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An Adobe Spark Video:

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Videos, images and stories made in minutes

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Digital Storytelling for Enhanced Learning

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Script

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Example of an Adobe Spark Page.

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Adobe Spark

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Techsmith Relay (Algonquin's platform)

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PowerPoint
Tutorial Using PowerPoint 2013

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Animated PowerPoint Videos for Digital Storytelling

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Create videos with images, animation, narration and background music in PowerPoint.

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Free version
https://www.powtoon.com/

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Free mini-courses show you the quickest way to make an awesome video like a pro in just a few minutes. Explore templates, timeline, scriptwriting, voiceovers, and more!

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Self-Reflection

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Self-Reflection

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Growing Up With Dyslexia

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Commentary or Biography

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Commentary or Biography

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Students were assigned the task of researching a time period in history and creating a digital story about that time period told from the perspective of someone who lived during that time. Students found a variety of primary source documents and images to include in their story created in Frames.

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Topic Overview

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Topic Overview

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Florida Orange Industry

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Dan Meyer Videos
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2011/the-three-acts-of-a-mathematical-story/

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storyingtelling - Patient Stories

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storyingtelling - Patient Stories

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Patient Voices

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Using the stories

The stories are accessible from the links above, each of which leads to a particular project. If you would like to be notified of developments to the programme or website, or when we release new stories, please follow us on Twitter or Facebook using the links at the top of the page.

Contact us if you would like to use stories in presentations or other projects. We would ask all users of the stories to be mindful of the license conditions for their use, particularly that they may not be modified. It is important that they remain as they are released by us, in order to retain the integrity of the story shared by the storyteller with us, to keep in place any acknowledgements that may be necessary to comply with the conditions we agree to when we licence music or images for use in a story, and to maintain the visibility of the Patient Voices Programme and Pilgrim Projects so that viewers of stories understand their provenance and where they may find out more. So, for example, you cannot put the stories on YouTube, because of their conditions of service.

Please let us know how and when you use the stories, so that we can use your experiences to persuade sponsors to support the development of more stories for everyone to use. Please join the discussion group so that we can let you know when new stories, workshops or publications are available.

The patients, carers and professionals who contributed their stories to the Patient Voices programme have consented to their use as an educational and learning resource as part of the international drive to improve the quality and responsiveness of services for patients and carers. Any other use or modification or editing of the stories without prior written agreement is not acceptable.

In order to make this possible, the Patient Voices digital stories on this website are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Linking to the stories

If you would like to link to the stories from your website, that would be fine.

To link to one story in a group of stories, please provide a link to the page on which the stories sit on our website, with an instruction along the lines of:

"View the digital stories from Pilgrim Projects at: www.patientvoices.org.uk/pilgrim.htm".

To link to a particular story, please provide a link to the page on which the story sits on our website, with an instruction along the lines of:

"View the digital story entitled 'Surviving' on the following web page: www.patientvoices.org.uk/flv/0168pv384.htm".

This is for several reasons:

We have no funding for the hosting or developing the website, and so it's all done at our cost and in our spare time.

The pages are currently all static.

If a story is ever updated (as we had to do when our postcode was changed by the Royal Mail for example...) then the file name changes to identify it as different. So, linking direct to movie files may break.

We would also like to encourage users to see the site, rather than just one or two stories, so linking to the page a story is on allows viewer to see what we do, and what else is available, so that they can explore and learn independently, as well as in a directed manner.

Please let us know which pages you are linking to, then we can make a note and try our best not to move or break them, but we can make no guarantees that a page will remain present.

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Patient Voices: The Patient Voices digital stories

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Using the stories The stories are accessible from the links above, each of which leads to a particular project. If you would like to be notified of developments to the programme or website, or when we release new stories, please follow us on Twitter or Facebook using the links at the top of the page.

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Nursing

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EXAMPLES of Digital Storytelling - Nursing

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Nurstory

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Nurstory workshops help nurses to find and tell digital stories about how their lives inform their practice and how their practice informs their lives.

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7 Elements of Digital Storytelling

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The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling.

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8 Steps to Great Digital Storytelling

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Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling. Consider Digital Storytelling as the 21st Century version of the age-old art of storytelling with a twist: digital tools now make it possible for anyone to create a story and share it with the world.

WHY Digital Storytelling?

Digital stories push students to become creators of content, rather than just consumers. Weaving together images, music, text, and voice, digital stories can be created in all content areas and at all grade levels while incorporating the 21st century skills of creating, communicating, and collaborating.

Movies, created over a century ago, represent the beginning of digital storytelling. Consuming movies has become a cultural phenomenon, but making them was inaccessible to the average person for decades. Film cameras, 8mm and even video cameras served as big breakthroughs, but editing posed a challenge until technology progressed with software, websites, and apps exploding on the scene and putting advanced editing skills into the hands of everyone. Look at the meteoric rise of YouTube and other video sharing websites. At no other time in history have we been able to create, edit and share video on both a personal and global scale. In fact, video and images have become primary ways of communicating, taking the place of traditional print literacies in some areas.

