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Digital Storytelling Resources for Instructors

Digital Storytelling combines the art of storytelling with a mix of digital media, including text, images, recorded audio narration, music and video. These multimedia elements are combined using computer software to tell a story that usually revolves around a specific theme or topic and often contains a specific point of view. Digital stories are usually short, lasting less than 10 minutes, but they can be extended over several episodes to accommodate longer narratives.  There are many different types of digital stories, such as: 1) personal narratives - stories that contain reports of significant incidents in a person’s life; 2) historical documentaries - stories that examine dramatic events that help us understand the past and 3) stories that inform or instruct the viewer about a particular concept or practice. 

To learn more about the possibilities of Digital Storytelling please see:

Elements and structure of storytelling 

A short video by Edge Gain. 

Digital Storytelling Workshop

A workshop video series created for the Glendon Digital Media Lab provides a step-by-step overview of the digital storytelling video creation process. View the 11 short videos below: 

Athabasca University E-Lab: “What is Digital Storytelling and How to Get started” 

Sample Digital Stories University of Houston 

Rubric for Documentary Style Project 

Story Development Assessment Rubric (used primarily for oral storytelling, but can be used for other media as well) developed by Jason Ohler and Brett Dillingham 

Rubric for Digital Video Projects California State University, Fresno 

Bibliography on digital storytelling pedagogy -compiled by Audrey Pyée for the Glendon Digital Media Lab 

Buturian, L. (2017) The Changing Story: Digital Stories That Participate in Transforming Teaching and Learning, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Robin, B. (2020). The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling Website, University of Houston College of Education

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). (2007).  7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling.   

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