A Brief Guide to Creating a Digital Story from Material Found On the Web
Digital Storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories. As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. Digital stories can vary in length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between two and ten minutes. And the topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one's own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between.
Photographer, educator and digital storyteller, Daniel Meadows defines digital stories as "short, personal multimedia tales told from the heart." The beauty of this form of digital expression, he maintains is that these stories can be created by people everywhere, on any subject, and shared electronically all over the world. Meadows goes on to describe digital stories as "multimedia sonnets from the people" in which "photographs discover the talkies, and the stories told assemble in the ether as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a gaggle of invisible histories which, when viewed together, tell the bigger story of our time, the story that defines who we are."
As Educators we use Digital Storytelling in many ways, from introducing new material to helping students learn to conduct research, synthesize large amounts of content and gain expertise in the use of digital communication and authoring tools. It also can help students organize these ideas as they learn to create stories for an audience, and present their ideas and knowledge in an individual and meaningful way.
Students':
- Learn to use the Internet to research rich, deep content while analyzing and synthesizing a wide range of content.
- Develop communications skills by learning to ask questions, express opinions, construct narratives and write for an audience.
- Increase computer skills using software that combines a variety of multimedia including: text, still images, audio, video and web publishing.
Educational Objectives of Digital Storytelling:
- Create a digital story for use as an anticipatory set or hook for a lesson.
- Enhance current lesson plans with the use of a digital story within a unit.
- Assign student-created stories which requires students to research a topic from a particular point of view.
PART ONE: Define, Collect, Decide
- Select a topic for your digital story.
- Create a folder on the desktop where you can store the materials you find.
- Search for image resources for your story, including: pictures, drawings, photographs, maps, charts, etc. - Save these resources in your folder.
- Try to locate audio resources such as music, speeches, interviews, and sound effects. - Save these resources in your folder.
- Try to find informational content, which might come from web sites, word processed documents, or PowerPoint slides. - Save these resources in your folder.
- Begin thinking of the purpose of your story. Are you trying to inform, convince, provoke, question?
PART TWO: Select, Import, Create
- Select the images you would like to use for your digital story.
- Select the audio you would like to use for your digital story.
- Select the content and text you would like to use for your digital story.
- Import images into Photo Story or iMovie.
- Import audio into Photo Story or Sound Studio.
- Modify number of images and/or image order, if necessary.
PART THREE: Decide, Write, Record, Finalize
- Decide on the purpose and point of view of your digital story.
- Write a script that will be used as narration in your digital story AND provides the purpose and point of view you have chosen.
- Use a computer & microphone to record the narration of your script.
- Import the narration into Photo Story or iMovie.
- Finalize your digital story by saving it as a Windows Media Video (.wmv), Quicktime or MPEG4 file.
PART FOUR: Demonstrate, Evaluate, Replicate
- Show your digital story to your colleagues.
- Gather feedback about how the story could be improved, expanded, and used in your classroom.
- Teach a colleague how to create their own digital story.
- Congratulate yourself for a job well done!
Developing your Digital Story
- Pre-writing: brainstorming, collecting images, researching, outlining, and storyboarding
- Drafting: creating a script and developing form
- Revising: modifying images and organization
- Editing: timing, images, and narration
- Publishing: the final product
Storyboards are visual representations that aid in the the creation process of digital storytelling. Storyboards layout images in sequential order to create the the flow of the production. They can also include technical aspects and explanations of design. Each project is unique and varies in its needs; specific requirements should be altered. The following is suggested content: a brief description, comments, audio, transition and an estimate of length.
This storyboard came from a project covering visual representations of themes. The objective was for students to further develop their understanding of thematic concepts while using technology to display the results. Each student chose a theme from the novel The Count of Monte Cristo and created a digital story. Students could find or create images to illustrate their topics. This project asks students to construct meaning and look past the mere definition. Each story should contain examples to support the central idea, or theme. This storyboard demonstrates the content and organization of the digital story. It can also be an evaluative tool to monitor understanding in the classroom. This storyboard was constructed in Microsoft Word using inserted tables in a vertical format. It establishes a consistency with the design found in Photo Story.
