Overview
"Digital Storytelling" has become a catchall phrase associated with the process of creating any kind of digital media artifact that tells a story or conveys a message. Assignments of this nature are becoming increasingly more popular in Kindergarten through college classes due to the meaningful learning qualities inherent to the process of creating and sharing these artifacts.
The practice is further supported by increased access to tools for creation (devices and apps) and the ease of distribution (the internet and sharing sites like YouTube).
There are many definitions of the terms "Digital Storytelling" and "Digital Stories", and many different kinds of digital stories. On this site we only talk about a few kinds - or "genres" - of digital stories, but the recommended workflow is common to almost all the genres out there.
Benefits of Digital Storytelling?
In today's media rich landscape, communicating in digital stories accomplished multiple objectives and folows key 21st century skills. Digital storytellling is
- a 21st century mode of communication (communication skills, ICT literacy)
- a way to foster media literacy (media literacy)
- a way to facilitate student-lead investigations into complex topics (information literacy, initiative and self-direction, productivity amnd accountability)
- a way to teach with narratives, the way our brain likes to process information (communication)
- a way to provide multiple voices and perspectives into subject matter (social and cross-cultural skills)