Humans, especially children are natural storytellers. Students can and should learn to read, write and tell stories using new media. Focusing on storytelling as a key strategy to transform our schools into 21st century learning communities will allow teachers to better target & develop a wide variety of 21st century skills including critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, initiative, oral and written communication, curiosity and imagination. Digital Storytelling can be used in all subject areas to improve literacy. Digital Storytelling simply means capturing stories using new forms of technology. As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. You can learn more about Digital Storytelling from the following resources.
Center for Digital Storytelling - The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) is an international non-profit training, project development, and research organization dedicated to assisting people in using digital media to tell meaningful stories from their lives.
Art, Storytelling, Technology and Education – Jason Ohler’s site filled with ideas, instructions and examples. A great overview.
Langwitches Digital Storytelling Overview – Silvia Tolisano’s well-organized, visually eye-catching and easy to use digital storytelling resources. GENIUS!
The Art of Storytelling – Everything you ever wanted to know about storytelling from Brother Wolf and other experts.
The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling – A wonderful resource from the University of Houston
Tech4Learning Digital Storytelling Resources – Learn how to use digital storytelling using FRAMES and other fun tools to involve students in classroom content, providing a relevant platform for them to showcase their learning.
Stories for Change – an online meeting place for community digital storytelling facilitators and advocates.
JakesOnline Digital Storytelling – find links to articles and resources about the process of digital storytelling, and how to get the most out of this terrific learning experience for students.
Digital Storytelling Sites for Students
The My Hero Project – A resource designed to help you and your students take part in an interactive, online, multimedia journal to celebrate the best of humanity.
ePals Digital Storytelling Community – find projects, lessons and a mechanism to connect with other classrooms around the globe.
Digital Storytelling Tools for Teachers and Students
Audacity – Free Cross Platform Sound Editor
VoiceThread – Collaboration Made Simple
PhotoStory – Simple tool for students just learning how to integrate digital media into their stories. – free
MovieMaker – Video editing software for easy movie making – free
Animationish – one of my favorite tools! Fun, creative and promotes learning of web-authoring tools!
