Digital Storytelling

The Importance and Impact of Digital Storytelling 
By Corianne Way

Digital Storytelling is a unique way to get kids and young people working on something creative and personal. Digital Storytelling can be incorporated into your library as a library program for young teens or young adults.


If you have the time, check out this TED Talk from an educator who has incorporated Digital Storytelling into her curriculum (17 min). Emily Bailin explains that she loves giving young people the opportunity to tell each other where they are from beyond a geographical location. She has her students write poems telling their stories. She then has them add a visual component to their poems. Then, she says,

“what happens when we add visuals to the stories we tell?...by inviting young people to bring their stories in we give them voice, we give them agency, we allow them to be bringing in important information and knowledge and we convey to them that that is just as meaningful, just as important for us to know as human beings but also all as learners as something that may be delivered through a textbook or from the teacher.”

I think that it is interesting that she says she wants to encourage her children to be “bringing in important information and knowledge”. This conveys how the library is a perfect place to be inviting children to tell their story. The library is a place of knowledge and information and we want to encourage children to be creators of knowledge and to be participants in the information cycle.

Larene Wawro (2012) wrote a piece in the magazine journal Children and Libraries on how to get started teaching children how to make their digital storytelling:


He explains the simple steps it takes for children to create a digital story:

1. Have the children write out the stories they wish to tell.
2. Record the children telling their stories.
3. Gather their images.
4. Arrange the images and audio in the editing software.
5. Throw in a little movie magic.
6. Export the work to a movie file.

Windows and Mac computers now have movie editing software built in, and they are fairly simple to use. I personally have use iMovie for Mac and I think that it is very easy to work with. There are so many other resources available online to learn how to piece together a digital story. Start browsing and exploring!

Wawro, L. (2012). Digital Storytelling. Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children, 10(1), 50-52.