The Best of Storytelling

Ann and I just returned from seeing “The Lion King” on Broadway – a perfect example of the power of storytelling! I think there was a bit of a ‘digital’ aspect to this story too! Even though I had heard this story before, this production illustrates that a good story can be told over and over again – one never tires of listening to a good story. I was fascinated with every aspect of “The Lion King” – the point, the dramatic question, the emotional content, the gift of the voices, the power of the music and the story’s pace. In fact, those are the elements of digital storytelling that we discussed in our workshop today!

It is always a pleasure to share the concept of digital storytelling with educators. I really wanted it to be a positive experience for everyone because I believe this is such a powerful use of technology. As each participant worked diligently to publish their story about New York University in the summer, I observed learners who were engaged with the learning task – telling and sharing information using multimedia. We can definitely celebrate the published stories! It was also fun to share some of my students’ projects with everyone. One tends to forget the good work students do each semester.

I never tire of hearing ‘our story’ of faculty development. Ann has done an exceptional job of implementing a mentoring program that is very successful in preparing faculty to use technology and an even better job of disseminating the model to others. I’m very anxious to read more about everyone’s thoughts on this topic in the blogs.