Digital Storytelling

Univerza
v
Ljubljani Pedagošk
a
fakulteta
Digital
storytelling
Story creating, Digital fluency or
Programming?
Irena Nančovska Šerbec
Alenka Žerovnik
Faculty of Education
Dep. for math. and comp.
Irena.Nancovska@pef.uni-lj.si
Alenka.Zerovnik@pef.uni-lj.si

lesson Digital stories 2
Storytelling is a technique of
presenting events with words and
images.

“we tell ourselves stories in order to live”
– Joan Didion
Think of some of your
favorite stories—oral,
cinematic, written,
etc.
What makes them
really good?

40.000 years ago

What is this lesson about?
The use of media? (“digital”)
Developing digital competence?
Role playing?
Programming?
Game creating?
Problem solving?
Or
Just storytelling?
Digital storytelling?

Agenda
 Story Elements
 Digital Competence
 What is Digital Storytelling (DS)?
 Why?
 Types of DS
 Pedagogical background
 Teacher’s Guidelines
 Producing a DS
 Imaging Tools
 Audio and Video Tools
 Disseminating digital stories
 Experiences
 Conclusions
 Next activity

Story Elements
 Setting
 Plot
 Conflict
 Character
 Point of View
 Theme

Setting
 The time and location
a) Place
b) Time
c) Weather conditions
d) Social conditions
e) Mood or atmosphere

Plot
 How the author arranges events to
develop his basic idea
 Sequence of events

Plot
a) Introduction
b) Rising Action
 where the events in the story become complicated and
the conflict in the story is revealed
c) Climax
 the highest point of interest and the turning point of the
story
d) Falling action
 the events and complications begin to resolve
themselves
e) Denouement (outcome of the story)
 the final outcome or untangling of events in the story.

Character
 Persons in a work of fiction –
 Protagonist (central) and
Antagonist (opposite)
 The Characteristics of a Person –
a) his/her physical appearance
b) what he/she says, thinks, feels and
dreams
c) what he/she does or does not do
d) what others say about him/her and how
others react to him/her
 Individual, static, developing

Conflict
 Conflict is essential to plot.
 Without conflict there is no plot.
 It is the opposition of forces which ties
one incident to another and makes the
plot move.
 Any form of opposition that faces the
main character.
 Internal/external
 Man vs.: men, society, circumstances,
himself…

Point of View
 The angle from which the story is told
 Innocent Eye – eyes of a child
 Stream of Consciousness - the reader feels as
if they are inside the head of one character
 First Person - by the protagonist or one of the
characters (using pronouns I, me, we, etc).
 Omniscient- move from character to
character, event to event…

Theme
 Its controlling idea or its central
insight.
 Examples:
 Love is blind
 Believe in yourself
 People are afraid of change
 Don't judge a book by its cover

Digital Competence
 Digital Competence has been
acknowledged as one of the 8 key
competences for Lifelong Learning by
the European Union.
 Digital Competence can be broadly
defined as the confident, critical and
creative use of ICT to achieve goals
related to work, employability,
learning, leisure, inclusion and/or
participation in society.

Story in digital clothes
 “Digital storytelling" is a relatively new
term which describes the new practice
of ordinary people who use digital tools
to tell their 'story'.

What is Digital Storytelling (DS)?
 Digital storytelling is a special form of
creating multimedia materials, which
allows the student to present his views
to visualize, describe and defend them.
 This method of expression in digital
world goes
 beyond traditional storytelling
 involves animations, sounds, text,
nonlinear events and interactions.

Digital story is more…
 Digital Storytelling is much more than
just writing a story or putting
multimedia together.
 Planning, analysis, and critical thinking
is needed throughout the process as
students develop a story using the
story arc
 The phases of Digital Storytelling help
organize and insure a successful,
productive and rewarding experience.

According to ISTE
ISTE = International Society for Technology in
Education
NETS-S (For students):
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision
Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

According to ISTE
NETS-T (For teachers):
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and
Creativity
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning
Experiences
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and
Responsibility

Types of Digital Stories
1. Personal Narratives
 Character stories
 Memorial stories
 Stories about events or places in our lives
 Stories about what we do
 Recovery & discovery stories
 Love Stories
2. Examination of Historical Themes and Events
 Explore and depict a historical theme or event.
 Require students to research a topic
 Use informational & media literacy skills
3. Stories that Inform or Instruct
 Curriculum content which delivers information
 Motivational/Inspirational
 Testimonial
Digital Personal
Narrative – Reading
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjrNm5h7gzE

Why do we use Digital Storytelling?
It provides opportunities for students to
develop
 Literacy Skill Building
 Communication Skills
 Problem solving, critical thinking
 Programming Language Fluency
 Technology Literacy
 Creative Problem-Solving
 Process of Design
 Sharing and Collaboration
 Role playing.

