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“Stories are the
large and small
instruments of
meaning, of
explanation, that
we store in our
memories.”
“Tell me a fact
and I’ll learn.
Tell me a truth
and I’ll believe.
Tell me a story
and I’ll remember
forever.”
Joe Lambert / Roger Schank
Saying
Digital Story-Making:
Understanding the Learner's
Perspective
Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Academic Technology
Simmons College
Boston, MA
Copyright Simmons College, 2008
Story-Maker
Perspectives
Rachel Franchi
Sophomore
Vaughn Rogers
Sophomore
Ellen Goodman
SSW Field Education Faculty
Presentation Overview
1. How are we using digital stories
at Simmons?
2. What can story-makers tell us about what it
feels like to make a story? What do we
learn from listening to learners?
3. Exercise: Put yourself in the learner’s shoes
4. Based on faculty/learner feedback, what’s
the educational value of digital stories?
Part I
How are we using digital stories at
Simmons College?
Storytelling 2.0 at Simmons
Introductory Assignment: Boston Story Map
Storytelling 2.0 at Simmons
Culminating Assignment: Family Map
Digital Storytelling at Simmons
• “Digital Stories” in the CDS Sense of
the Term
• Faculty Institute on Digital Storytelling
• Digital Stories of Service Learning
• Digital Cases
SOM, Corporate Social Responsibility
Faculty-Produced Digital Story
Reflection on an Unresolved Life Experience
Feedback from Students – SOM Grads
“Never before have I been so into
doing a final project – I found myself
putting other things aside so I could
work on it.”
“The feeling of accomplishment is
much greater than just writing a
paper and it was such a different kind
of assignment, it was fun to work on.”
What About You?
Take two minutes to reflect on a time
when you really got into something
(in school or on your own).
Jot down a few sentences about the
experience – you’ll use this during an
activity later in the session.
What About You?
Powerful Learning Experience
•
•
•
Deeply engaging
Deepened your understanding
Memorable
Must be a specific experience
Part II
What can story-makers
tell us about what it feels
like to make a story?
What do we learn from
listening to learners?
Embodied Learning
“[Students] cannot learn in a
deep way if they have no
opportunities to practice what
they are learning … they cannot
learn deeply only by being told
things outside the context of
embodied action.”
James Paul Gee
Digital Storytelling and Writing
Flow, Senses, Represent Internal/External
36 Learning Principles – James Gee
Doing and reflecting
Getting more out
Mastering new
than what you put in
skills at each level
Appreciating good design
Tasks neither too easy nor too hard
Watching your
own behavior
Being encouraged
to practice
Seeing interrelationships
Thinking and
strategizing
New Media Literacies – Henry Jenkins
Play (experiment and problem-solve)
Network (search,
Performance
synthesize, disseminate)
(improvisation &
discovery)
Distributed
Negotiate (discern &
respect perspectives) Cognition
Collective Intelligence
Judgment (assess
(pool & compare)
credibility & reliability)
Appropriate
Multitask (shift
focus as needed) (sample & remix)
Transmedia Navigate
Simulate (model realworld processes) (flow of ideas across media)
Digital Storytelling as 3D Tic Tac Toe
If life is like a box of chocolates
sound
Digital Storytelling is like three
time
dimensional tic-tac-toe
image
Experiment with 3D Authorship
•
Turn to your neighbor, swap stories,
pick one to work with
•
Using the blank storyboard, consider
how you could use sounds (words in
particular), images, and timing to
begin to tell a story of “powerful
learning.”
Storyboard (multimodal timeline)
Insert or Sketch Image
Insert or Sketch Image
Insert or Sketch Image
Accompanying
Audio/Words
Accompanying
Audio/Words
Accompanying
Audio/Words
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
Other
Other
Other
(e.g. Duration, Transitions, Music)
(e.g. Duration, Transitions, Music)
(e.g. Duration, Transitions, Music)
Debrief
Thoughts? Experiences?
Challenges? Insights?
Anybody care to share?
From the teacher’s perspective,
how the heck do you design,
implement, and assess it?
A Word on the Value of Rubrics
Storyboard/Script Feedback
Criteria
Outstanding
Has A Point (of View)
- purpose
- stance
Engaging
- interesting
- surprising
- thought-provoking
Quality Script/Voice
- well spoken
- good pacing
- music, if any, furthers message
Use of Images/Video
- w. voice, adds new dimension
- visual flow
Wise Economy/Detail
- pacing
- pare away AND
- dig deeper
Satisfactory
Poor
Why?
Part IV
Based on faculty/learner
feedback, What’s the
value of (digital)
storytelling for higher
education?
Challenging Questions for Educators
How can we help students increase
the amount of time they devote to
reflection and critical thinking?
How can we help students articulate
what they are learning?
How can we help students
remember and care about learning?
The Value of Digital Storytelling
Memorable, Reflective, Transformative …
Story-Making Learning Cycle
Reflection
& Analysis
Experience
Future
Stories
Share with
Others
Deeper Personal
Understanding
The Value of Digital Story-Making
• Embodied: Combines visual, aural, and
kinesthetic processes
• Iterative: Production process
encourages revisiting, reflecting on
meaning
• Multimodal: Enhances fluency across a
range of media
• Integrative: Connects prior experience,
course, and other co-curricular learning
• Authentic: Keep/share with others
Final Words
“Those who do not have power
over the story that dominates their
lives, the power to retell it, rethink
it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and
change it as times change, truly
are powerless, because they
cannot think new thoughts. ”
Salman Rushdie
Final Thoughts
Using ALL of Our Brains