Digital Storytelling Mary Cosby Walden University

Need What problem or need existed that gave rise to your innovation? The reality is that advocates of instructional technologies in schools have, for many years, been urging educational administrators and policymakers to change the focus from the technology itself to ways that technology can be used to bring out the very best in how teachers teach and how students learn.

Research What research organization or people developed a solution to this problem or need? Joe Lambert and the late Dana Atchley helped create the digital storytelling movement in the late 1980s as cofounders of the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), a nonprofit, community arts organization in Berkeley, California.

Research Who was the intended audience for your innovation? Digital storytelling is a technology application that is well-positioned to take advantage of user-contributed content and to help teachers overcome some of the obstacles to productively using technology in their classrooms.

Research What were their findings? The combination of powerful, yet affordable, technology hardware and software meshes perfectly with the needs of many of today’s classrooms, where the focus is on providing students with the skills they will need to “thrive in increasingly media-varied environments” (Riesland, 2005).

Research Who were the “lead thinkers” for this innovation, and how did they convince a manufacturer to produce it? Joe Lambert and the late Dana Atchley helped create the digital storytelling movement in the late 1980s as cofounders of the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), a nonprofit, community arts organization in Berkeley, California.

Development What problems did your innovation encounter in the development process? The cost of the equipment needed to make the movies made it difficult for some schools to afford.

Commercialization Describe the production, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, and distribution of your innovation. The San Francisco Center for Digital Media was established in 1994 and in 1998 became the Center for Digital Storytelling. They train many people and organizations on how to utilize digital storytelling to benefit their individual needs through workshops.

Benefits Perhaps the greatest benefit in the classroom may be found when students are given the task of creating their own digital stories, either individually or as members of a small group. This creative work provides students with a strong foundation in what many educators (Brown, Bryan, & Brown, 2005; Jakes, 2006; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004) have begun calling 21st Century Literacy, Digital Age Literacies, or 21st Century Skills.

References Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), doi: /