DST Questions and Answers - EDUC 5333 Blog 5

This week, for my blog post, I am answering some questions:    

1) Discuss your progress on the digital story.  What is your plan to be prepared to share your story during the 7th week of class?  What do you need assistance with?

    My digital story is going to be my family’s journey with my youngest daughter having retinoblastoma. I am planning on doing a combination of video footage, pictures, text, voiceovers, and sound effects/music. Since I am not exactly sure how the presentations will go in my class, I plan on sharing my digital story via YouTube, or I might just embed it on my site (probably a Google site) and share that link. Then, during the presentation, I’d like to show the video because my hope is that it speaks for itself without outside input. If people cannot determine what my digital story is trying to convey, then I didn’t do it correctly.

2) Review the resources for this week and discuss potential application tools for the production of your story or use with students in your classroom.    

    The primary application tool I plan on using for my digital story is CapCut, which would also be excellent for students. The reason is simple: students already use these types of apps (I know because when I told my own middle school and high school daughters about this project, they immediately said, “Oh! I do that in CapCut,” which I then looked into and realized it was perfect. The current generation is already making digital stories. However, they tend to ignore copyright laws, so if I were still teaching, I would do at least one week focusing on teaching about copyrights.

    I would also break my class into 6 groups. Each group would be assigned 5 of the tools listed here: https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/30-sites-and-apps-for-digital-storytelling

They would then, as a group, check out the features of each and the pros and cons. Each tool will have its own slide in a shared Google Slide or PowerPoint, and each group will add their findings to the shared presentation. We would spend a week putting it together (allowing them a day per tool per group), and then the following week, they would each present their findings to the class.

3) Who is the authentic audience for your story?  Who will be impacted by it?  In what ways might this story resonate with this audience?

    The authentic audience for my story is everyone. I want everyone to feel something from my story, but I want people to empathize with others. Honestly, the most impact is with other parents and teachers because they are adults and know what they would feel if their child or students went through what my family went through. However, I hope it will help students connect with each other, realizing that some causes are hidden, but they should be patient and kind to others.

4) What skills and knowledge have you developed as you create your story? 

    While creating my story, I learned how to use CapCut. My children have been using it for a while, but I have never had. It is pretty easy to use, already has free-use items in it, and has made editing a breeze. I have also learned to think about my audience as I create rather than sit in my own head. Finally, I have learned that writing a script and using a storyboard is very helpful in laying out what I want to do for my story.

5) How might your community/students be impacted by engaging in digital storytelling?  What role can you play?

    Students, and therefore the community, can easily be impacted by engaging in digital storytelling. They can use it to raise awareness or, in my case, empathy for fellow students. As for myself, though I am not teaching anymore, I can help teachers use DST to give their students a voice. Our students are already creating digital stories independently, so helping them use these stories as a tool to amplify their own and others' voices is essential.