Week 10-The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

There are several different definitions of Digital Storytelling found within this article. The author not only explains how to use digital storytelling but he also defines exactly what digital storytelling is. He states: “There are many different definitions of “Digital Storytelling,” but in general, they all revolve around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia, such as images, audio, and video. Just about all digital stories bring together some mixture of digital graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video and music to present information on a specific topic. As is the case with traditional storytelling, digital

stories revolve around a chosen theme and often contain a particular viewpoint. The stories are typically just a few minutes long and have a variety of uses, including the telling of personal tales, the recounting of historical events, or as a means to inform or instruct on a particular topic.” With this explanation you can gather that digital storytelling is basically telling a story but using different media to make it better. When we create a digital story, we add different aspects to make our story stand out and get the audience’s attention. If a student was to give a lesson on a president, they might use digital storytelling to add in personal opinions of the president, pictures, artifacts, music, etc. Basically they have created their own short movie to show their class. Reports are interesting when using different items to share along with words but with a digital story you can use every resource available to make the presentation better. “Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. Tell your story now digitally.” As stated by Leslie Rule, of the Digital Storytelling Association, (http://electronicportfolios.com/digistory/). Digital Storytelling is a fantastic resource to help students learn, it uses many different types of media to enhance the story being told and has the potential to be a very influential learning/ teaching tool.