Digital Storytelling

When I taught English, I loved to tell stories to my students about the lives of the poets and authors we were studying. I liked reading literary biographies anyway, so I figured I could add some depth to the curriculum. For example, when we studied Modern Poetry and figures such as Wallace Stevens, Hart Crane, and E.A. Robinson, I ended (or began…or both!) each day with a little tale from William Pritchard’s Lives of the Modern Poets.

Listening to and telling stories is important. We learn what we share with other people; we learn about the diversity and complexity of human experience. When we tell stories about ourselves, we locate ourselves in a time and a place. Stories can give us a sense of where and who were are, collectively and individually, and a sense of our possible futures.

Digital Storytelling has recently emerged as a combination of traditional and new literacies that can have a profound impact for classrooms that deal with language, speaking, writing and technology. In a digital story, an author combines pictures, video, print text, and audio text to compose a story. Many of these stories are “life-based” and more personal in tone and scope; but there is no restriction on what these stories can be, represent or tell. Visit the Center for Digital Storytelling and find finished stories that cover a variety of topics, including: education, identity, and place.

One challenge with online education is creating classroom community when face-to-face interaction is limited or impossible. Digital storytelling might be used by online educators not only as a literacy practice but also as a way to facilitate “being known” and knowing others in the online group. Digital storytelling allows for projections of identity and personality that might not be possible with regular (a)synchronous interactions. Visit Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling at the University of Houston to learn more about the tools and software needed to create digital stories. Most, if not all, of these tools are available on the internet and can be downloaded for free.