DIGITAL STORYTELLING 1

Over the last year I have made it a goal for myself to learn how to play an acoustic guitar.

The goal was to do this without taking any in person lessons and only using online resources

such as YouTube and guitar learning apps that were free. While it is a difficult task, I came to

realize there is a severe lack of useful tutorials that can keep a student interested when things get

frustrated. This made begin to think there was a better way for this to be taught in an online

classroom setting. Digital Storytelling (DS) provides a great alternative to not only teach students

the basics, but also create a story of why they are learning it just like music does with every

single song.

Winslow and Lee describe DS best as, “blending classical storytelling strategies with

modern multimedia authoring tools to combine digital video, animation, graphics, photos, and/or

audio to tell meaningful stories to targeted audiences” (pg. 383). A simple way to integrate this

into an online music lesson would be using video and online resources to show the guitarists who

created certain chords or the way guitarists repair their guitars on stage. Like the way B.B King

replaced an entire string mid song without stopping his performance. Additionally, integrating

this into course content as a student assignment could be something as simple and documenting

their guitar learning journey. Putting together a story board of them learning, what videos helped

them learn, tips and tricks, why they started playing guitar. The possibilities for an assignment

like that are endless and could allow the student to really use their imagination and tell their own

story to a targeted audience.

Limitations for this kind of an assignment could be something like lack of resources. For

example, not being able to afford equipment like a guitar outside of a studio, or not having

internet access at home or a desktop or laptop with video editing capability. These are basic

limitations that could become an issue for a student’s trying to utilize DS.
DIGITAL STORYTELLING 2

References

Winslow. (n.d.). Applied Technologies for Teachers. Vitalsource Bookshelf Online. Retrieved
July 3, 2022, from
https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9781524936600/pageid/405