Digital Storytelling combines “ the art of telling stories with a variety of multimedia, including graphics, audio, video, and Web publishing.” ⁽¹⁾

Originally conceived as a form of expression for personal narratives, digital storytelling today can be used in a large variety of ways including short documentaries e.g stories that examine events or natural phenomena and “stories designed to inform or instruct the viewer on a particular concept or practice.” ⁽²⁾

The examples below demonstrate the versatility of digital storytelling:

Digital Storytelling as a personal narrative ⁽³⁾

Digital Storytelling as a short documentary ⁽⁴⁾

Digital Storytelling to instruct on a concept. ⁽⁵⁾ 

These examples also demonstrate the unique versatility of digital storytelling in that it can be used as both an instructional (by teachers and/or students sharing their learning) and a learning tool. To the extent that it is shared within a class and or via social media, it also has the potential to contribute towards the collective intelligence of the sharing group.

The process of digital storytelling mirrors the traditional writing process ⁽⁶⁾ but in addition,to create an effective digital story a student typically needs to work through the following elements ⁽⁷⁾: 

1. The Overall Purpose of the Story
 2. The Narrator’s Point of View
3. A Dramatic Question or Questions
4. The Choice of Content
5. Clarity of Voice
6. Pacing of the Narrative
7. Use of a Meaningful Audio Soundtrack
8. Quality of the Images, Video & other Multimedia Elements
9. Economy of the Story Detail
10. Good Grammar and Language Usage

In working through these steps a student becomes the agent for developing not only their traditional literacy skills but also the 21st century literacies as defined by Brown, Bryan and Brown. ⁽⁸⁾ Additionally, digital storytelling affords personalised learning as “learners can present their experiences, reflections and evaluate their achievements while creating digital stories” ⁽⁹⁾ 

These benefits and a summary of the main elements required to product a digital story are well summarised in the diagram below ⁽¹⁰⁾

In addition to the primary benefits outlined in the diagram above there has been some work to demonstrate that digital storytelling can be of benefit to struggling writers whom for example can use images rather than words to communicate abstract concepts. In addition, working on a recorded narrative alleviates the focus on things such as spelling and hand writing.⁽¹¹⁾

Of course, none of these potential benefits come without an investment in time - both from the teacher and the student. As noted by Ohler ⁽¹²⁾, it can take a couple of digital storytelling projects before the true benefits are realised. 

But the benefits of a student learning, expressing this learning in their own voice and then experiencing both the presentation of their own learning plus that of their peers seems to be worth the investment in time.

Digital Storytelling appears to be a uniquely versatile educational tool that can be used cross subjects and for both instructional and learning purposes. It can build mulitliteracies and contribute towards collective intelligence. In the words of Barbara Ganley “Digital Storytelling woven through the semester improved engagement, connection, creative and critical thinking and community”. ⁽¹³⁾

_{(1) http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu}

_{(2) Robin, B Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Accessed online at http://digitalstorytellingclass.pbworks.com/f/Digital%2520Storytelling%2520A%2520Powerful.pdf}

_{(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V_OLABwQjQ}

_{(4) http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/view_story.cfm?vid=299&categoryid=16&d_title = History}

     _{(5)http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/view_story.cfm? vid=414&categoryid=4&d_title=Health/Medical}

_{(6)http://gettingsmart.com/2016/01/6-reasons-you-should-be-doing-digital-storytelling-with-your-students/}

_{(7)http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu}

_{(8)Brown, J., Bryan, J., & Brown, T. (2005). Twenty-first century literacy and technology in K-8 classrooms. Innovate, 1(3).}

_{(9) van Gils, F (2005) Potential applications of digital storytelling in Education.} 

_{(10) Robin, B Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Accessed online at http://digitalstorytellingclass.pbworks.com/f/Digital%2520Storytelling%2520A%2520Powerful.pdf}

_{(11)http://www.readingrockets.org/article/digital-storytelling-extending-potential-struggling-writers}

_{(12) Ohler J The World of Digital Storytelling Educational Leadership Vol 63 Number 4}

_{(13) Ganley B, in Foreword to Lambert J, (2013) Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community.}