Introduction+to+Lessons

“People tell stories to teach beliefs and values to others. The oral tradition of knowledge transfer and exchange has served as the basis for education since humans began teaching one another, and digital stories build on this model by incorporating rich, dynamic media,” (Educause Learning Initiative, 2007, para. 10). By utilizing the element of storytelling and adding the element of global interaction, students will have the ability to not only interact and learn from others in another country, but also the experience of collaborating, planning, problem solving, and creating.

The art of storytelling is a age-old practice. By participating in the ePal "A Day in the Life" collaborative Digital Storytelling project, students will be able to share daily life, customs, rituals, etc. with another group of students located within the global ePal community. Within classroom collaborative groups, students will plan a story that envelopes "A Day in the Life." This could include amalgamating group ideas into various topics that create one story to include all group members' ideas. During the process of creation, students will collaborate and engage in global communication with an ePal. This global collaboration will be "turn-keyed" back into the classroom collaborative groups. Additionally, ePal communication will enable students to become increasingly culturally aware and sensitive to those who are different from the world in which they live. Once students have participated in the various aspects of the unit, they will share their videos with another group of students located in another country. Students will be able to compare and contrast lifestyles, which will make them not only increasingly globally aware of other people and cultures, but also day-to-day living through the art of digital storytelling. Finally, this project seeks to improve written expression, collaboration, organization, story/plot development skills through the creation of a digital story that uses images (digital, group created, or both), sound, and music to convey tone and mood while telling a complete story from beginning to end.