All Levels
2008–2009
Davis Digital
Storytelling Challenge
Showcasing 21st-Century Learning in the Art Classroom
Brian Hutcheson
We are excited to
announce the 2008–
2009 Davis Digital
Storytelling Challenge!
Last year’s challenge produced some
wonderful digital stories and the winners can be viewed at
davis.digication.com/dscshowcase.
Digital storytelling is the art of
using digital content—still images,
video clips, voiceovers, sound effects
and music—to create short and
compelling narrative movies. As an
expressive medium in the art classroom, digital storytelling can be used
to integrate subject matter knowledge and skills from many areas of
the school curriculum. If you want
to demonstrate that your students
are learning and applying twenty-first-century skills, there’s no better
method than an e-portfolio and a digital story, especially when the portfolio includes documentation of the
process, reflection, and assessment.
As we begin the second year of
the challenge, it might be helpful
for other teachers who are considering taking part to gain insight on
how last year’s winners produced
their digital stories. Kirsten Smith,
an art teacher of fourteen years from
Washington Township High School
in Sewell, New Jersey, gives some
insight on what it takes to guide students through this project.
SchoolArts: Can you describe your
teaching environment and the kind of
students you teach?
Kirsten Smith: I work in a public
high school with a population of
about 3,000 students, grades 9–12, in
Southern New Jersey. Our school has
seven art teachers, and we offer many
full-year courses in art. The subjects I
teach are Digital Imaging and Design,
Animation I, and Animation II.
SA: What motivated you to partici-
pate in the Davis Digital Storytelling
Challenge with your classes?
KS: There were several reasons, the
first being I knew this would be a
truly meaningful and educational
experience for my students. There
was also an administrative push
across the entire school to incorporate more writing into our curricula.
Finally, I wanted to integrate mov-
ing images into my Digital Imaging
course, and even though I knew this
project would require a large chunk of
time, the groundwork for the lesson
was already supplied on the website.
SA: What motivated your students in
this project?
KS: The digital storytelling project
was a win-win setup for my students,
as there were very few rules and they
got to choose their own subject. They
also had the freedom to execute the
project in the media that suited them
best, whether that be still images,
video clips, or created images. As
usual, grades were also a factor. This
big of a project was broken down into
many grades.
SA: How helpful was the provided
lesson?
KS: The provided lessons and
resources were extremely helpful
because they allowed me to jump
right into the project. I had to do very
little research and lesson planning.
I used the storytelling exercises in
the beginning, which were fun, and
the students seemed to enjoy. I also
used the storymap and the storyboard
for classwork and project planning,
which were very beneficial.