8 Steps to Great Digital Stories

Great digital stories:

Are personal

Begin with the story/script

Are concise

Use readily-available source materials

Include universal story elements

Involve collaboration at a variety of levels

In order to achieve this level of greatness, students need to work through a Digital Storytelling Process.

1. Start with an Idea

All stories begin with an idea, and digital stories are no different. This idea could be the topic of a lesson, a chapter heading in a textbook, or a question asked in class. Digital stories might be fiction or non-fiction. Once you or your student have an idea, make it concrete: write a proposal, craft a paragraph, draw a mind-map, or use any other pre-writing tool.

I once had 5th graders write their proposal on National Parks as a paragraph. The topic sentence was the park that they picked and its location. Then, they had to include three interesting facts about the park. Finally. the conclusion sentence had to explain why they picked that park or were excited to study it. In the process, we not only wrote the proposal but also improved our paragraph writing. One student commented, "I think I finally have this paragraph thing down."
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2. Research/Explore/Learn

Whether writing a fiction or nonfiction digital story, students need to research, explore or learn about the topic in order to create a base of information on which the story will be built. During this process, students learn both about validating information and information bias as they delve deeper into a topic.

At this stage, organization is very important. I often use mind-mapping to help students keep track of information. Outlines, index cards, and online note-taking tools all work as well. If students can organize their information digitally, then it makes the next steps much easier.
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3. Write/Script

When you are trying to write, there is nothing worse than a blank sheet of paper. That's why I strongly encourage the 2 pre-writing steps above. If students have a proposal, with a little bit of editing, it can become the introduction. If students research and explored a topic well, the body of the script should fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are already there, students just need to make them fit.

This is also the time where literary decisions come into play. Ask students to determine whether they will use first, second or third person. Challenge them to expand word choices. Give them an opportunity to break out a dictionary or thesaurus. I once worked with high school social studies teachers who had the students write a full essay or research paper before turning it into a script. They told me that when they were done with the project, the students should be "experts" on the topic. It depends all on your goal and your students.
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4. Storyboard/Plan

Good stories start with a good script, but they don't end there. This is where we transition into visual media literacies. George Lucas once said, "If people aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read or write?" Storyboarding is the first step towards understanding sound and images. It is the plan or blueprint that will guide decision making about images, video and sound. Simple storyboards will just have room for images/video and the script. More advanced ones might even include room for transitions, and background music.
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5. Gather and Create Images, Audio and Video

This is the "stuff" that makes magic happen and writing come alive. Using their storyboard as a guide, students will gather - or create - images, audio and video. Everything they choose will impact and set the tone for their digital story. Introduce concepts such as visual hierarchy, tone, and illustration. This is also a great time to talk about Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons. Students should use this time to record themselves reading their scripts. I have often noticed that students rewrite their scripts as they record. Through this step in the process, they become acutely aware of mistakes and poor word choices.
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6. Put It All Together

This is where the magic happens - where students discover if their storyboard needs tweaking and if they have enough "stuff" to create their masterpiece. You will see students revisit and revise their storyboard. I love this stage. This is usually when students are so engrossed in their work that they don't leave when the bell rings, or they come back at lunch or after-school to work on the project. They will find ways to push the technology and tools beyond your expectations - blending images, creating unique transitions between video clips, incorporating music or sound effects. I also use this stage to provide students with a rubric so they understand what is necessary for a completed project as well as how to push themselves beyond the expectations.
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7. Share

Sharing online has become deeply embedded in our culture, so as educators, we might as well embrace it. Review your school or district's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and then look for a way to share your students' stories with a broader audience. Knowing that other people might see their work often raises student motivation to make it the best possible work that they can do.
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8. Reflection and Feedback

Too often in education, we do not teach or allow time for reflection and feedback. What did I learn? What do I know about myself that I did not know before? How can I do better next time?

Students need to be taught how to reflect on their own work and give feedback to others that is both constructive and valuable. Blogs, wikis discussion boards, and student response systems or polling tools can all be used to help students at this stage.
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Beyond Traditional Assessment

Schools across the country are embracing digital storytelling as an amazing tool for students to communicate their personal understanding of a topic. Digital stories create a bridge across content areas and provide opportunities for students to break free from print literacies to add deeper dimension to their work. It is critical that schools embraces digital storytelling and video creation as skills our students must learn in order to successfully communicate in the 21st century. This is a "Gutenberg" moment where communication and storytelling have changed so drastically that it "shakes-up" our cultural, social, and academic norms. Digital stories provide us with information that knowledge has been shared and understood. They allow us to ask our students: "What is the story? What is your story."

To learn more about Digital Storytelling, join us this Summer

Written by Samantha Morra

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8 Steps to Great Digital Storytelling - EdTechTeacher

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Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling.

