Digital Storytelling: Who, What, Where, When, Why & How

* Photo by Melanie Deziel on Unsplash

So, what exactly is digital storytelling you may be asking? I had never considered the term prior to this week. From the University of Houston's Education website, digital storytelling is really any type of story made using computer and digital media. It can address many different topics from personal life stories, recounting of historical events, and documentaries to even giving instructions on how to do things. They are typically on the shorter side, anywhere from 2-10 minutes. From this definition, the YouTube video I used to introduce Big 6 Research Model to my class would even be considered storytelling. While I have seen the value in these types of videos in teaching methods, I would never have considered this video as storytelling, but merely instructional, although it does illustrate the use of Big 6 in a type of story manner.

When considering where and why digital storytelling can be used, it goes without saying that schools and educational institutions are using digital storytelling at an increasing rate. In a time when everything we do in schools involves the use of technology and where students are used to being behind a screen from the time they are born, the use of digital storytelling for instruction proves beneficial. Rutta, et al. (2021) reiterates this through their study that showed, "digital storytelling can effectively capture the attention of the students, supporting the teacher in presenting the subject in an interesting way" (p. 22). The University of Houston's website also indicated that storytelling can be used in libraries, community centers, and businesses. One way in which businesses use these types of digital storytellings is for staff training. Many videos assigned for viewing in these circumstances portray made up situations that the staff must work through what to do and what not to do in a given situation. Healthcare workers may even use this for first aid training and training on blood borne pathogens. These types of training videos can reach more employees with less space and man hours than an in person training.

Another things that makes digital storytelling an intriguing tool today is who can and is utilizing digital storytelling mediums. Dogan (n.d.) specifies that many people using digital storytelling are novices at technology. It can be used across a wide age range and grade level in schools. The University of Brighton even offers digital storytelling workshops that teach people from all walks of life to brainstorm and organize their thoughts and use the technology and editing tools properly. Teachers, students, businessmen and women, or just those interested in personally documenting their thoughts for self reflection can benefit. It does not require extra training and there are a number of different options available in how to put your storytelling together.

*Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

After reading through all the different materials and watching a few sample videos of digital storytelling, I began to think of how I would put together something like this for myself. It has a lot of obvious benefits for school librarians and anyone teaching students, but where do you begin? As I started searching for more information, I came upon this article on EdTechTeacher that I thought would give me a good starting place for my thought process and make me feel a little less overwhelmed. I obviously like a good step process to organize and make me feel like I am making progress toward a goal. Below is a graphic organizer that I found useful from this site. While this was originally designed to help teachers guide their students in make their own digital storytelling, I thought it would be helpful for me, as well.

* Image from EdTechTeacher

I can see some students I work with who would really flourish if given an assignment to do a digital storytelling presentation. Not only does it allow them to tell a story about something they care about, but gives them an opportunity to use technology in a creative way. This would be a good way to use the makerspace in a school library. I can see it being used for a scary story contest or a challenge to create their own "what happens next" from a first chapter Friday excerpt. History teachers could also use it for having students retell something they studied in class to assess what they learned. These are just some ways I anticipate this concept being used in my own classroom and library, and they are far from exhaustive. I love how flexible the storytelling can be to fit the audience and producers skill and ability level.

What I'm Reading: Poems

• Duel With a Mosquito From A Hatful of Dragons by Vikram Madan

• Poems in the Attic by Nikki Grimes

• A Bird Came Down the Walk and The Murmur of a Bee from The Illustrated 25 Essential Poems by Emily Dickinson

• Vivid Poems & Notes About Color by Julie Paschkis

• Everybody's Shy Sometimes and You're Much More from A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers

• Maker and Knitting from With My Hands by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

References:

Dogan, Ed.D, B. (n.d.). What is digital storytelling?. Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. https://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/page.cfm?id=27&cid=27

FTIS TL+ Tech. (2016, Nov 8). The Big 6 Research 2016. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/nwj1R2XD200

Kate. (2016, November 18). 8 steps to Great Digital storytelling. EdTechTeacher. https://edtechteacher.org/8-steps-to-great-digital-storytelling-from-samantha-on-edudemic/

Rutta, C. B., Schiavo, G., Zancanaro, M., & Rubegni, E. (2021). Comic-based digital storytelling for content and Language Integrated Learning. Educational Media International, 58(1), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2021.1908499