Digital
storytelling takes the power of telling a story to a new level by adding the
digital element. The story can be
told through pictures, video, music, voice, and sound effects. Digital storytelling is a fascinating multi-disciplinary
tool for the classroom.
The
comprehensive Digital Storytelling website http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/index.html from the University of Houston
provides a great framework outlining the digital storytelling process. With the
inexpensive digital cameras, camcorders, microphones, and free or inexpensive
software available, digital storytelling could become a part of our curriculum.
The media specialist could become instrumental in this because this equipment
is often stored in the media center for check-out and the media specialist
could provide training to students and teachers. Media specialists are also considered the authority for the
school on copyright issues.
Another great
speaker and resource on digital storytelling is Bernajean Porter from
Colorado. I've heard her a couple
of times at GaETC. She has a
website called DigiTales that includes her 7 steps of digital storytelling. She then places those 7 steps under
three parts: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production of the digital
story. This wiki from Bernajean Porter gives much information about the
process. http://storykeepers.wikispaces.com/StoryMaking+Steps A favorite from Bernajean Porter is "When a digital story is finished, it should be remembered for its soul, not for the bells and whistles of the technology tools."
As an extra-curricular
activity in our school system, teachers can select teams and participate in
Georgia Movie Academy (GMA), a digital storytelling student competition
sponsored by our RESA ETC for the last several years. The school supports this by providing laptops to the coaches
for the teams to use in producing the movies. Camcorders and microphones are available for check-out
through the media center. The GMA
rules require a three-minute, theme-based, standards-based movie completed by a
spring deadline. The rubric used
for judging the movie includes all aspects of the process from photography to
sound to content. GMA emphasizes
that the most important element is that the movie have a lasting impact on the
viewer. Students and teachers
learn lots during the process, including learning about copyright issues. Students always want to include in the
soundtrack the most popular song of the moment. GMA gives free licensing to
movie teams for royalty free music provided by Soundzabound.com. The University
of Houston digital storytelling site has a very informative section on
copyright. GMA rules state that
the media specialist is the authority in the school on copyright issues, and
movies should be approved with regards to copyright by the media specialist
before submission. I've
participated with GMA teams over the years, and it's a great experience to see
the growth in the students in digital story creation and technology usage
during the production of the movie. Some students show a talent in the
process. In fact there's a student
graduating this year who was on one of my first GMA teams. He's continued his interest in
moviemaking and is headed to film school in the fall!
Katie, the websites you posted were great. I am going to have to use them to help me with this last project.
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of GMA. It is a great way for students to learn and show talent.
There are several interesting aspects in your posting. The first is the comment about the equipment, etc. needed for a production. During this time of budget problems, anytime I see free or inexpensive used to describe what I would need, I sit up and pay attention. And you are so right. Digital cameras have almost become a "dime a dozen"-- not quite but getting closer. Software to use in assembling a project should never be a problem anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnother comment you made was a quote from Ms. Porter about bells and whistles. I has seem some presentations that had so many bells and whistles that when it was over, I could only remember the fluff and not what I had gone to the presentation to see and hear. We need to remember this and make sure that we are getting our point across and not just putting on a flash bang show.
This is my first introduction to the Georgia Movie Academy. It seems like a wonderful project for some of the high school students, maybe the yearbook committee since their work has now been sent to the publisher. Maybe the underclassmen could start this year and finish up next year. Thanks for the information.