Digital Storytelling
What is Digital Storytelling?
Digital storytelling uses video, audio, social media, blogging and other tools to convey ideas and information effectively. The emphasis is on empowering students to create authentic products that they can share with others beyond the classroom walls, and to allow for audience interaction and feedback. And so, why should we inspire students to be digital storytellers? Here are five key reasons:
- Requires critical thinking
- Authentic projects have impact
- Places focus on writing
- Develops digital citizens
- Students can add to digital portfolios
Keys to a successful digital story
Develop Expectations and outcomes
What do you want to accomplish? And what volume/frequency/quality of work do you expect from your students? Push students to their limits by requiring them to utilize multiple media in each project.
For a high school media project that explored Surrealism, I had students create short videos over a period of several weeks, then compile them into a cohesive “story” that added other elements like text, photos and additional video. Rather than focus on technical aspects (which I covered in earlier projects), this one was all about story, interpretation, and demonstrating an understanding of Surrealism. See PDF of project here
For a high school media project that explored Surrealism, I had students create short videos over a period of several weeks, then compile them into a cohesive “story” that added other elements like text, photos and additional video. Rather than focus on technical aspects (which I covered in earlier projects), this one was all about story, interpretation, and demonstrating an understanding of Surrealism. See PDF of project here
Start Small
It can take time for students to master a particular skill or for teachers to develop effective storytelling projects, so don’t take on too much with your first assignments. Increase the difficulty of the project by slowly adding complicated media like video or audio to assignments. Like any assignment, scaffold skills and techniques over time so that they build on one another to increase complexity.
Evaluate early on and often
Share your rubrics and expectations early in the process, and be realistic about student outcomes for both content and technical achievement. Have separate evaluations for content and technique, and reward originality and audience interaction. It’s a good idea to have multiple forms of evaluations, including self-evaluations, class critiques, and teacher oral and written feedback.
Subject-Specific ideas for digital Storytelling
English Language Arts
Create a video poem or photo montage as a visual interpretation of an existing poem being studied by the class. Rather than a literal interpretation, consider visual metaphors and interpret what colors, sounds or locations might associate with a particular phrase. Post the work on a public platform (blog, social media site, etc) and encourage students to leave comments.
- Next level: Use Storehouse to create an interactive gallery for their work.
Science
Document scientific phenomena in the field and present the data and findings in a coherent and compelling way. This could be published in a class iBook or blog.
- Next level: Collaborate with students at another school in a different city, state or country to compare/contrast findings from their respective locations.
Social Studies
A visual anthropology project where students create a visual documentation of changes in your community. Students use photography, video or sound to record older family members’ reactions to changes in specific elements of local history.
- Next level: Collect all content and publish it as an interactive iBook.