Digital Storytelling on a Shoestring

Digital storytelling is applicable to learners of all ages, in all content areas. In this session we will view different examples of digital storytelling across the curriculum, and explore free tools which are available to get started creating and publishing digital stories on your classroom website. Digital stories can take many forms. In the context of this session, digital stories which include digital images/photographs and audio narration will be explored, using the website VoiceThread. Options for creating digital stories in software programs like PhotoStory3 and iMovie will also be addressed.

Objectives:

The participant will:

• explore and understand different uses for digital storytelling (with still images/photos and audio narration) in the classroom
• learn about the website VoiceThread (which offers free acounts for educators as well as a commercial ed.voicethread.com version with individual student accounts) and how it can be used for collaborative digital storytelling projects
• learn about other types of audio and video equipment helpful for digital storytelling
• learn how other classroom teachers have and are using digital storytelling
• learn where to access tutorials and additional resources helpful for classroom digital storytelling with VoiceThread and other tools

This session was shared on June 9, 2011, at the Fort Bend ISD Technology Conference in Houston, Texas. Presentation Slides are available via a Google Presentation.

This session was shared on June 3, 2009, at the Oklahoma City Public Schools Tech Day. A Ustream archive of the presentation is available.

This session was shared on March 9, 2010 at the UCO Heartland eLearning Conference. Presentation Slides are available via a Google Presentation.

Examples

1. Lillie and John
2. Mother's Day Podcast 2009 (Sony UX-70 Recorder, free Gcast channel) - Inspired by Carol Anne McGuire
3. Go Green! Go Electric! (on YouTube, 1st place in the 2009 Earth Day FilmOnTheFly Cell Phone Video Contest)
4. Picture Book Reading (Recorded and shared with Ustream by 3rd grade teacher Jose Rodriguez, Los Angeles, CA)
5. Great Book Stories
6. The Dirty Thirties (cell phone recorded interview of a 90 year old Oklahoma panhandle resident)
7. Radio WillowWeb (Omaha, Nebraska)
8. Drew's First Book Review V-Cast (recorded with Ustream in Wellston, Oklahoma)

Other Referenced Links

Wesley's websites:

1. playingwithmedia.com
2. http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
3. http://learningsigns.speedofcreativity.org/
4. http://www.wesfryer.com
5. wiki.wesfryer.com

Storychasers

1. http://storychasers.org/
2. Celebrate Oklahoma Voices
3. Celebrate Kansas Voices
4. Celebrate Texas Voices

Photo Sharing

1. http://www.flickr.com/
2. http://compfight.com/
3. FlickrStorm: http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/

Phonecasting / Audio Recording

1. WikiPedia definition
2. iPadio (UK-based, free but calls are long distance to the UK)
3. Cinch
4. Audioboo (Wesley's Audioboo channel)

Digital Storytelling Websites

1. VoiceThread
   1. http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/
   2. Great Book Stories
   3. http://www.mathcasts.org/
2. 50 Ways to Tell a Digital Story

Software for Digital Storytelling

1. Audacity
2. PhotoStory3 (WindowsXP and Vista)
3. iMovie
4. Windows MovieMaker (WinXP and Vista)
5. Windows Live MovieMaker (Windows Visa and Windows7) - Tutorial available

Sites for Live Video Recording

1. Ustream
2. Wesley's Ustream Channel

Sites for Video Sharing (Viewing and Uploading)

1. http://teachertube.com
2. http://www.schooltube.com

Mobile Digital Storytelling

1. http://www.geograffiti.com/
2. http://www.audioboo.fm/

Other Digital Storytelling Sites with Great Resources

1. http://www.digitales.us/
2. http://www.storycenter.org/
3. http://www.edutopia.org/

I taught a week-long workshop on Stopmotion Movie Making at the Edmond Fine Arts Institute June 15-19, 2009.