Digital Storytelling and Student Literacies

In our Group Class Wiki, Roshel posted a link to Bernard Robin's article: " The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling" (Bernard R. Robin    University of Houston   brobin@uh.edu )

Robin's article has relevant information for a novice like me to learn more about what digital storytellling is, its many uses in education and the role it helps play in "student literacies" -- term used by Joe Lambert of the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) in Berkeley, California.

Here are the seven elements to digital storytelling which were developed by CDS as listed in Bernard Robin's article " The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling":

The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling

1. Point of View – what is the perspective of the author?

2. A Dramatic Question – a question that will be answered by the end of the story.

3. Emotional Content – serious issues that speak to us in a personal and powerful way.

4. The Gift of your Voice – a way to personalize the story to help the audience

understand the context.

5. The Power of the Soundtrack – music or other sounds that support the storyline.

6. Economy – simply put, using just enough content to tell the story without overloading

the viewer with too much information.

7. Pacing – related to Economy, but specifically deals with how slowly or quickly the

story progresses.

As we have to complete an assignment on the topic this week, I thought this would be appropriate for our discussion here on this forum. I welcome your comments!