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**What IS Digital Storytelling?**  Digital storytelling has many forms and as many definitions. One of the more accomplished digital storytellers of our day, [|Daniel Meadows] defines digital stories as “short, personal multimedia tales told from the heart.”

 The beauty of this digital expression, he maintains, is that stories can be created by people everywhere, on any subject, and shared electronically all over the world. Meadows describes digital stories as “multimedia sonnets from the people” in which “photographs discover the talkies, and the stories told assemble as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a gaggle of invisible histories which, when viewed together, tell the bigger story of our time, the story that defines who we are.”

 Bernajean Porter (Digitales) shares with us that digital storytelling “takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the author's own story voice. Digital storytelling is an emerging art form of personal, heartful expression that enables individuals and communities to reclaim their personal cultures while exploring their artistic creativity. While the heart and power of the digital story is shaping a personal digital story about self, family, ideas, or experiences, the technology tools also invite writers and artists to think and invent new types of communication outside the realm of traditional linear narratives.”

Digital storytelling is the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component. Sophisticated digital stories can be interactive movies that include highly produced audio and visual effects, but a set of slides with corresponding narration or music constitutes a basic digital story. Digital stories can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective. The resources available to incorporate into a digital story are virtually limitless, giving the storyteller enormous creative latitude. Some learning theorists believe that as a pedagogical technique, storytelling can be effectively applied to nearly any subject. Constructing a narrative and communicating it effectively require the storyteller to think carefully about the topic and consider the audience’s perspective.

 **Why is it important?**  People tell stories to teach beliefs and values to others. The oral tradition of knowledge transfer and exchange has served as the basis for education since humans began teaching one another, and digital stories build on this model by incorporating rich, dynamic media. The process of creating a digital story forces storytellers to choose a topic that can be appropriately conveyed to a particular audience, with electronic elements, in a time available. This dynamic creates an opportunity to reflect on life and find deep conventions with the subject matter of a course or with an out-of-class experience, such as a trip abroad. Digital stories let students (and teachers) express themselves not only with their own words but also in their own voices, fostering a sense of individuality and of "owning" their creations. At the same time, digital stories give students (and teachers) an opportunity to experiment with self-representation--telling a story that highlights specific characteristics or events--a key part of establishing their identity.

Recent data suggest that a majority of U.S. teens use various tools to create digital media, and this proportion is growing. Today’s students don’t think twice about generating original electronic content and sharing it online, and digital storytelling dovetails well with these modes of student expression. Students creating digital stories develop proficiency with multimedia applications, but the deeper impact comes from their thinking critically about effective combinations among audio and visual elements. Each story challenges a student to cull—from personal collections or from other resources—artifacts that meaningfully support the story and to assemble them in a way that achieves the desired effect. In doing so, students develop a discerning eye for online resources, increasing their technology and media literacy.

 **Can I do this with my students?**  Let's read a few articles!


 * ** Banaszewski, T. (2002). //Digital storytelling finds its place in the classroom.// Multimedia Schools 9(1), pages 32-35, online at: **http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm

Banaszewski gives a detailed description of the digital storytelling process used in his 4th and 5th grade classroom. While the technology enabled students to develop and share a clear, effective story, the author insists the technology was always secondary to the storytelling. Banaszewski gives examples of how he structured the process from beginning with an outline answering specific questions, adding visual images, peer coaching through the production phase, and story coaching to provide a positive classroom environment. This story coaching approach was adapted from storyteller Doug Lipman and gives students an opportunity to share their story, receive cool and warm feedback, and then give the author an opportunity to ask questions.

 Banaszewski found it important to model this process to his students. Just like sharing stories presents risks for students, the teacher should share a story of his own. He also recommends starting with a class story that can be created collectively. Interestingly enough the author began teaching digital storytelling with 3 Macs and now has 20 macs in his classroom but it still requires the same amount of time…about 6 months. He also discusses the classroom management issues that teachers must deal with while creating these stories. The most important advice he gives is that the teacher must surrender a great deal of control allowing students to become their own director.


 * ** Bull, G., & Kajder, S. (2004). //Digital Storytelling in the language arts classroom.// Learning & Leading with Technology, Volume 32 Number 4, pages 46-49. Online at: http://cs2.cust.educ.ubc.ca/csed/400/csed_readings/display%2024.pdf **

Bull and Kajder elaborate on their view that the focus in Digital Storytelling in the language arts classroom should be on the writing and communication process rather than on the technology used to create the stories. They discuss the Center for Digital Storytelling's popular **//[|Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling]//** in detail and describe strategies that can be used in the classroom and conclude with a summary of the benefits of this technology teaching method with a variety of different learners.

A two-part series on Digital Storytelling from one of the masters! > ** http://technosavvy.org/?p=399 ** > ** http://technosavvy.org/?p=409 **
 * ** Savvy Technologist Podcast - Bernajean Porter - Digital Storytelling, Part 2 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Savvy Technologist Podcast - Bernajean Porter - Digital Storytelling, Part 3 **