Digital Storytelling and how I could use it

Photo by Philip Wee

7 things you should know about DIGITAL STORYTELLING

While using internet, I have enjoyed telling my story in online space to share with lots of people. We can obtain various areas of useful information or get some chance to rethink about a certain topic which was dealt in some blog posts. Through this Module, I was able to know about ‘Digital Storytelling’, so I would like to describe the basic categories that we should know before we tell stories at online space. I got this information from 7 things you should know about DIGITAL STORYTELLING from internet site.

1. What is it?
Digital storytelling 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.


2. Who’s doing it?
For faculty, to facilitate various learning styles and connect to students’ interest in technology, and, for students, to develop their ability to appropriately evaluate and use online content and electronic tools as a means of personal expression.


3. How does it work?
Most digital storytelling programs promote the notion that users with little or no technical background should be able to create digital stories. Depending on the elements included in the digital story, a student might need a recording device and microphone, hardware and software to manipulate images and video, or tools to take pictures and video. Some digital storytelling applications are available free online

4. Why is it significant?
Digital stories let students express themselves not only with their own words but also in their own voices, fostering a sense of individuality and of “owning” their creations. At the same time, digital stories give students an opportunity to experiment with self-representation—telling a story that highlights specific characteristics or events—a key part of establishing their identity, a process that for many is an important aspect of the college years.


5. What are the downsides?
Many people find that piecing together a coherent narrative is considerably more difficult than they thought, and students not comfortable producing original work are likely to find themselves simply modeling their efforts on digital stories they have come across. Moreover, the multimedia technologies used in digital stories can be extensive, requiring considerable support and storage space for programs or institutions.


6. Where is it going?
The ongoing refinement of multimedia applications will place greater power into the hands of more people, allowing richer digital stories. The rise in digital storytelling will in some ways parallel the emergence and growth of social networking and video-sharing sites—these sites benefit from compelling content, and digital stories need an outlet.


7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?
Digital storytelling can serve as a bridge between these groups, encouraging a historian, for example, to delve into multimedia applications while exposing a computer scientist to the ideas of narrative through family lore.

(Which contents are summarized from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7021.pdf)

How can I use this ‘Digital Storytelling’ in my teaching?

From digital storytelling, we can access each other more easily and it makes our communication more efficient. I can use this ‘Digital Storytelling’ in class communication tool. Students may share their major concerns on learning language and they could encourage each other by sharing their difficulties or success stories in their online space. This kind of sharing may be limited in the classroom activity due to of time issue. Throughout sharing and communicating, I can encourage students and get more detailed information based upon each student’s experiences.