The Reasons for Using Digital Storytelling with Students
Most of the participants agreed that digital storytelling can be used with students to allow them to construct their own understanding or experience in a content area (85%), facilitate collaborative activities in which students work together in a small group (81%), promote in-class discussion (73%), help them learn problemsolving and critical thinking skills (71%) understand complex ideas (68%), and introduce them to new content (64%) (see the DS website for Appendix Table 7).
The responses from the United States included the observation that students using digital storytelling can: “at times, come to grips with past experiences they might not have shared,” “speak in public; the more macho the less they want to speak in public!” and “share knowledge and ideas from a personal perspective and understanding.” The answers from Canada suggest that digital storytelling has a place in “Counseling / Therapy,” where it allows students to “engage more deeply with subjects, or in my case, clients in community” and gives students “primarily permission to express themselves and remove barriers between people.” One response from the United Kingdom stated that digital storytelling “Injects fun into the lesson where the student's voice is audible and peer support is palpable.” A response from Australia stated that “especially if used as an e-portfolio - relating 'a story of learning.” Finally, one participant from Austria described using digital storytelling to “document learning processes.”