Brittany Bittner, Digital Stories

Over the past year I have really become interested in integrating technology and education. Through my job, I was given key experiences and ideas for doing so in the future. Therefore this project simply gave me hand-on experience actually using technology within a classroom and making a product. The children’s reaction was enough to prove that technology is the “new” literacy and should really be emphasized at all ages. The technology I chose to explore was digital story telling and visual/print literacy. I had heard and viewed several digital stories beforehand, but I had never made one on my own. I decided to use visual literacy because the students I work with at the Child Development Center often times can't read or write. They do engage in story telling and seem to enjoy being read to during group times, but they mainly express themselves through drawing. I read them the book "May There Always be Sunshine" by Jim Gill. We then discussed what they would also like there to always be in the world. I then had them illustrate their idea and record their voices into imovie using a microphone. Since I work in the College of Education tech center I completed the rest of the project there. I scanned the illustrations in and then matched the voices with the particular pictures. I also imported the song from the book and have that playing throughout the story. This fits in with my current definition of literacy. Digital stories are becoming very popular and can be done in multiple ways. It is a way for students to interact with stories, develop their own stories, add on to stories, work in groups, use technology, etc. In most grades literacy is emphasized. In early childhood retelling stories, adding onto to stories, playing with language, and using creative language are all essential. Digital stories can be used across the curriculum and incorporated into all grade levels. Multiple standards and benchmarks can be addressed depending on what subject the digital story is implemented in and the process. For examples having students view and recall details from a story will meet different benchmarks then having students create their own digital story and present it to the class. Depending on the grade level, classroom interests, technology experience, etc. digital stories can be used in a number of ways. Students would need to be familiar with what a digital story is and view several. Digital stories could be an option when creating and presenting projects or could be done as a whole class. These days literacy includes using technology competently and on many levels. In order to be successful in the growing world, these skills are important. The literacy aspect is drawing out information and being able to adapt to new ideas and technologies. Using digital stories allows students to be creative while giving them experience with technology. Digital stories can also foster typing skills, presentation skills, group work, movie making and editing, retelling stories, identifying beginning, middle, and end, concepts of print, etc. These are all areas also influenced and impacted by literacy.