Digital Story Telling
What it is
Storytelling happens in many ways. Novels tell stories, as do short stories, movies and audio books. People tell stories as well. Many cultures have rich histories of passing down facts, legends, and opinions through oral histories. And there are different types of stories. Some are personal and sequential with a traditional beginning, middle, and end. Other stories are non-linear and may not follow established elements of plot. Joyce’s (2000) Ullyses is a good example of this. In Digital Storytelling we are using technology to tell stories. Our stories are visually based. Learners should write the story, gather the images, create the product, and finally share the product. The stories we tell may be literary based, either original stories or retelling of existing stories, or they may be curriculum based, and not linear, such as locating geometrical shapes that occur naturally in our environment.
Stories are “written” or created in a variety of ways. Learners may be asked to illustrate an event from history, such as The Trail of Tears or an existing story from literature, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s (1852) My Kinsman Major Molineaux. Or learners may be asked to tell a story with a collection of items, such as locating and identifying particular deciduous trees or locating and identifying geometric shapes in the architecture of the school.
Pictures are typically gathered using digital cameras or by doing image searches on the Internet using the image search functions at http://yahoo.com or http://google.com. Once images are gathered they may be edited if need be using software such as Photoshop or Image Blender. Finally the images are organized using a piece of software. In our class we use PowerPoint because we want to be able to project our images and to match them up with music as a self-running slide show. However there are other ways to tell your story as well. Microsoft Word is a simple way to create a printed version of your story. And the Photo Gallery Function in Microsoft Front Page would allow you to put your images on the Internet with ease.
How it relates to learning with technology
Digital Storytelling provides an opportunity for group or individual work. For most classrooms students may have to share a camera, but most schools would have the resources for every one in the class to use a computer to collect images using an image search function at search engine website. Digital Storytelling can be used in every curriculum area, from science classes where students could collect images of different types of cells on the Internet to music classes where students could take pictures of facial expressions to illustrate the use of emotion in music.
While the product of Digital Storytelling might be high on the Cone of Experience (Dale, 1969), the process itself moves further down the cone to provide more substantive and direct experience to the learner. It also provides for a way to use different signals for communication and to control for noise or interference as indicated in Schramm’s Communication model.
Part One
In groups you should go out and take pictures to tell a story. Collectively you should decide what story you will tell. It could be related to education, but it does not have to be. The content can be serious, funny, or silly, but it does need to be appropriate, which means I should be able to show it to the Dean or to the University President. You can take as many pictures as you want, but you should use at least 10 but no more than 15 in your presentation. Everybody should take at least two pictures, and there should be a group picture. I will check out a digital camera to you and you will go and take your pictures. You don't have to stay on campus, but be aware that you shouldn't take pictures of people without their permission. Managers of stores, such as Harris Teeter, tend to get nervous if you take pictures in their stores, so ask first. Don't take pictures of the Post Office, government facilities get nervous these days if it looks like you are "casing" the joint.
Part Two
When you come back to class, copy the pictures from your camera to your Z:\ drive. Everybody should copy the pictures to your own Z:\ drive. Using the hand out on digital story telling (available here) build a PowerPoint presentation as described in the handout. When you save it the first time, save it inside a folder that has your first and last name on it.
You will want to download some music for your story. Find something you like at http://freeplaymusic.com. You should download the MP3 version, and you should not use music longer than 60 seconds. When you are done I will tell you how to turn it in.
The Assignment
Two presentations. The one you do in class with the pictures from the camera and turn in during the class. The one you do using images you find on the internet is to be done as homework and turned in during our next class meeting. Bring it with you on a flash drive and I will show you how to make it a PDF file to turn in. .
In Class Camera Images: This one will run with music in the background. It will be self running, between 10 and 15 slides long and run for no longer than 60 seconds. Your group will take the pictures, but you will all use the pictures to create your own version of the story. Check the rubric for specifics.
Homework Internet Images: This one is related to your curriculum area. So choose a standard and then use the internet to help you find images. You will not use music in this one, but instead you will use the notes pages of PowerPoint to provide learners with information related to the content of the slide. Images from the Internet should be full size and not copied thumbnails. The one using images from the Internet must relate to education in the curriculum area you plan to teach. You will save the one with Internet Images as a .PDF file. Check the rubric for specific requirements.
They must be turned in on the Tshare folder. This is a graded assignment. Actual mileage may vary. Consult a physician before beginning any exercise program. Not all investments accrue in value; a statement of risk can be found on our prospectus.
Check out Digital Story Telling as a Comic Book
Syllabus | Schedule | Assignments | Links
Dr. Marshall G. Jones
jonesmg@winthrop.edu