When I was in high school, for introducing a new topic or showing new information, teachers would usually use PowerPoint. As a form of digital storytelling, I found it helpful to take notes on yet too basic because video and sound were not applied. Photo Story 3 was not as common but still used in English subjects. The most popular way to teach a new topic would have been through ClickView, or a similar program to present videos. There was a complete video library on every topic. The teacher would have videos to show then notes could be formulated onto the whiteboard or PowerPoint. I liked the fact that these videos were open to students for future reference.
Digital Storytelling's main purpose is to express creativity, engage students and vary lesson activity. Instead of speaking and devising notes on a topic, a teacher can create a digital story using images, sound and video. Digital storytelling enables its users "...to become creative storytellers... combined with various types of multimedia... so that it can be played a computer, uploaded on a website..." (Robin, 2008, p. 222). Teachers can show various digital stories to introduce a new topic which would pull students in from the very beginning of the lesson. Teachers show videos and images which link to the topic. However, as simple as this may be to some, not all teachers are capable of using technology. This is similar to the problem with teachers using new classroom products. Generally younger teachers can understand and adapt to new technology, rather than teachers who were not brought up with technology. It is not enough to have technology in a classroom if the teacher does not know how to use it effectively. Mary Ann Wolf, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, agrees with my perspective as she stated, “Strong leadership is needed to encourage the correct use of technology... Integrating technology is much, much more than putting a piece of software into a classroom” (Robin, 2008, p. 221). From my own experiences, I believe that Wolf is correct. Some teachers do not know how to apply technology to a lesson and this hinders their teaching and the class itself. Students lose engagement and participation in the lesson. We are in a world where technology keeps on changing and growing so it is vital that teachers also stay up to date with technology in order to enhance teaching. Nonetheless, digital storytelling is an effective way to teach and keep students engaged in topics.
