1. +
Digital
Storytelling for
Educators

2. What is Digital Storytelling?
 Digital Storytelling is the process of writing about a story,
and adding the multimedia elements of voice, imagery, and
music to create a visual story.
 Personal or Academic Narratives:
 A personal story is one that involves a personal change or
realization. This could be a family story about the value of a
childhood experience, a reunion in which you reconnect with
a long lost friend, a hero in your family,
 Digital storytelling can also be used in the content areas as
an academic story or "unit of instruction" story. This can be a
story about any concept, unit or idea from any area of the
curriculum, from math to social studies.
 Watch “Digital Storytelling in Plain English”

3. • Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct
knowledge, and develop innovative products and
processes using technology
• Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas,
products or processes.
• Create original works as a means of personal or group
expression.
• Use models and simulations to explore complex systems
and issues.
• Identify trends and forecast possibilities

4. Visual Literacy
Visual literacy
allow students to
connect the
concrete and
abstract.
•Improve readers' Heighten motivation,
•
abilities to share, critique, engagement and enjoyment
and revise what has been
learned with others. of reading.
Jason Ohler
Digital Storytelling in the •Immerse students
•Help solve Classroom, talks about how in rich details of
spatial and stories help us remember
verbal problems.
text.
important information that
might be forgotten if it’s
delivered to us in the form of
•Aid in reports, lectures, or isolated
inferencing, bits of information. •Improve literal
elaborating and
comprehension of
identifying
texts.
patterns across
multiple texts.
•Build (Gambrell& Koskinen, 2002;
background Keene & Zimmerman, 1997;
Wilhelm, 1995)
knowledge.

5. Elements of Digital Storytelling
 1. The Overall Purpose of the Story
 2. The Narrator’s Point of View
 3. A Dramatic Question or Questions (capture
the viewer’s attention)
 4. The Choice of Content
 5. Clarity of Voice
 6. Pacing of the Narrative

6. Elements of Digital Storytelling
 7. Use of a Meaningful Audio Soundtrack
 8. Quality
of the Images, Video & other
Multimedia Elements
 9. Economy of the Story Detail
 10. Good Grammar and Language Usage
Adapted from: The Center for Digital Storytelling (http://
www.storycenter.org)

8. Digital Storytelling Examples
 ICAN:
 Parents PSA
 The Chase
 Teachers
 Hero
 Apple Learning Interchange
 Silent Movie Literature (Edgar Allen Poe)
 Language
 Intro to Lesson

9. Commercials/PSA/
Kick off a unit to hook students
Trailer for book talks
Recap a unit
Sports Highlights
Scientific Process
Year-end video
Alphabet/Number Book
All About Me
Great replacement for
Timelines
PowerPoint
Biographies
Digital storytelling
Field Trips
Memoirs
Science/Math Projects
Tributes
Overview of class for parent night
Review concepts
Interviews
Poetry
Vocabulary Words (Oppression)

10. More
Ideas…
• Create your own Common Craft Videos
• First Day of School Rules
• Heroes vs. Villains
• Silent Films using Edgar Allen Poe short stories
• Tributes to people such as Walt Disney or Martin
Luther King
• Historical events such as the Boston Tea Party/
Underground Railroad

11. More
• Inventions and their Inventors
Ideas…
• How have animals adapted or what happened to
the dinosaurs?
• Fairy tales from a different perspective
• Math is all around town-videotape your town and
look for geometry
• Meet the Master Artists
• Tell stories about famous scientists/
mathematicians and illustrate their theories
through video

12. It’s all about Story…
3.
Post
Production
2.
Production Publish:
Edit the Share your
1. Create: pieces creation
Pre- Record
Production your pieces
Develop your or collect
script and your
storyboard images
Brainstorming:
What is your
story?

13. Storyboard for Digital Storytelling
 Storyboards are a planning tool to help you outline and
organize your video.
 The T-Script Audio/Video Storyboard
VIDEO AUDIO/NARRATION
The left side of the script is for The right side is for the actual
video, graphics, images.
narration, text, sound effects, etc.
I played Varsity Basketball, Varsity Soccer,
and Varsity Softball…

14. Basic Storyboard

15. Script and Storyboard
 Educatorswill break for script and
storyboarding….
 Youmay use one of the scenarios or
create one of your own choosing

16. Video Production Tips
Composition: rule of thirds

24. Sometimes
you have to
break the
rules!

25. Too much
headroom

26. Video Production

27. Watch for distractions when composing your images….

28. Video Tips
 When shooting outdoors, keep the sun behind
you. Beware of windows.
 Plan your shoot. Shoot to edit.
 Usea tripod or other image stabilization
device.
 For
handheld stability, imagine that your
camcorder is a very full cup of hot coffee.

29. Video Tips
 Use the zoom to compose your shot. Avoid zooming
while the tape is rolling.
 Move the camera only when necessary. Pan from left
to right slowly!
 Keep your average shot length between 5 and 10
seconds. Keep the shot steady (no zoom or pan) for at
least 10 seconds.
 Watch for distractions behind the talent.
 Seven Deadly Sins of Video Work: http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=A-6tWTPTmcE

30. Resources…
RETAPEDIA: http://retapedia.pbworks.com
Copyright Free Images
 Creative commons: http://creativecommons.org/
 Flickr- http://flickr.com
 Wikipedia Public Domain Image Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
 Pics for Learning: http://pics.tech4learning.com/
 Davis Audio & Video clips: http://www.djusd.k12.ca.us/technology/images.htm
Royalty Free Sound Sources
 Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/audio
 Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org
 The Free Sound Project: http://www.freesound.org/
 Stonewashed Sound Effects: http://www.stonewashed.net/sfx.html
 Macloops: www.macloops.com
Audacity Audio Editor: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

31. • Introduce video-editing using MovieMaker
• Publish your story
• Homework:
• Bring 10 digital slides
• Assessment:
• Peer Assessment
• Digital Storytelling Rubric