Over the past 5 years digital storytelling has become the rage due to a number of intersecting factors. First is the human need to tell stories, it is the way we communicate. Second, the dramatice change in cost and sophistication of technology. Today the level of technology available to the consumer is remarkable. Third is the explosion of locations to distribute stories. Youtube, TeacherTube, iTunesU, etc have allowed all of us to be producers and distributors of digital content. We can all become mini television studios.
We can all be creators, directors, producers, distributors of media and so can our students – if we let them. As we define digital storytelling for ourselves we need to think of how we can use it in our classrooms with our students. This becomes even more challenging in the current standard driven, high stakes testing environment. But it is very important.
Listen to Sir Ken Robinson, knighted for his work on creativity and education, speak about the importance of creativity in education at the 2006 TED Conference (check out some of the other videos from this amazing conference).