New course for Summer 2008

CI 5410: Teaching Writing through Digital Storytelling

• What does it mean to tell stories? 

• How does the practice of storytelling change once we layer the practice with other modes of communication such as still images, video, voice, and music? 

• How can we use our knowledge of the writing process to help us better understand digital storytelling?

• And, how can digital storytelling help us better understand writing?

Course Dates:  June 16th – July 1st; MTWTh, 9:00am-1:00pm (10 course meetings)

Course Instructor: Candance Doerr (For more information, feel free to contact me at doer0026@umn.edu)

Course Description & Objectives:

(download the complete syllabus DS Syllabus (WIKI pg VERSION).pdf)

This course will explore the emerging genre of digital storytelling and its potentials for promoting student writing.  Throughout the course, we will use movie making software programs such as iMovie or Movie Maker to combine music, images, video, voice, and words into both fictional and documentary style narratives.  Through viewing, analyzing and producing various digital stories, we will discuss the writing process, its related multimodal literacies, and the benefits and challenges related to this digital medium.  This course is geared for educators from various disciplines, ranging from grades 4-12 with or without technological skills. 

Our specific course objectives include

•    To explore fictional and documentary styles of narrative

•    To become familiar with the latest theories related to multimodal literacies and digital writing

•    To experiment and become comfortable with the production process of digital storytelling

•    To encourage professional development through acquisition of new technological skills related to digital storytelling

•    To provide a forum for sharing and discussion of the teaching practices related to digital storytelling