Haley Ballentine

Digital Storytelling

     I found this presentation very interesting. I have used digital storytelling before, but I learned a lot about it that I didn’t know in this presentation. The presentation said that digital storytelling is where the ancient act of storytelling meets modern technology. I really liked that definition of it. Digital storytelling is the act of sharing a story through a digital medium. The two definitions of digital storytelling that was given fit the word very well. One thing that they mentioned is that there are seven elements when it comes to storytelling. I did not know that there were elements of storytelling. The elements are point of view, dramatic questions, emotional content, gift of your voice, power of soundtrack, economy, and pacing. Once they discussed what roles each of these elements play, I realized that there is a lot more to storytelling than I thought there was. Each of the elements play a big role when telling a story. The presentation then went and discussed the benefits of digital storytelling. They mentioned that it is an essential 21^st Century skill and that it can be very complex or very simple. I really liked that they said it can be simple or complex because I always thought it had to be very complex to be a digital story. Digital storytelling is engaging and hands on. It promotes higher order thinking skills, communication skills, tech skills, collaboration skills, and research skills. It also can be applied to every subject. It also appeals to diverse learners and it also gives opportunity for reflection. I liked that it mentioned reflection because I feel students learn a lot from self-reflection. Digital storytelling is also good for students with exceptionalities. I also like that they said this because digital storytelling could be a great tool to use to differentiate instruction. The presentation mentioned two apps that can be used for digital storytelling. They were Shadow Puppet and Puppet Pals. I learned a lot about digital storytelling and am excited about using it in my classroom.