Week #7: Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is a relatively new story form that focuses on a person, event, or general topic using computer tools. Digital stories are short, anywhere from two to ten minutes, and incorporate sounds, words, and images to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. An emerging type of digital storytelling is documentary films such as the Ken Burns PBS series and the 30 for 30 series produced by ESPN films.

The website Digital Wish offers several lesson plans for incorporating digital storytelling into your classroom. One particular lesson entitled, the Earth Day Movie Maker Documentary, requires students to study the effects of human-environment interaction on animals and to "create a short film documentary on an animal(s) of their choice, focusing on their lifestyle and their plight of survival in today's world." After researching a particular animal(s), students used a flip-camera to film the animal at a local zoo and uploaded the footage to Movie Maker and added a narrative to it. It's a creative idea to engage students in their learning and it brings a powerful story to the audience.

I have had the opportunity to work with digital stories in my experiences as a teacher. In the Pittsfield School District, we are shifting our philosophies to a student-centered environment, in which the student (rather than teacher) takes the lead role in learning. We created a documentary called, A Day in Life of a Student (scroll to the bottom of the page after you follow the link), to demonstrate what this non-traditional learning environment looked like.

We started the process by writing a general outline of the film and we jumped into capturing footage of students in various classes as they led discussions or interacted in small and large groups. Our second step was to review the footage and write scripts for the narration of the film. We had originally intended to interview students but it was challenging to collect good sound bites. Once we completed the narratives we uploaded the audio and video footage to iMovie to create the documentary. We included pictures, newspaper clippings, and short informational pieces to help tell the story. The final steps to the process were incorporating subtitles for the film segments (to help it all fit together) and adding music to add a dramatic effect.

Their are several approaches to digital storytelling. In an article written by Samantha Morra, that originally appeared on Edudemic but now is updated on her blog, she describes the 8 Steps to Great Digital Storytelling. Her planning process includes writing a proposal, doing research, gathering images, audio, and video, and ultimately sharing once everything is pulled together. A similar process is commonly used for writing an essay but a digital story appeals more to students interests. In EdTechReview, they explain that digital stories can be "used to improve student's learning through multimedia" and that "these stories are an expressive medium medium that can explain the most intricate topics in depth, integrating it with the rest of the curriculum." Students have the ability to create their own stories and teachers can use preexisting stories to introduce or support a topic.

A student may use a digital story to meet the following Common Core Standards and ISTE NETS Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.4
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.5
Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

ISTE NETS Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

• Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
• Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats
• Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures
• Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems

ISTE NETS Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts 

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. 

• Understand and use technology systems
• Select and use applications effectively and productively
• Troubleshoot systems and applications
• Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies