Martha Beagle

Digital Storytelling - What Is Your Story? Co-Authors: Dr. Martha Beagle, Associate Professor, and Don Hodges, IT Coordinator, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky Teachers are constantly being challenged by time and resources to prove the worth of technology in their classrooms. Affordability and accessibility of technology provides opportunities today that were not imaginable a decade ago. People in general have a basic need to tell others a story about something. Throughout history, storytelling has been used to share knowledge, wisdom, and values. The way things were, and the way things were done, become the themes that provide this story telling. Or the future becomes our focus, imagining what might be. Stories become a way of revealing who we are. Technology has added a new twist to storytelling. Its use can pique interest in a variety of students with a story to tell. Digital storytelling uses the available tools of the computer and Internet, weaving together images, music, narrative, and voice with the final outcome being an interesting multi-media mix of images and voice. The following sections will be addressed: Definition of digital storytelling Types of digital storytelling Advantages to be gained having digital storytelling in the curriculum Necessary elements of digital storytelling Recipe for designing a digital story " To do" and "not to do" lists for digital storytelling Evaluating and assessing your student's digital story Personal experiences using digital storytelling Concluding remarks

Don Hodges

DEFINITION OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING

What is digital storytelling? Digital stories are brief individual story lines that can be created on personal computers. The point of view of these story lines is generally that of the person producing, and usually personal experiences of that person as well. They may revolve around a theme, and often contain a particular viewpoint. Lasting from two to five minutes, digital stories incorporates various forms of media - music, art work, photographs, animation, and video clips, and are typically designed by one person who may be technically inexperienced.

TYPES OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING

The first type of digital storytelling is the personal narrative. Personal narratives allow a person to share their life with others and vicariously experience the things that happen around them. These may be described as character stories, memorial stories, accomplishment stories, work stories, love stories, and recovery stories.

The second type of digital storytelling is the historical examination of theme events. These may be described as documentaries. These stories depict events that actually took place - records of real-life events involving real people.

The third type of digital storytelling is the informative or instructional story. These allow the story teller to deliver instructional content on many different topics, providing factual information.

ADVANTAGES OF USING DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN EDUCATION

Digital storytelling certainly provides new ways of educating today's student, and educators in elementary through university levels can use digital storytelling in numerous ways. Whether introducing new material, conducting research, understanding difficult concepts, or gaining further technology proficiencies, digital storytelling becomes a tool to help. Digital storytelling becomes an approach to help students organize ideas into a story that is meaningful for them and an audience. Students are introduced to various skills that are used in making a digital story a reality: research, writing, organizational, technology, presentation, interview, interpersonal, problem solving, and assessment.

• Variation - digital storytelling can offer more variation then traditional practicing methods. Because of the generating power of digital storytelling, no story has to be the same. But once an application has been developed, it can be used over and over again without becoming repetitious and boring.
• Personalization - digital storytelling can be adjusted to the level of the person telling the story. It has the ability to appeal to the various styles of learning and today's students.
• Compelling - a good digital story can be a way to make an explanation or a practice of certain topics more compelling because they are supported by an interesting story. Similar to a good book, one becomes drawn into the book, and before you know it the story is at the end.
• Real life situations - digital storytelling provides opportunities to create real life situations in an easy way.
• Engaging - digital storytelling provides the opportunity to arouse interest and engage students when used as a lesson "hook." It can enhance any individual lesson plan within a unit. With today's digital generation children, their interest, attention, and motivation are stimulated.
• Active learning - digital storytelling can offer diverse interactive learning systems, and improve the involvement of students in the process of learning. Digital storytelling helps the student learn subject matter by doing, and allows the teacher to be able to take advantage of each student's creative talents, using their research to tell their own story.

ELEMENTS OF A DIGITAL STORY

Constructing a story is not a simple process that follows a formula or set of procedures. The following elements require thought for every story, and the process of shaping the control each element assumes in the story can take a lot of assessing and reassessing.

What is storyboarding?

The first, middle, and last step to creating a great digital story is storyboarding. Many students attempt to skip this step and move right into the creation process. However, it has been my experience that more time is spent "getting it right," then what would have been spent putting together and refining a strong storyboard.

A storyboard should be the heartbeat of a digital story telling project in that it will direct the flow of all action, scripting, and images of the story. The storyboard should allow the creator to put the creation into action before the first digital aspect of the story is put into software. This is because it is much easier to fix a mistake on paper than to reorganize your digital files within the software you are using. Finally, the storyboard will give the creator an idea of what the finished project will look like long before the final multimedia file is finalized.

