Digital storytelling refers to a short form of digital media production that allows everyday people to share aspects of their life stories. The term "digital storytelling" can also cover a range of digital narratives (web-based stories, interactive stories, hypertexts, and narrative computer games). Simply put, digital storytelling combines photographs, video, animation, sound, music, text, and often a narrative voice.
Digital stories may be used as an expressive medium within the classroom to integrate subject matter with extant knowledge and skills from across the curriculum. Students can work individually or collaboratively to produce their own digital stories. Once completed, these stories can be uploaded to the internet and made available to an international audience, depending on the topic and purpose of the project.
The various aspects of digital storytelling, such as pictures, music, and narration, reinforce ideas and appeal to different learning types. This quality makes digital storytelling a valuable tool for educators. Digital storytelling is also an effective way for teachers to incorporate multimedia into their curricula and increase student participation and collaboration, as well as their analytical and communication skills. In general, the teachers use digital storytelling to generate interest, attention and motivation in classrooms for students of the "digital generation. "
For instance, teachers can use digital stories to introduce projects, themes, or any content area. They can also let their students make their own digital stories and then share them. Teachers can create digital stories to help facilitate class discussions as an anticipatory set for a new topic or to help students gain a better understanding of more abstract concepts. These stories can become an integral part of any lesson in many subject areas. In primary school education, for example, subtitles in visual narration can help build vocabulary. In middle or high school, visual narration can help students understand abstract concepts. Regardless of the target age group, digital storytelling both helps students learn to analyze and synthesize information and allows them to develop a voice by expressing their ideas and demonstrating their creativity.
In creating digital stories, moreover, students learn an array of technical tools and skills that can help increase digital literacy. Students learn new software, choose images, edit video, make voiceover narration, add music, create title screens, and control flow and transitions. Therefore, digital storytelling is a way to teach the student vital skills such as information literacy, visual literacy, global awareness, communication, and technology literacy. When students participate in the multiple steps of designing, creating and presenting their own digital stories, they can build several vital skills, including:
- Research skills (finding and analyzing information)
- Analysis skills (documenting the story)
- Writing skills (developing a script)
- Organization skills (managing the scope of the project within a time constraint)
- Interview, interpersonal, problem-solving and assessment skills (completing their digital story and learning to receive and give constructive criticism)