Pedagogical background
Teachers, by means of digital
storytelling, incerase students' motivation
and emphatic listening.

Pedagogical background
Convergence of student-
centered learning strategies
(Barrett, 2006)

Teacher’s guidelines: Start a DS
 Ask “What do I want to tell?” use
text
 Ask “What emotion do I want to
convey?”
 Ask “What is important?” focus
 Gather the images to bring the
story to life
 Gather the sound to bring the
images to life
 Use voice, background soundtrack
 Spend time assembling the story

Seven Elements of Effective Storytelling
1. Point (of View)
2. Dramatic Question
3. Emotional Content
4. Voice
5. Power of the Soundtrack
6. Economy
7. Pacing
(Robin, 2008)

1. Point (of View)
 What is the main idea behind the story?
 What is the storyteller trying to
communicate?
 What perspective is adopted by the
storyteller?
 Use first-person to create a more
intimate story and claim responsibility
Example: Joy Relly:
“Howling at the Moon”
http://digitalstory.osu.edu/stories/

2. Dramatic Question
 Dramatic tension/conflict
 What question is the story trying to answer?
 How is the story structured? How is it resolved?
 How are the audience’s expectations met or challenged?
Example:
 Kerry Ballast’s Rituals

3. Emotional Content
 Stories that move us are more
powerful—but the feeling must be
authentic.
 How does the story make the audience
feel—and how does it achieve that
emotional impact?
Example: David Noah’s “Photo
Opportunities” (2007)

4. Voice
 The voice conveys meaning and feeling
powerfully—don’t be afraid of it!
 Conversational tone best captures the audience
 Write for the ear.
Example: Danny and Annie Perasa

5. Power of the Soundtrack
 What music best accompanies the story—sets the
tone without being too dominant? (Perhaps it’s
no music…)
 Instrumental music often works best
 Sound effects can also heighten tension or
convey the story’s theme
Example: Iraqi Kurdistan
Example: Calling Me

6. Economy
 Shorter is often better—cut the story to the
core
 The CDS suggests that a digital story should be
2-3 minutes long
 Let the images tell the story; use images that
illustrate key ideas in the story
 Draw the eye to what’s important
 Use movement to add energy and emphasis
 Use juxtapositions and transitions to suggest
change
 Consider how metaphor can advance the story:
e.g. image of son fading into picture in Photo
Opportunities
Example: Things Small
http://digitalstory.osu.edu/stories/academic/

7. Pacing
 Rhythm of the story
 Fast pace = exciting; slow pace =
meditative
 Changes in pace can be effective, as
can pauses
Example: Example: “Home Movies”,
http://www.storycenter.org/stories/

Producing a Digital Story
 Decide what your story will be about
 Use questions to prompt your reflection, such as “What
was a decisive moment in your life?” or “Who is a
mentor or hero?”
 Gather the elements of your story, e.g. pictures,
songs, video
 Script your story & get feedback on it
 Create a storyboard
 Digitize story elements
 Record a voiceover
 Assemble the story using video editing or
presentation software
 Screen & share your story

Imaging tools
 Getting images
 You can create them using a digital camera or scanner
 You can download them from an open image archives,
like Flickr (and others listed at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo-
sharing_websites)
 Check copyright to make sure you can use the images
 The quality of some online images may not be sufficient.
 Editing images
 Typical operations: crop, touch up, improve brightness
& contrast, rotate, add text
 Photo editor, e.g. Photoshop (Elements), GIMP

Audio & Video Tools
 Audio recording and editing
 Record and edit audio using Audacity (free software),
WavePad, Wavosaur, Vocaro
 Use a microphone
 Download copyright-free music, e.g.
 Free Music Archive
 Podsafe
 Video-editing. Slide-show production software
 Online loopster, stupeflix studio
 Web-based, e.g. JumpCut & other tools at
http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/50+Ways
 Free & easy: iMovie (Mac); Windows Movie Maker, PhotoStory
(Windows), SlideStory (web-based)
 Moderately priced: FinalCut Express, ULead VideoStudio
 Professional (expensive & complex): FinalCut Pro, Premiere

Disseminating digital stories
 Distribute a CD or DVD
 Make available online:
 Your own web site
 YouTube, OurMedia, etc.