Finally, the storyboard will be somewhat fluid in nature. This means that it may change as you begin putting your project together. You may find that something you thought would work, may in fact, not be possible and need to change. The storyboard allows you to make changes before you spend time putting the project together on the computer.

What makes a good story?

According to the Center for Digital Storytelling there are seven elements that make a good digital story. They are:

1. A Point of View
2. A Dramatic Question
3. Emotional Content
4. The Gift of YOUR voice
5. The Power of the Soundtrack
6. Economy
7. Pacing

View www.storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf for their in-depth description of each of the seven elements. This site will also give you more information on how to tell a good story.

What are some types of storyboards?

One example of storyboarding is the visual or picture storyboard. This is used in many video creating/editing circles because it allows the creator to visualize the action before it actually takes place. This type of storyboard can be massive, especially when the whole movie is put on paper. The idea here is not to draw the whole movie but rather key scenes that will have impact on the movie as a whole. It can also be used to help the director lay out very complicated scenes in order to get an idea of how it should be shot by the camera crew.

Another type of storyboard is the Outline Storyboard. This is very similar to an outline you would use for a research paper. Through this method you write, rather than draw, each scene including what music, vocal track, picture(s), and transitions will be used. This provides a technical script for the video before you go into full scale production. You do want to provide a great deal of detail in order to have a strong usable storyboard.

What are other resources can you use for Storyboarding?
Guide to Film-making: http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/storybd/
Center for Digital Storytelling: http://www.storycenter.org/
Tutorial: http://www.storycenter.org/memvoice/pages/tutorial_3.html
Storyboarding: http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Storyboarding.html

Reference: Center for Digital Storytelling. (2006) Storycenter.org. Retrieved February 24, 2008 from www.storycenter.org.

APPROACH TO CREATING A DIGITAL STORY

Creating a digital story can be broken down into four parts: (1) defining, collecting, and deciding; (2) selecting, importing, and creating; (3) deciding, writing, recording, and finalizing; and (4) demonstrating, evaluating, and replicating.

Part One: Defining, Collecting, and Deciding
Choose a story topic, and create a folder on a computer desktop where collected materials can begin to be stored. Begin to search and collect images, drawings, photographs, etc. and store them in the created folder. Audio sources, such as speeches, music, interviews and sound effects, should also be collected and stored. Find and save information to support the chosen topic from websites, documents, articles, or power point slides. The purpose of the story needs to be considered at this point of the process – whether it's to inform, to convince, to provoke, or to question.

Part Two: Selecting, Importing, and Creating
Select and import images and audio into the computer program that supporting the best story. Select the content and text that will be used. It may be necessary at this point to modify the number and/or order of images selected from the previous step.

Part Three: Deciding, Writing, Recording, and Finalizing
Make a decision regarding the purpose and point of view of the digital story. Write a script that reinforces and supports the purpose and point of view that will be used as narration for the digital story. Recording and importing the narration into the computer program being used will allow the finalizing step to occur: saving the story as an appropriate video file.

Part Four: Demonstrating, Evaluating, and Replicating
Sharing the digital story with classmates, peers, and others provides "showing and showcasing" that presents the work done. Feedback can be gathered from the specified audience that views the digital story. This sharing or demonstrating may provide motivation for others to create their own digital stories. Burning copies as DVDs, posting stories as podcasts on the Web, or posting stories as web pages will allow for further opportunities of work well done.

"TO DO" LIST AND DIGITAL STORYTELLING PROJECTS

• Select the correct software and equipment for the project. Understand the pros and cons of the software package you use and the equipment it requires.
• Organize all resources on the computer according to file types. For example, all video files should be kept in the same folder while all audio files should be kept in a separate folder.
• Write a script if narration is being provided. A well written script equals a top notch digital story.
• File sizes get large fast. Make sure you backup all source files.
• Allow plenty of time to create the digital story. As a rule, one minute of a finished product should equal one hour of production time.

"WHAT NOT TO DO" AND DIGITAL STORYTELLING PROJECTS

• Don't violate copyright laws. Cite all sources and obtain permission if needed.
• Don't expect the software to do the work for you. Learn the software and ask for help if needed.
• Don't create a digital story without first making a storyboard.
• Don't use all the "bells and whistles" of the software. Keep it simple, neat, and remember your intended audience.
• Don't stress out. Allow plenty of time to complete the project.

