Digital Storytelling Dr. Steve Broskoske Misericordia University

Why Stories? What do you remember from your childhood? Can you retell a story that you read? Have you watched a good movie lately? Can you retell the story? Humans seem predisposed to hear, remember, and retell stories.

Why Stories? The power of stories is that you can hear something once and you remember it. Why? – Information. – Context. – Emotion. – Engaging, memorable format.

Use of Digital Stories in the Classroom Multimedia provides a rich, powerful, meaningful set of tools with which students can communicate information. Can use in place of OR in conjunction with a traditional written assignment. – Create a digital story. – Present the digital story in front of the class. – Do a written assignment.

Benefits to Students Provides a powerful way to communicate. Can be more engaging than a traditional assignment. Practices many skills: – Planning, organizing, sequencing. – Researching. – Gathering and using multimedia resources. Video clips. Images (from online, camera, scanner). Sounds. Background music. Audio narration.

Benefits to Students – Writing (to be engaging to particular audience). – Speaking. – Using creativity and artistry. – Using multimedia creation tool such as PhotoStory (or PowerPoint, MovieMaker, or iMovie).

Benefits to Students All six of the National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for students are addressed by digital storytelling. 1.Creativity and innovation 2.Communication and collaboration 3.Research and information fluency 4.Critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision- making 5.Digital citizenship 6.Technology operations and concepts

Supplemental Background Information on Digital Stories Assignment Info.

How Are Stories Used in the World? Non-profit: – Story conveys information in context. – Dramatic info. about people and their situation. – Makes it interesting, personal, and compelling. – Reaches emotional level, which may impact a potential donor. – Cuts through facts, numbers, names, and other information.

How Are Stories Used in the World? SPCA Commercial

How Are Stories Used in the World? Business: – Create powerful stories about their company to: Make company seem more “personal” and “human” to public. Influence public perception of the company. Create an image for the company. Recent trend: going green / giving back. Politics: – Take various elements and create a story (context) to influence public perception of a candidate.

Digital Storytelling Resources A user could utilize PowerPoint, MovieMaker, or iMovie to create a digital story. Microsoft has also created PhotoStory, a free application for K-12 digital storytelling. Listing of Software for Digital Storytelling Resources (tutorials, rubrics, & more)

Comparison of Tools

Digital Storytelling Examples Most digital storytelling applications are designed to be easy and intuitive to use. Thus, the student focuses on the product rather than a computer program. Let’s view an example to experience what digital stories are like. K-6 Digital Story Examples PhotoStory Examples

Downloading Resources If needed, download Microsoft PhotoStory. Although the software is intuitive and easy to use, navigate to the following resources as needed. Microsoft Resources for Digital Storytelling Microsoft PhotoStory Tutorial Download Microsoft PhotoStory

Digital Story Assignment

Steps in Creating a PhotoStory 1.Photos: Import all of your pictures. 2.Text: Add text (right) and picture effects (under graphic). 3.Narration: Make notes to speak from, and then record your narration. – Create graphic motion effects (under graphic). 4.Music: Select or create music.

Steps in Creating a PhotoStory 5.Saving in Photostory format: – Select “save project.” 6.Saving for playback on any device: – Select “save project for playback on your computer.” – Saves as a.wmv (Windows movie file).

ASSIGNMENT Individually, let’s build a sample story to enable you to experience how a student would use the software and the techniques involved. Upload to BlackBoard, module 5.

Choosing a Topic Tell a story about one of the following: – The harmful effects of an addictive behavior (such as drugs, smoking, diet, gambling, etc.). – Retell a story that you know (fairytale, story from a movie you watched, book). – Describe a great vacation that you were on OR a great place to visit. – Tell the story of someone you admire (a current or historical well-known figure, or someone you know personally). – Other topic.