Thursday, November 17, 2011

Digitally Yours...The Media Specialist's Role in Digital Storytelling


By:  Tamara Creech

Storytelling has been a part of our communication methods since the beginning of our existence.  A technique that originated orally to pass down culture and history has evolved into something permanent and remarkable:  Digital Storytelling.  The term is just that simple, a digital account.  The account can be personal in nature, educational, historical or humorous and there are many digital tools that you can use to create a digital story.  To many, creating a digital story is overwhelming.  The Media Specialist is a valuable resource that can guide students and teachers through the digital storytelling process by providing tips, steps, guides, tutorials, software and copyright information.  Who else knows their way around the latest and greatest technology, understands copyright and fair use laws and can link educational standards to technology?

Regardless of the content area, the Media Specialist can match the digital storytelling process to state standards for content areas as well as technology standards.  As many topics as there are out there to create a digital story on, there are almost as many tools and guidelines that go into the making of the digital story.

The Media Specialist can assist students and teachers with choosing the most appropriate software to create their digital story with.  If students are creating their digital stories at school, then the media specialist will provide the access to the software and can assist with software tutorials.  On the University of Houston’s Digital Storytelling website, http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/index.html, several software options are listed such as Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 and Apple’s iMovie.

Digital Storytelling as an educational tool can consist of several elements.  Media Specialists can collaborate with teachers to introduce elements of great digital storytelling to make sure students understand the instruction and what the outcome should be.  The Center for Digital Storytelling gives some basic elements such as pacing and point of view.  Check them out here:  http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/7elements.html. A media specialist can customize elements to fit the lesson and vision of the teacher and student.

Teachers and students use digital storytelling to tell their story, let someone peek into their world and thoughts, but that is not the complete experience.  The components that go into making a digital story create another type of instruction and knowledge base, with the Media Specialist at the center of and guiding that learning.  Digital Storytelling introduces new technology and sharpens existing technology skills.  It allows students to research topics and to present their new knowledge in a digital format, so they are linking content area learning with learning technology.    


                                             

3 comments:

  1. The digital story is the most challenging assignment I've tackled in this class (mostly because of the public domain requirement.) There are so many components to keep in mind and include in order to make sure the story fulfills its goal. I love how digital storytelling combines information (standards) with technology (more standards) in order to teach content. It's as if you are "sneaking" in the information because it is so much fun to use the technology. The media specialist at my school just worked with 8th grade AC Science students make a GoAnimate story to teach about Newton's laws of motion. They were so good! They started with the facts, made a story board, created characters, wrote narration, and then presented them to the class. They loved it!

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  2. I have done some storytelling for several years now and it is something that I love doing. Students really become engaged, and they even have their own favorite stories that I have told that they request over and over. I think that adding a digital layer to the storytelling process is a great way to attract the attention of our technology-minded students. A media specialist can be a great resource for this type of project. Not only can she provide access to the resources needed to work on the project, but she can also provide information about how the technology comes together to make the best product. Addressing standards using digital storytelling is a great way to get the students interest and make it easier for them to remember the content. I totally agree that collaboration between the media specialist, the teacher and the student can create some fabulous digital storytelling projects. I love the idea of using digital storytelling to allow students to share a little of themselves and their own lives. Greta idea!

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  3. Tamara-
    I thought your conclusion about peeking into their world was great! I must say that the Digital story project has probably been the most challenging but I'm proud of it and plan to take it to my 5th grade daughter's teacher to use. I figure if I thought it was that much fun, students would love it! Good job including background and relevant links as well. As a Media Specialist, I agree that collaborating with teachers can really help engage the students and show them different ways to learn. Thanks for sharing!
    -Ellen Adams

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