Implementation of Digital Storytelling in the Classroom by Teachers Trained in a Digital Storytelling Workshop This paper presents results of a research study conducted at the University of Houston, in which a group of in-service elementary, middle, and high school teachers learned to use digital storytelling through a series of summer workshops conducted by university faculty and graduate students. The study investigated the teachers’ use of digital storytelling in their classrooms, what effects this use had on students, and what problems arose that prevented implementation of digital storytelling in the classroom. The study results suggested that, even though almost all of the teachers’ perceptions about using digital stories in the classroom were positive immediately after the workshops, in practice, more than half of the teachers did not continue to use digital storytelling during the implementation period. Teachers who did use digital storytelling reported positive effects on student performance, an increase in 21st century skills, and increased motivation and engagement levels in their students.
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Digital Storytelling Finds Its Place in the Classroom
Tom Banaszewski gives a detailed description of the digital storytelling process used in his 4th and 5thhttp://cs2.cust.educ.ubc.ca/csed/400/csed_readings/display%2024.pdf Bull and Kajder elaborate on their view that the focus in Digital Storytelling in the language arts classroom should be on the writing and communication process rather than on the technology used to create the stories. They discuss the Center for Digital Storytelling's popular Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling in detail and describe strategies that can be used in the classroom and conclude with a summary of the benefits of this technology teaching method with a variety of different learners. grade classroom. While the technology enabled students to develop and share a clear, effective story, the author insists the technology was always secondary to the storytelling. Banaszewski gives examples of how he structured the process from beginning with an outline answering specific questions, adding visual images, peer coaching through the production phase, and story coaching to provide a positive classroom environment. This story coaching approach was adapted from storyteller Doug Lipman and gives students an opportunity to share their story, receive cool and warm feedback, and then give the author an opportunity to ask questions. Banaszewski found it important to model this process to his students. Just like sharing stories presents risks for students, the teacher should share a story of his own. He also recommends starting with a class story that can be created collectively. Interestingly enough the author began teaching digital storytelling with 3 Macs and now has 20 macs in his classroom but it still requires the same amount of time…about 6 months. He also discusses the classroom management issues that teachers must deal with while creating these stories. The most important advice he gives is that the teacher must surrender a great deal of control allowing students to become their own director. |
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Digital Storytelling in the Language Arts Classroom Bull and Kajder elaborate on their view that the focus in Digital Storytelling in the language arts classroom should be on the writing and communication process rather than on the technology used to create the stories. They discuss the Center for Digital Storytelling's popular Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling in detail and describe strategies that can be used in the classroom and conclude with a summary of the benefits of this technology teaching method with a variety of different learners.
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Telling Tales with Technology
In this article, Judy Salpeter discusses how educators have used the Center for Digital Storytelling's model to train teachers and students to create digital stories that support instructional activities inside the classroom as well as in the community. The article also includes links to a number of digital storytelling websites that will be of interest to educators. |
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Researching and Evaluating Digital Storytelling as a Deep Learning Tool Barrett, H. (2006) In this article, Helen Barrett focuses on the use of digital sotrytelling as a tool for deep learning and provides a framework for researching and evalusting its use. She also discusses the role of DS and describes an emerging theory of storytelling as learning and reflection in teacher education. |
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| Online Personal Learning Environments: Structuring Electronic Portfolios for Lifelong and Life Wide Learning Barrett, H. & Garrett, N. (2008) http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dd76m5s2_39fsmjdk In this fascinating article, Barrett and Garrett discuss "a vision for for digital stories of development, or Online Personal Learning Environments which may eventually replace what we currently call 'electronic portfolios' in education." The authors describe a concept in which everyone has what Cohn & Hibbits called a “lifetime personal web space.” In this scenario, an online archive that includes digital stories, is used accross a liftime from schools to the workplace, and finally as a way to preserve stories for future generations. |
DISTCO 2008 RESEARCH RESULTS:
EDUCATIONAL USES OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING: CREATING DIGITAL STORYTELLING CONTESTS FOR K-12 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
This paper describes the results of a research study about DISTCO 2008, the first in a series of Digital Storytelling Contests. DISTCO 2008 was designed as a pilot project for the inaugural DISTCO planned for spring 2009. These contests are open to all K-12 students and teachers in San Antonio, Texas and surrounding areas. The project is designed so that students and teachers from different schools may submit original digital stories in for the contest. The competition will be held solely online, and digital stories are required to be submitted using the official contest website (http://www.distco.org). Specifically, this paper will highlight if and how teachers incorporated digital storytelling in the classroom, what they hoped to gain by using digital stories in the classroom, what challenges and successes they faced in the implementation process, whether digital stories helped students and teachers prepare for the standardized state assessment test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills- TAKS). In terms of the research implications for students, this paper analyzes students’ perspectives on using digital stories in the classroom, the motivating factors using digital stories, and preferred content areas for digital story use.
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LATEST RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
EDUCATIONAL USES OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING: THE CHALLENGES OF DESIGNING AN ONLINE DIGITAL STORYTELLING CONTEST FOR K-12 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
This paper describes the challenges of designing a series of online Digital Storytelling Contests (DISTCO) and the experience of building a website for the project. These contests are open to all K-12 students and teachers in San Antonio, Texas and surrounding areas. The project is designed so that students and teachers from different schools may enter digital stories to the contest. The competition will be held solely online, and digital stories are required to be submitted using the official contest website (http://www.distco.org). Based on the experiences of the first in a series of Digital Storytelling Contests, DISTCO 2008, the design of the DISTCO 2009 contest has been developed and improved.
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