University of Houston- Digital Storytelling Website

On the What is DigitalStorytelling? page of the website I learned that the most basic definition of digital storytelling is, “the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories.” Most stories focus on a specific topic and are done in a particular point of view.  I also learned that the stories can vary in time but most of them are between 2 and 10 minutes long. The Center for Digital Storytelling has been helping to create digital stories since the early 1990’s. Many different people with many different skill sets are using and creating digital stories to use in many different ways.

Under the EducationalUses page it explains that digital storytelling can be used in many ways in a classroom. This includes teacher and student made stories. The teachers can use digital stories to enhance lessons. The students can use digital storytelling to go deeper into a particular subject. It also helps give the students a chance to use technology to make something to be proud of.

The 7 Elements ofDigital Storytelling page gives seven elements that can be included in a digital story.

1.       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

These are the seven that the Center for Digital Storytelling decided upon for general digital storytelling. The University of Houston decided that in order to create an educational digital story it needs ten specific things.

1.       The Overall Purpose of the Story

2.       The Narrator’s Point of View

3.       A Dramatic Question or Questions

4.       The Choice of Content

5.       Clarity of Voice

6.       Pacing of the Narrative

7.       Use of a Meaningful Audio Soundtrack

8.       Quality of the Images, Video and other Multimedia Elements

9.       Economy of the Story Detail

10.   Good Grammar and Language Usage

These ten steps help to make a digital story more educational rather than just entertaining.

Under the 21^st Century Skills page it lists several skills that students working to create digital stories use that are helpful in the 21st century. Some examples include: Digital Literacy, Global Literacy, Visual Literacy, Technology Literacy, and Informational Literacy.

There is also a Web 2.0 Resources page where there is a list of useful resources to use for digital storytelling such as blogs, pod casts, wikis, and an other category.