Do you ever use emotional learning techniques? Do you have students who struggle with relating to historical figures or events? Do you have students who need to capture their own personal journey? Do you have students who are adapting to Canadian culture? Have you ever considered digital storytelling?

Digital Storytelling

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Storytelling has a powerful influence in our lives. Since the dawn of humankind, we have tried to tell our story. It began with the cave paintings, oral traditions around the fire, dance, and song. Later, came poetry, prose, oil paintings, and dramatic plays. The last two centuries brought us photography as well as the talking picture, movies, television. Now with web-based media with can tell digital stories.

VariationsNone.

ExamplesUse your imagination. What kind of story could your students tell? What would be an appropriate story for your students? Only you know what would be authentic to your field of study, your curriculum, and your students. To get started, consider these ideas:

Visual Arts•Animation•Documentary•Lyrical dance•Design inspiration

Health & Community Studies•Children’s story•Family genealogy•Zoo animal biography•Nursing case history

Science & Technology•Science fiction or fact•Environmental history•Cold forensics case•Video game narrative

Business Administration•Brand narrative•Case study•Role play•ePortfolio about me page

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Humanities & Social Sciences•Comic heroes•Memoirs•Transition to Canada •Creative non-fiction

MeritsToday, with so many rich digital tools available, we can tell dynamic narratives. Storytelling is a powerful technique use in counselling to aid in memory. It is also a technique to empower voice. A well told story can evoke emotion which is integral to memory and learning. Creative capture of stories with image, audio, and video bring narrative to life.

Memory. In therapeutic counselling, memory books can empower and heal. A digital memory book can equally enrich this counselling technique (Pillay, 2009). For aging persons, chronicling their life story to reminisce about from time to time can ward off depression when they feel sentimental as well as help in stages of memory loss (N. Sheppard, personal communication, January 2013). The elderly can also impart their family history to the next generation. For international students, creating a collection of memories from their mother country can help with homesickness and culture shock.

Voice. It is important for one to narrate their own personal digital story (Robin, 2008). Through various media, digital storytelling encourages voice, creativity, and self-direction (Rossiter & Garcia, 2010), pride, dialogue communication (Skouge & Rao, 2009), and reflective practice (Walters, Green, Wang, & Walters, 2011). Writing creative non-fiction can be a very clever way to stylize your own story. Using dramatic license, we can create a modern adaptation of a factual event. For English as a Second Language (ESL) students, telling their own story builds identity and improves linguistic skills (Torres, Ponce, & Pastor, 2012). Bear in mind, that sharing one’s personal story can also be intimidating, especially for shy students.

Emotional Learning. The art of narrative is so powerful as we connect to the character, plot, and setting, especially if the story evokes our emotions. Like the ancient Greek dramatic arts, stories can be cathartic. The power of emotion in learning is closely tied to memory (Jensen, 2005). For some, they may want to retell their own personal story or journey for nostalgia. For others, they may want to create a fictional story to expand the connection between theory and practice in a way that makes us relate to the main characters. For a few, it may be a way to re-enact a social or historical event with pathos (Robin, 2008).

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ChallengesEven though most students have some type of mobile device, there may still be a learning curve with digital storytelling. Many apps and shareware are easy to use but complex editing takes skill. There are many advantages to peer sharing and peer critique, however, not all students will feel comfortable putting their story on display. Likewise, narratives involve personal reflection, which can stir up intense emotions. Less is always more, so we need to keep our digital stories short and to the point to make the most impact.

Digital Literacy. While many students have a mobile device and access to free apps for capturing images or creating ebooks, there may still be a steep learning curve. There is a technical skill to image capture and detailed editing even with easy to use software. You will need to weigh the cost and benefit of learning digital skills while not distracting from the learning. On the other hand, according to McLuhan, the “medium is the message” (1964) - certain mediums have implications for our society and culture. For example, ebooks are certainly impacting the way we read and most likely will revolutionize the way students will learn with books. Further, in the words of Taylor the “computer is tutor, tool, and tutee” (Bull, 2009; Taylor, 1980) - students can learn from an ebook, they can use software to create an ebook, and finally, they can build new add-ons and features for ebook technologies.

