Digital Storytelling

Description:

In its simplest form, a digital story is a three-minute (approximately) video comprising of a slideshow of personal images and a narrative voiceover that accompanies them. It can also contain music, animation, sound effects, experimental imagery, video content, text or sign language. The result is generally a cohesive story that documents a critical moment of learning in which a change has occurred.

Therefore, digital storytelling has multiple applications: it is used as a method of assessment at second and third level, but also as a participatory research practice, a way of recording audio-visual histories, a means of furthering community activism and social justice efforts, a way of amplifying the voices of patients and healthcare providers in healthcare settings, etc. In all cases, digital storytelling is both a “reflective” and “reflexive” practice. What that means is that it can help us to process our thoughts, feelings and actions in relation to our environment and also, to consider the impact of our thinking and behaviour on the world around us. Therefore, digital storytelling is a practice that is focused upon individual and social transformation (Hessler and Lambert 2017).

According to Lambert and Hessler (2020), there are seven components that are common to digital stories:

1. They are self-revelatory
2.  They use the personal voice
3.  They are experiential
4.  They use photos as the primary means of visual stimulation
5. They typically use a soundtrack of music or sound effects
6. They are about 3 minutes long
7.  The process is more important than the product

This is a six-week micro-credential which comprises sessions of two hours in length.

Through the practice of digital storytelling (which involves close group work, the gathering of photographs, the collaborative drafting of stories, the individual editing process, and the sharing of stories), participants enhance skills in critical literacy, digital literacy, and generative listening that enhance academic work, but anecdotally, participants also relay moments of profound realisation and emotion when they are fully engaged in the process. As such, it benefits postgraduate students who have the maturity to commit to this practice.

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