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Getting Started with Digital Storytelling

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Implement this exciting process in your classroom

While the art of storytelling has been around for thousands of years, the advent of personal computers and approachable communication technologies has allowed storytellers to "go digital." In 1994, Dana Atchley and Joe Lambert at the Center for Digital Storytelling began teaching others to craft digital stories, and the digital storytelling movement was born.

The digital stories created at the Center for Digital Storytelling focused on first-person narratives that used images, narration and music to frame memories as powerful stories. The ability to personalize stories with pictures and narration gives the story special meaning for both the creator and the viewer.

Digital Storytelling Works for Students

Because the process of digital storytelling asks for the author's perspective and validates it as important, digital storytelling is an effective way to engage students in their learning. Using the digital medium for storytelling gives students an opportunity to create using the tools that are relevant and meaningful in their lives.

The ability to tell their story in a variety of ways - combining sounds, music, graphics, photographs, and original artwork - allows them to show their perspective and understanding, and express their creativity in a manner that engages their auditory, visual and kinesthetic skills.

Much of the power of Digital Storytelling comes from the collaboration and teamwork process. In a collaborative environment, students are actively engaged in the exchange of ideas and are responsible for reaching their own academic goals as well as helping others in their group to succeed. During the process of developing a digital story, students also build planning, organizational, and time management skills.

Using Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

Digital storytelling can be used in the classroom in a countless ways. Telling personal stories helps students learn important literacy skills such as voice in a narrative form and first-person perspective. Since modern communication involves "writing" with pictures and music, having students create digital stories helps them build media creation skills.

Digital storytelling can also be used to address curriculum areas beyond language arts and media literacy. For example, students can retell an event from the life of a famous person to help themselves and their audience better understand why this person acted the way they did. Students can take the voice of a drop of water and show its progression through the water cycle or path through a watershed. Younger students can become an animal and discuss habitat, food, predation, and other life cycle issues. Public service announcements can be used as both a persuasive writing exercise and a way to address science topics like health and conservation.

What Does Digital Storytelling Look Like in the Classroom?

The process of creating a digital story in the classroom follows steps similar to creating any large-scale technology project.

Create Foundations

Digital storytelling is a way for students to think critically and apply knowledge about a curriculum topic, not learn it for the first time. The first step is to help them gain the foundational knowledge necessary to tell a compelling story.

Set Expectations

Students need to see and hear what a great story looks like. Share examples created by students, as well as professional storytellers like Ken Burns. Make sure that students understand your expectations and the criteria for successful performance.

Form Teams

Building a well-crafted digital story takes time. To conserve valuable classroom time and build important collaborative skills, have students work in teams to design, plan, and develop their stories. Assign roles to students based on their strengths and interests, and work with the teams to ensure a uniform narrative voice.

Brainstorm Ideas

The process of creating a digital story moves from bigger to smaller, wider to narrower. Brainstorming helps to open up the project to ALL the possibilities. Begin the process by brainstorming as many ideas about the content as possible. Then brainstorm ways to best share that content and refine the project's scope.

Develop the Vision

Brainstorming generates many ideas, but every good story needs a focus. Determine what the audience should know and feel as a result of watching the story. Then, decide the best way to tell the story to achieve this goal.

Write the Narrative

Digital storytelling is about telling a personal story or sharing a personal perspective on an event or process. The narrative should makes the voice of the storyteller clear. Each word should be carefully chosen to evoke an image in the mind of the viewer.

Create a Storyboard

The storyboard is the map that demonstrates how the vision will be achieved. The storyboard should demonstrate how every image, media element, and effect will support the narrative. Developing a storyboard helps ensure that the narrative is focused, organized, and concise, and will prompt additional edits in the text component of the story.

Gather Resources and Process Media

Collect your photographs and scan them, search the Internet for images to support your ideas, use a paint or imaging program to create original art. If you are using Frames, you can create your own illustrations using the drawing tools. Write, record, or locate sound effects and music that help set the emotional tone of the story.

Build the Story

Often the key to a compelling story is not the content, but the way in which the story is told. Flashy features and transition effects should support the content of the story, not overwhelm it. Combine the media resources, record the narrative, and adjust the timing and effects to create a powerful digital story. Save the story in a format you can use online or incorporate into a presentation.

Share the Story

Your story needs to be told! Share it with small groups or to a larger audience in an auditorium. Televise your story on on closed-circuit television or on your cable provider's local access station. Publish it to the web and visit news groups and blogs to encourage others to view it.

Conclusion

Digital storytelling pushes students beyond creating slide shows or presentations about a topic, requiring them to incorporate their opinions and perspectives. The powerful combination of student voice and technology-rich product motivates students to perform high-level work and engages them in a process that helps make learning in the classroom relevant and exciting.

Popular Topics

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While the art of storytelling has been around for thousands of years, the advent of personal computers and approachable communication technologies has allowed storytellers to "go digital." In 1994, Dana Atchley and Joe Lambert at the Center for Digital Storytelling began teaching others to craft digital stories, and the digital storytelling movement was born.