Privacy and Confidentiality. For a timid student, telling one’s own story may be uncomfortable. Some students may find it threatening to retell and relive painful events. Others may simply want to keep their personal stories to themselves. Further still, some students may be reluctant to share their creative work fearing that others will plagiarize their original ideas. When sharing digital stories on the Internet, make sure students know how to adjust their privacy and sharing settings to restrict who can view their stories.

Length. Generally speaking, our digital stories should be short. In today’s world, it is hard to keep anyone’s attention for more than just a few minutes. A good length might be 2-5 minutes. Longer than 10 or 15 minutes and our audience might tune out. On the other hand, if we want to make a documentary length feature, then 30-50 minutes might be appropriate; again longer than 90 minutes may bore our viewers. The goal is to convey a great deal in a short sound bite - a big story in a small moment (Center for Digital Storytelling, n.d.).

Instructional DesignUse a backwards design approach. First, start with your learning outcomes. Second, create your assessments. Third, plan your instructional activities. Finally, choose a technology to enhance the lesson.

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Design. Consider your curriculum; look carefully at your accreditation standards, graduate attributes, program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes, and lesson learning outcomes. Will digital storytelling fulfill the learning outcomes? How will you prepare students for a narrative? What technologies will you and your students need to learn in order to create digital stories? Will digital storytelling enhance the learning experience?

Develop. Browse the Internet for examples of digital stories in your field of study. You might find novels or short stories about personal experiences in the field. Likewise, you might find creative non-fiction or adaptations of memoirs in story, animation, or film. For example, the graduate nursing program at the University of Colorado partnered with the Center for Digital Storytelling and Patient Voices to create Nurstory - a series of reflective practice workshops on nursing moments. Telling one’s own narrative fosters deep reflection (Walters, Green, Wang, & Walters, 2011).

Plan how you will tell your story. Like any good story, we start with a framework: setting, characterization, and plot - the conflict. We need a point of view - a voice (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person). Once we have our script, it is a good idea to storyboard the images that will tell the story before starting to create a digital narrative. Then, we can consider other augmentation like music and pacing. The more dramatic the question, the more emotional the content, the more impactful the story.

Deliver. Decide what students will do before, during, and after the story. Before the narrative, students might research an issue, gather photos, videos, and music. As part of the narration process, students may create a script and storyboard. After completing the story, students might share their story in an efair. The story should be authentic, active, and applied.

TechnologyWith your preferred productivity and creativity suite, you can edit image, video, audio, and text into one file to make a digital story. For example, with Apple you can use iMovie and GarageBand. Likewise, with Microsoft, you can use MovieMaker or PhotoStory. Similarly, with Adobe you can use Premier Pro or After Effects. With a mobile device you can capture a simple unedited story. There are all kinds of apps that you can use to add bumpers, credits, titles, speech bubbles, and pop ups. You can share these digital stories on social media YouTube, Vimeo, iTunes, and Facebook.

ReferencesBull, G. (2009). Tutor, tool, tutee: a vision revisited. Contemporary Issues in Technology

and Teacher Education, 9(2), p.89-94. Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/articles/v9i2editorial1.pdf

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Center for Digital Storytelling. (n.d.). Case study: Nurstory. Center for Digital Storytelling. Retrieved from http://storycenter.org/nurstory/

Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision in Curriculum Development. Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

McLuhan, M. (1964) Understanding media. Routledge: London

Pillay, Y. (2009). The use of digital narratives to enhance counselling and psychotherapy. Journal Of Creativity In Mental Health, 4(1), p.32-41. Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), p.220-228. Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

Rossiter, M. & Garcia, P.A. (2010). Digital storytelling: A new player on the narrative field. New Directions for adult and continuing education, (126), p.37-48. doi: 10.1002/ace.370 Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

Skouge, J.R. & Rao, K. (2009). Digital storytelling in teacher education: Creating transformations through narrative. Educational Perspectives, 42(1-2), p.54-60. Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

Taylor, R.P. (1980). The computer in school: Tutor, tool, tutee. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Torres, A., Ponce, E., & Pastor, M. (2012). Digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool within a didactic sequence in foreign language teaching. Digital Education Review, (22), p.1-18. Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

Walters, L. M., Green, M. R., Wang, L., & Walters, T. (2011). From heads to hearts: Digital stories as reflection artifacts of teachers' international experience. Issues In Teacher Education, 20(2), p.37-52. Retrieved from Sheridan College Library

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Written by Paula OggPhotography by Jonathan Eger

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