet, a site for community connections through technology tools and part of the Center
for Digital Inclusion, a research center in the Graduate School of Library and Information
Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, published ideas on the potential
impact that storytelling can have within an organization or community, and has discussed
some starting points for beginning a journey into digital storytelling. We will discuss what it
has covered about the process of storytelling, the ways of creating a digital story and
archiving and sharing them online, that can help students and teachers with storytelling in
the classroom. For a detailed study, refer to the original post.

To begin with storytelling, we need to explore different kinds of stories. Common types of
stories are those which are acquired by interviewing, personal stories and community
histories. For interviewing, come prepared with questions but be flexible to ask questions
other than those researched and ask for more details on the responses. Personal stories are
about someone who’s important in your life, about important events, about places and
more. Community histories are personal stories about your community.

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Reflecting and Story Construction

Reflecting is the most important step in the storytelling process that helps create an
effective story. While creating and reflecting upon your memories, always give your own
role in the story a lot of importance. To begin reflection, ask yourself questions like, why is
the story important to you? Why do you want to tell your story? Who is it for and how it
shows who you are? Construct your story with your thoughts, feelings and experiences and
place yourself in the story by remembering where you are placed in your history. Your story
has to be personal and should be based on the fact that the event you experienced is unique
to you. The story should preserve all history and your point of view as well. Include as many
details as possible to help the audience realize your story more clearly. As you think about
your story and yourself, reposition yourself, and recreate your history and your story.

Story Circles

Students should be encouraged to share their stories with others by being part of story
circles where they can express their personal stories. Here they can practice or share their
stories and receive feedback. Story circles are essential to assess how others react to your
story and how it can be made better. Story circles help storytellers organize their thoughts
and help sort through the problems they may face in the process. They help the storyteller
learn the meaning of their story by giving a different view on the story. The story circle is a
critical and interim stop in shaping an effective story which is then digitized to reach a
broader audience.

Multimedia

Multimedia such as sound, video and images can enhance your story and the scenes within
it. Music can be used to highlight the changing point in your story, pictures can emphasize
what is being said and videos can better engage the listener. Music in digital stories can be
very powerful at conveying tone and meaning and help the audience understand the
significance of the scene. You can also record your own voice to create layers in your story.

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Creating a Digital Story

There are various formats available which you can use to present your digital stories; you
need to decide which format is best for your digital story. The simplest format for
presenting a digital story is by using text and pictures. Blogging is an online method for this
form of digital storytelling. Stories can be typed and put online accompanied by images
using a blogging site like WordPress or Blogger.

Another form of presenting digital stories is with audio. Stories can be recorded and saved
as audio files using software such as Audacity. They can include both recordings of a spoken
story and optional background or accompanying music.

The third way to present your story is through the use of video and pictures. Audio
accompanied by pictures, transitions and video can be uploaded to the movie maker. Such
type of stories are the most fully multimedia. They require the most use of technology in
order to record the story and to add pictures and video to amplify the climax of the story.
Different styles may suit different kinds of stories. Some stories are more effective as blogs
while others may be better with movable pictures.

Adding multimedia such as video, images and audio to a digital story can allow the
storyteller to reach new audiences and to engage them in new and interesting ways.
Appropriate use of music or images can create a new level of interaction in a digital story
and effectively portray the storyteller’s emotions. There are a number of software options
available for creating a video-based digital story, some of which come pre-installed on your
computer. For Microsoft Windows Me, XP, Vista and Windows 7, Windows Movie Maker is
available. On a Mac, iMovie is pre-installed. Both software installations provide a number
of options for creating a digital story with video, images and audio.

Other software packages, which can be used to author a digital story, include proprietary
software such as Final Cut Pro for Macs, Pinnacle Studio for Windows, Avid Studio, and
more. If you have limited hard drive space or a limited budget, there are a number of Web-
based applications that help create video such as Animoto or VoiceThread. Some open
source options for video editing include Jahshaka from the Cinefx Project or LiVes, the Linux
Video Editing System.

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Archiving Digital Stories

The Digital Storytelling process can be intensive, very long and time consuming; hence it is
important to keep audio and visual files safe. They should be saved for easy access later on.
Data and files need to be saved often, if a file has been updated but not saved, the new data
could be lost. It is also necessary to have backup files in case technology breaks down or
files are corrupted. Storage devices for the purpose are Flash Drives, CDs and DVDs and
External Hard Drives. These devices need to be taken care of and should have proper
handling.

Sharing Digital Stories Online

The next part of the digital storytelling process is to share your story with others. Beyond
popular blogging sites such as WordPress or Blogger, you can go to sites like Facebook,
Myspace or Youtube to upload your digital story for public viewing. Facebook allows users
to upload photos and videos and also allows users to post on their profile page which can be
used as a blogging space. Myspace supports blogging and allows users to upload photos and
music. On YouTube, users can view, upload and share their digital storytelling video
projects.

Digital Storytelling as an Effective Teaching and Learning Tool for

Teachers and Students

Teachers can either create digital stories or have their students do it. Teachers can present
their material to students through their stories. An engaging multimedia digital story easily
captures the attention of students and keeps them engaged. Teacher-created digital stories
may also be used to enhance current lessons, as a way to facilitate discussion about the
topics presented in a story and as a way of making abstract content more understandable.

Students who are taught to create their own stories see digital storytelling as a potent tool.
The process can capitalize on the creative talents of students as they begin to research and
tell stories of their own as they learn to use the library and the Internet to research rich,
deep content while analyzing and synthesizing a wide range of content. It helps students

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 July 29, 2014 DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN THE CLASSROOM

enhance their communication skills by learning to organize their ideas, ask questions,
express opinions, and construct narratives. Digital Storytelling has many benefits for
students with diverse learning styles and can also foster collaboration to help students work
in groups.

Digital Storytelling serves as a great teaching and learning tool. The field is undergoing a
tremendous growth in education as more educators are learning about it and are finding
ways to integrate it in their classroom activities. The research opportunities in this area are
just beginning to be seen and new investigations will surely provide greater insights and
understanding in how digital storytelling can engage, inform and enlighten new generations
of students and educators to come.

How do you think can digital storytelling be utilized as a teaching and learning tool in the
classroom and what scope do you think it has? Share your views on the context in the
Comment Box.

Hope you like this guidebook. Stay tuned for more such issues.

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