The power and versatility of digital storytelling
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
Digital storytelling - everything from photographs and infographics to podcasts and videos - is a powerful and impactful strategy for everyday teaching and learning, and for assessment.
In fact, when you transform traditional assessments (in-class presentations, reports, tests, and essays) with digital storytelling and turn your assessments outward to your local and global communities, a lot of magic happens. There’s the magic of:
deep engagement and learning
advocacy and agency that ripples out into school, local and global communities
digital literacy and global citizenship skills (I like to refer to this as “citizen journalism”)
creativity and self-expression
social and emotional learning and well-being (when students share their stories they can feel seen, heard and valued)
innovative assessments that are project- and process-based and involve real-world application of knowledge and skills
When I met California-based educator Michael Hernandez at last year’s International Digital Storytellers conference in Washington, DC, I knew he was a kindred spirit. His journey with digital storytelling, his passion for using digital storytelling in the classroom, and his commitment to empowering other educators with digital storytelling… all align with my own practices and beliefs in deep ways.
When Michael’s book Storytelling With Purpose came out earlier this year, I couldn’t wait for my copy to arrive and I can attest to the valuable insights in all chapters. My copy is heavily dog-eared and marked up with pens and highlighters, so when I had the chance to chat with Michael about his work, I was excited to record our conversation and share it here on my blog.
If you’re interested in learning about how to incorporate digital storytelling into your classroom practice, or if you’d like to know more about how digital storytelling leads to differentiated, rich assessments for all students, please check out this conversation with Michael. If you’re new to digital storytelling, or if you’re experienced and want to deepen or add to your practice, you’ll pick up numerous tips and ideas from this post.
Michael offers an excellent course about digital storytelling called “Uncheatable Assessments” and I’ll be offering my online course “Becoming a Digital Storyteller” again in the new year. Please join Michael and me as we explore and celebrate the joys and impacts of digital storytelling!
In addition, here are some links to additional digital storytelling resources, provided by Michael to support your work:
Order Michael’s book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mr1iIC
Storytelling With Purpose website: https://bit.ly/StorytellingWPBook
Uncheatable Assessments, an online, self-paced course for educators, based on a chapter from Michael’s book: https://bit.ly/SWPCourses
Michael’s Linked In account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hernandez-21a8195/
Michael’s Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/changing.the.narrative/
Best email to contact Michael: michael@storytelling-with-purpose.com
