Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through the Use of Digital Story Shuyan Wang, Ph.D. The University of Southern Mississippi

Overview What is digital storytelling Why using digital storytelling in education Learning theories Current teaching and learning practice How to create digital stories Procedures Tools Our applications Lessons learned

What is Digital Storytelling uses new digital tools to help ordinary people to tell real-life stories 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. can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective. is normally 2-5 minutes long can be effectively applied to nearly any subject Storytelling is a traditional means to distribute knowledge from generations to generations in different cultures. In specific, digital storytelling uses new digital tools such as digital cameras, photo editing software, authoring tools, and Web 2.0 technologies such as Flickrs and Myspace to tell real-life stories

Why using digital storytelling in education? Facilitate the convergence of four student-centered learning strategies: student engagement, reflection for deep learning, project-based learning, and the effective integration of technology into instruction --- Dr. Barrett

Why using digital storytelling in education? Learning theories Constructionism (Papert, 1993) “Learning by making” sharable “public entity” Narrative paradigm (Fisher, 1985; 1989) “man is in his action and practice, as well as in his fictions, essentially a story-telling animal” All forms of human communication can be seen fundamentally as stories. The notion of “learning by making” places special emphasis on the learning that takes place when learners are engaged in building external and sharable objects or artifacts, such as creating and sharing their stories enhanced by still images, voices, and background music.  In addition to Constructionism, the narrative paradigm, a well-know theory in human communication supports the use of digital storytelling in education which is mainly achieved via communications. The interpretations and explanation of symbolic messages normally consist of creation, composition, adaptation, presentation, and reception.

Why using digital storytelling in education? Current teaching and learning practice Educators at all levels can use Digital Storytelling in many ways: introducing new materials helping students learn to conduct research, synthesize large amounts of content, gain expertise in the use of digital communication and authoring tools, helping students organize their ideas as they learn to create stories for an audience, and presenting their ideas and knowledge in an individual and meaningful way. http://www.coe.uh.edu/digitalstorytelling/goalsobjectives.htm

Why using digital storytelling in education? Research has found: DS helped students organize and express their idea and knowledge in an individual and meaningful way (robin, 2005) DS enhanced employability portfolio development (Morehead, et al, 2007) DS increased social skills for children with disabilities (More, 2008) DS increased reading comprehension (Royer & Patricia, 2009)

Why using digital storytelling in education? Five advantages of using digital storytelling in education (Gils, 2005) Provide more variation than traditional in current practice Personalize learning experience Make explanation or practicing of certain topics more compelling Create real life situations in an easy and cheaper way Improve the involvement of students in the process of learning

When is Digital Story Telling Whenever, a teacher wants to Enhance student learning Enhance student motivation Enhances student engagement Build student technology skills

Procedures Make your plan: define your purposes, analyze your audience, and decide the tools to be used Write an initial script, plan an accompanying storyboard. Collect/create images and music Create your digital story Evaluate/modify your story Publish your story

Tools Microsoft Photo Story 3 Windows Movie Maker Apple iMovie still images and audio. Free but requires Microsoft Windows XP Operating System. Windows Movie Maker still images, video clips, and audio. Windows only. Free with Microsoft Windows Operating System. Apple iMovie still images, video clips, and audio. OS X Macintosh only. Free with Apply OS x Operation System

Our applications Graduate level courses Undergraduate level courses Computers in Education (online course) Networks in Education Undergraduate level courses Computer Applications in Education Mandarin Chinese (Second year)

Some Examples from Classroom Create teaching materials: math Describe class activities Create a reflective tutorial

Lessons learned Creative challenges Technical challenges Decide on a topic Content matches graphics and music Voice synchronizing with story Technical challenges Large file size Uploading speed Fizzy pictures Wrong format

Resources Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling http://www.coe.uh.edu/digitalstorytelling/default.htm What is Digital Storytelling? http://www.storycenter.org/whatis.html Digital Storytelling from Photobus http://www.photobus.co.uk/index.php?id=2 The Art of Digital Storytelling http://digitales.us/files/digitalstorytellingarticle.pdf A Multilevel Approach to Using Digital Storytelling in the Classroom http://discovery.coe.uh.edu/7358-f07/class1/multilevel-approach.htm The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling http://discovery.coe.uh.edu/7358-f07/class1/Educ-Uses-DS.pdf  The Power of Digital Storytelling in the Classroom http://www.edutopia.org/power-digital-storytelling-classroom How To: Use Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom http://www.edutopia.org/node/1418