Bernard R. Robin University of Houston College of Education Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling Website digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu

What is Digital Storytelling? Combines the art of telling stories with some mixture of digital graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video and music to present information on a specific topic. Revolves around a theme and usually contains a particular viewpoint; stories are typically just a few minutes long. 9/7/2015 3

Early Need for DS Seeking meaningful uses of digital photography Wanted students to use digital images as a mode of communication and personal reflection Looking for a way to successfully integrate multimedia development into K-12, pre- service and in-service teacher education 9/7/2015 4

Benefits of DS to Educators Appeals to the diverse learning styles of students by using Digital Storytelling as a presentation tool; Generates interest and motivation for the "digital generation" students in today’s classrooms; Capitalizes on the creative talents of students as they research and tell stories of their own; and Allows student work to be shared for viewing and critiquing by others.

Benefits of DS to Students Research Skills: Finding and analyzing pertinent information; Writing Skills: Developing a point of view and writing a script; Organization Skills: Managing story materials and time on task; Technology Skills: Learning to use a variety of multimedia tools Presentation Skills: Deciding how to present the story to an audience; Interview Skills: Finding sources to interview & formulating questions; Interpersonal Skills: Working & determining roles within a group; Problem-Solving Skills: Learning to make decisions and overcome; and Assessment Skills: Critiquing their own and others’ work.

Why Digital Storytelling Works

Types of Digital Stories 1 Personal Narratives: Tent Mates on Biak Island in WWII Character Stories Stories about Events in Our Lives Adventure Stories Accomplishment Stories Stories about Places in Our Lives Stories about What We Do Recovery Stories Memorial Stories

Types of Digital Stories Stories that Examine Historical Events: Speeches by Abraham Lincoln l Uses Familiar Historical Material Facilitates Further Understanding, Research and Organizational Skills A Good Way to Introduce Students to Creating their Own Digital Stories Download Free Wimpy FLV Player

Types of Digital Stories 3 Stories That Inform or Instruct: How Pop-Ups Got their Pop Examines the History of Pop-Up Books Explains the Early Technological Innovations that Preceded Pop-Up Books Encourages Further Exploration by the Viewer

The 7 Elements of Digital Storytelling The Center for Digital Storytelling is known for developing the 7 Elements of Digital Storytelling, as a useful starting point for beginners. The Center for Digital Storytelling

The 10 Educational Elements of Digital Storytelling 1. The Overall Purpose of the Story6. Pacing of the Narrative 2. The Narrator’s Point of View7. Meaningful use of Audio 3. The Dramatic Question(s)8. Quality of Images (& Video) 4. Choice of Content9. Economy of Story Detail 5. Clarity of Voice10. Good Grammar and Language Usage We added a few elements specifically aimed at students who create their own digital stories.

Assessing Student Work

Challenges to Using DS with Students Trouble Formulating a Story/Script Less Interest in the Storytelling Limited Access to Technology Inability to Save from the Internet Time Consuming Copyright and Intellectual Property Issues 9/7/

Copyright & Educational Fair Use Many of the digital stories on our site include images and audio found on the Internet using commonly available search engines. The stories have been created for non-profit, educational use by students and teachers and we hope are within the fair use protection of existing copyright laws. If any copyright owner objects to the use of any work appearing on this website, please contact us and we will remove the work from the site. 9/7/

Free Digital Storytelling Software Download the free Microsoft Photo Story 3 Software for Windows XP & Vista hy/photostory/default.mspx Tutorials available on Educational Uses of DS Website hy/photostory/default.mspx 9/7/ Good for Beginners

Web 2.0 Tools for DS Alan Levine’s 50 Ways to Tell a Digital Story 9/7/

What’s Next? More Digital Story Examples, Articles, Research, Other DS Sites More/Better Training Materials A Submit your Own Story Option More Emphasis on the International Aspect of Digital Storytelling/Stories in Multiple Languages More on DS in Healthcare Education New Dynamic Database-Website

Comments from My Students “…what is occurring because of that one simple little thing you have done (teaching digital storytelling) is really rather phenomenal. Remember your comment at the beginning of the training about – would it help if I could give you a technology tool that very quickly you could learn and use even if you don’t know anything about technology? I wondered when you said that how it could be done. Well, you did it and it has proven to be effective many times over with an unbelievable ripple effect as it is touching special education, ESL students, recent immigrants, parents of autistic children, and on and on.” – a high school teacher in Brownsville, Texas

Comments from My Students You will probably want to spend some time on DS and its 8 gazillion educational uses and how cool it is and how much potential it has and how this site is designed to help educators tap into that. But I think a unique focus of this site is how it's developed, and that this class (and past and future classes) are collaborating on the content. It's sort of a meta-educational process -- we're learning about how to use this technology, we're generating our own ideas, we're teaching each other, and we're working to make the site better to help teach others. It might also be worth mentioning how the medical/dental program has tapped into this as a result of this class, and how DS is thus far not used much in medical/dental education but this site is hoping to change that.

Adding Video to Digital Stories 9/7/

My Digital Storytelling Courses Linked with Popular Culture in Education Course Linked with History of Children’s Literature Course Creating Educational Materials for Digital Storytelling

Contact Information Bernard R. Robin, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Instructional Technology Department of Curriculum and Instruction University of Houston - College of Education 4800 Calhoun Road Houston, TX Phone: Web: