Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

Educational Goals and Objectives

Educators at all levels can use Digital Storytelling in many ways, from introducing new material to helping students learn to conduct research, synthesize large amounts of content and gain expertise in the use of digital communication and authoring tools. It also can help students organize these ideas as they learn to create stories for an audience, and present their ideas and knowledge in an individual and meaningful way.

Educational Goals of Digital Storytelling

for Teachers:

Appeal to the diverse learning styles of the students by using Digital Storytelling as a presentation media
Generate interest, attention and motivation for the "digital generation" kids in our classrooms.
Capitalize on the creative talents of your own students as they begin to research and tell stories of their own.
Publish student work on the Internet for viewing and critiquing by others.

for Students

Learn to use the Internet to research rich, deep content while analyzing and synthesizing a wide range of content.
Develop communications skills by learning to ask questions, express opinions, construct narratives and write for an audience.
Increase computer skills using software that combines a variety of multimedia including: text, still images, audio, video and web publishing.

Educational Objectives of Digital Storytelling

Create a digital story for use as an anticipatory set or hook for a lesson.
Enhance current lesson plans with the use of a digital story within a unit.
Assign student-created stories which requires students to research a topic from a particular point of view.

For more information, please contact:
Bernard R. Robin, Ph. D.
Instructional Technology Program
College of Education
University of Houston