Examples
• Project work - students of Faculty of Education,
University of Ljubljana
• Primary Teacher Education
• The Two-Subject Teacher (Comp. Sci.)
• Art Pedagogy
 CS students are skilled
in SW use and
publishing (technology
competence)
 CS students have
problems with
imagination, relating
DS to objectives,
esthetics of graphics
 Art Pedagogy
students have
problems with SW
selection and use
 They have
imagination and
creative ideas
 They are good in
design

Example 1
primary school student, Scratch

Example 1 – Scratch story
 11 years old student
 Introduce yourself: Anja
 Hobby or Meaningful event from your life
 At least one guess and counting the number of
guesses
 Learning objectives related to storytelling,
programming and multimedia use:
 conditions, loops, variables and events
 scenes, character changes "costumes”
(animation), recording your own voice,
storage and use of music and video…

 The student wrote
a story on paper
 Selected the main
character,
animation

Line of story

Example 2 - Story jumper
Jakob and Sara are learning about what is
going on on a farm during the seasons
Authors: B. Tomšič
and M. Tolar, 1st y.
students of
Prim. teacher edu
program

Example 2 – Story jumper
 Features:
 Images, text and rich gallery
 Suitable for young childreen
 Scenario and learning goals:
http://pomladnoprebujenje.weebly.com/digitalna-zgodba.html
 work on a farm during seasons, concepts like fertilizing,
planting …
 differences between seasons
 plants need water and light to grow
 the learner knows which products produced by each animal on
the farm
 gets familiar with Storyjumper.
 learner creates his own story with the same topic

Example 3 – Story Jumper
Authors: : P. Kerpan
and N. Šutič, 1st y.
students of
Prim. teacher edu
progra
Food Chain

Example 3 – StoryJumper
 Features:
 text, images, audio, video
 online
http://pikake.weebly.com/
http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/15570322/PREHRAN
JEVALNA-VERIGA

Example 4 - Movie maker
Žan is going to school for the first time
Authors: G.
Šumrada & S.
Pezdir 1st y.
students of
Prim. teacher edu
program

Example 4 – Movie maker
 Scenario and
learning goals:
http://projektnanaloga
1.weebly.com/
 Tools: Movie
Maker, Inkscape
(for graphics)
 Features:
 text, images, audio,
video
 not online

Example 5 - Littlebirdtales
Authors: K.
Bunderšek & N.
Bergant , 1st y.
students of
Prim. teacher edu
program
Jaka and
his
trip
to school

Example 5 – Littlebirdtales
 Features:
 online
http://littlebirdtales.com/tales/view/story_id/414559

Example 6 - UTellStory
Authors: K. Klinc and Karmen Dolenc , 1st y.
students of Prim. teacher edu progra
Jan is learning about woods

Example 6 – UTellStory
 Features:
 online
http://www.utellstory.com/viewstory/vie
w/2693cdb8665f5e0f7355f48ce9b81d73#

Conclusions
 Digital storytelling
pushes students in
critical thinking,
requiring them to
incorporate their
opinions and
perspectives.
 Creating DS projects
is interesting and
engaging
 DSs are powerful
combination
technology and
creative skills
 DSs Motivate
students to perform
professional work
and engage them in
a process that helps
make learning
relevant and
exciting.

Conclusions
Easy to address:
 Combination of technology and
creativity
 Technology is easy to reach
 Technology as distraction

Conclusions
Less easy, but doable:
For students:
 Intellectual honesty (copyrights,
plagiarism)
 Resistance to realize from idea to DS
 Evaluation of project work in the light
of articulated criteria
For professors:
 Defining fair criteria for assessment of
DSs projects

What’s Next For Our Workshop
Story Cycle
 Brainstorming of ideas in groups
 Present ideas
 Public selection
 Write scenario in a group
 Use concrete, evocative language
 Storyboard
 Collect materials (photos, videos,
sounds…)
 Merge with appropriate SW
lesson 1 Digital Competence 62

Story Cycle
 Share the Story
 Your story needs to be told!
 Publish it on e. g. YouTube
 Share it with other participants
 Reflections
 Improve the story

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