Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling is a creative form of ICT that can be effectively used in the classroom. A digital storybook is a collection of digital images placed in a specific order with audio to create a mini movie. It allows the user to become artistic and hands-on by using technological software and images rather then writing an essay. Microsoft Movie Maker, Imovie, photo story and powerpoint are all forms of software that can create a digital storybook. They provide a technology-based replacement for writing assessment and examinations. By using digital storybook software students learn how to use new ways of technology, different formats for stories, new uses and editing programs for images and new ways to display information (Howell 2012, pg. 96). A multimedia digital story is likely to capture the attention of students and increase their interest during class or for assessment. Teachers who create their own digital story and use it as a teaching tool in the classroom will find that it is not only helpful in engaging the students but promotes class discussion and makes complicated topics more understandable (Robin 2009, pg. 222). It is important that teachers use new and creative forms of technology as a teaching and learning device because the use of technology is so common to modern day students that writing assessment with literary devices is becoming less appealing. Using digital storytelling teaches many different skills including: (Robin 2009, pg. 224).
- Digital literacy – communication with the community to discuss issues and gather information
- Global literacy – ability to read, interpret and write from a global perspective
- Technology literacy – ability to use computers and other forms of technology
- Visual literacy – ability to understand and interpret images
- Information literacy – ability to find and evaluate information
Using digital storytelling in the classroom can be useful in a few different ways that allow the students to go beyond expectations and be as creative as they wish to be! Creating a personal narrative, stories that inform or instruct, stories of historical events, reviews and a collection of works are just some of the different ways a storybook can be used. Digital storytelling encourages the use of other forms of ICT such as audio recordings, soundtracks, visual additions and photo editing. I have experienced seeing a digital storybook used by a student for their media assignment where they created a music video by putting together different segments of footage accompanied by audio. In their opinion, creating a digital storybook is more intellectually stimulating because it involves new technology and creative ways of learning how to edit, gather information, compile images or footage and display assessment. If students are given the opportunity to present their assessment as a written, oral or in storybook form it allows them to choose the presentation that they feel are most motivated by and comfortable to use. Robin states “digital storytelling can be a potent learning experience that encompasses much of what society hopes that students will know and be able to perform in the 21st century” (2009, pg. 224). As technology is becoming more and more the centre of everyday life, digital storytelling teaches young students the skills that are expected of them in 21st century lifestyle such as using computers, creating presentations and critiquing their own work. Digital storytelling is an important learning tool for the present and future. It is a perfect option for students who don’t want to write assessment and instead present their information in a creative way. It is especially great for subjects like media, the arts and history where digital storytelling can be used to display historical information in history, a video story in media and show a compilation of artworks in media, to name a few examples. It teaches students important skills for the future like how to use new technologies and how to create an appealing presentation that could be presented to work colleagues.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKZiXR5qUlQ
Howell, J. (2012) Teaching with ICT: Digital Pedagogies for Collaboration and Creativity. Victoria: Oxford University Press
Robin, B. (2009). Digital Storytelling: a powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom, Theory into Practice. London: Taylor & Francis