Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling

Seven Elements of a Digital Story from the Center for Digital Storytelling:

1) A Point (of View) – Stories are not just a recitation of mere facts, there needs to be a story that is told. For this project, instructors are to tell a key story about what inspired them to teach in this discipline.

2) A Dramatic Question – Capture the audience’s attention at the beginning of the story and answer it by the end. For this project, the question will be how or why did I get here? Was there a pivotal point that led me to teaching in this discipline?

3) Emotional Content – Hold your audience’s attention. For this project, we will use images, music and the tone of your voice.

4) Gift of Your Voice – This adds a personal touch to the narration and helps relate your story to the audience. For this project, the instructors voice with be recorded to tell the story.

5) Power of the Music – Music sets the tone for the story. It can convey the time and emotional setting. For this project, the instructor will choose background music for the beginning and end of the story.

6) Economy – Create a compact, fast moving digital story containing only necessary elements of the story to lead the audience through the experience. Leave some details out for the audience to fill in the blanks. For this project, the story will be told in less than 3 minutes and contain only bits and pieces of an instructors journey to teaching in the discipline.

7) Pacing – This keeps your audience engaged in the story. For this project, we will be using Voice Thread, so the viewer will be the one in control of going to the next slide and making comments.