EVALUATING STUDENT WORK ON DIGITAL STORYTELLING

A number of evaluation instruments are available for educators to assess student performance in digital storytelling. One such instrument is the rubric. Rubrics are used to evaluate the quality of student work related to complex projects (which digital storytelling can be). The rubric allows for the evaluator to use indicators in several categories and for various levels of proficiency. Sample rubrics can be found on the Rubistar website specifically developed to evaluate digital storytelling (use search word "storytelling" when searching for a rubric. You will receive a list of digital storytelling rubrics).

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH DIGITAL STORYTELLING

I have used digital storytelling for two semesters in a couple of General Studies' classes that have had an Olympic Games and Global Sports focus. Before a final decision to include this in my classes, I took time at the end of a sabbatical to design a digital story. My intent in doing this was to better understand what the students were going to be doing, and to totally understand the parts of designing a story. The assignment entailed designing a ten to fifteen minute documentary related to a topic of personal choice. Topics included Olympic Game controversies (1936 Berlin Games, Munich Massacre, and raised black fist in 1968 Mexico City), Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps comparison, religion and the Olympic Games, 2008 Beijing controversies, the decline of African Americans in baseball, and mafia and gambling in global sport.

A couple of students completed digital stories as personal stories about Leni Riefenstahl and Lucinda Adams. The quality of all of the digital stories was outstanding and certainly better than I had expected, being new to the experience. And the students also shared the same enthusiasm and pride in their finished products. Clock hours spent to complete such a project were documented. On average, fifteen to twenty-five clock hours was spent working on parts two through four, and probably another four to six hours on part one.

SOME IDEAS FOR DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH

The possibilities for successful experiences in digital storytelling in Physical Education and Health are limitless. As teachers and students we have lots of stories to tell - about events, people, and places related to our profession. The possibilities of collaboration and integration across the curriculum become great possibilities with the design of the digital story - some include reading and language arts (researching and writing the story), social studies (history of a sport), science (inside the heart), or a public service announcement about nutrition and portion size (health).

CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Although the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of digital storytelling, there are some concerns to consider before taking on this technology project. Students may find it hard to formulate a sound argument that supports the story they want to tell, and there may be the student who doesn't have any interest in storytelling. The project is time-consuming, and it must be predetermined that there will be time available to produce quality stories, thus making the work beneficial and worthy of the time spent. It is obviously important to have access and availability to technology hardware and software that provide support to design digital stories. Depending on images, documents, video clips, interviews, and other media collected for the story, there may be copyright and intellectual property issues that should be investigated and addressed.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Digital storytelling continues to increase its innovative applications in the classroom. Challenges for teachers who use digital storytelling necessitate a combination of creative writing and film skills and principles, as well as the technical resources with the technology. Using new technology skills to present and share their voices, students are given unique opportunities to tell their stories.

Herman, G.C. (2000). Introduction to story telling: Class lecture and syllabus (GARED 5351-00, cycle 14). Kent, WA:Lesley College.

*Successful Classroom Uses of Digital Storytelling/Examples

Digital Stories by Students and Teachers http://www.digitalstories.org/
Digital Storytelling Finds Its Place in the Classroom http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm
Raising the Bar on Student Performance and Achievement: Evaluating Digital Products http://digitales.us/files/RaisingtheBar.pdf
The Case for Digital Storytelling in the Classroom http://www.wtvi.com/teks/ds/
Creative Narrations http://www.creativenarrations.net/site/storybook/index.html

*Credit to http://www.todaysteacher.com

other resources:

Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling - Click on the links on this page to learn more about watching and creating stories made with digital technology tools.
DigiTales - The Art of Telling Digital Stories. Crafting and sharing personal, emotional stories with today's digital tools.
Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. Tell your story now digitally.

Biographies

Martha Beagle - Dr. Martha Beagle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and Health from Slippery Rock University; a Master of Science in Athletic Administration from Idaho State University; and an Ed.D. in Physical Education from the University of Kentucky. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Education, Health, and Athletics at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky. Her research area of interest is geriatric fitness and teaches courses related to the older adult population. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, working in her yard, and pleasure reading.

Don Hodges - Don Hodges holds B.A. from Berea College and a M.A. from The George Washington University. He currently is the Instructional Technology Coordinator at Berea College. His area of interest is how technology can be used to enhance the traditional learning environment. More specifically, how a well designed pedagogical approach can effectively integrate technology into any course. He does not feel that technology should be used for technology sake, rather it should be used with careful planning, integration, evaluation, and assessment. In his free time, he enjoys reading, movies, and spending time with his wife.

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