Guideline 13: Be thoughtful about the use of additional multimedia elements
In addition to the customary process of creating digital stories with still images, some students
may decide that they want to include external media elements such as multiple pieces of music,
audio or video interviews of other people, and portions of video clips downloaded from the web,
shot with a camcorder or created with screencasting software. There are many media clips
available online, and students will need to think critically about which ones effectively support their
story.
A level of technological sophistication is often needed to locate these kinds of multimedia and then
reuse or remix them to include in digital story projects. Digital stories that make use of these
media resources can often help facilitate classroom learning and inquiry while engaging and
motivating students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of important educational
content. However, that benefit should be carefully weighed against the amount of time and effort
that will be required to integrate these media elements into a digital story project. Even though it
is now easier to work with these media clips than it has been in the past, students who choose to
work with more varied types of files should be aware that they will face more challenges than those
students who attempt to design and develop more simple digital stories that primarily make use of
still images and audio narration.