Research stories: digital storytelling for researchers
Duration 1 day
Team Researcher Academy

This face to face course is run by the Researcher Academy 

The Researcher Academy courses are very popular and the majority are run in both semesters to give you the opportunity to attend at a time of the year that suits you. Semester 1 courses will be available for booking from the second week of October and Semester 2 courses from the second week of February. 

Target audience: Mid stage postgraduate research students, Early career researchers

Please check that you are eligible for this course before you register.

Stories are a very powerful way of communicating effectively with other people, whatever their background. If you want to engage with people outside and inside academia in an effective and rewarding way and reach a global audience, then you should consider developing and disseminating elements of your own research project as a digital story.

In this course we will help you to write effective stories about your research project or experiences of the research process, and turn them into digital videos.

You will:

·  Discover how to communicate effectively using storytelling techniques
·  Discover an effective way of reaching a wide and diverse audience
·  Find out how to make a lasting impact
·  Uncover and use your ‘inner-voice’
·  Learn tips and tricks for recording your voice
·  Develop your technical skills
·  Build your confidence
·  Develop your creativity
·  Discover an effective way of reaching a wide and diverse audience
·  Find out how to make a lasting impact
·  Enhance your career prospects

You will learn how to:

·  Create an engaging 2-3 minute story that follows storytelling rules and guidelines
·  Record your story in your own voice
·  Combine your recorded story with one or more images
·  Export your story as an mp4 file that can be uploaded to youtube or any similar platform

On completion of this course you will have created and developed a two to three minute mp4 file comprised of your own story narrated in your own voice and accompanied by a single image. Not only will this give you all the benefits listed above but it will prepare you for:

·  Further digital story development including using multiple pictures, effects, video clips and music
·  The '3 minute thesis' presentations
·  Conference presentations and other public speaking opportunities

Examples:

Examples of single-picture digital stories can be found on this page: http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/example_stories.cfm?categoryid=22

Most of these stories use a photograph as the single image though it need not be. You could use any kind of diagram or a PowerPoint slide.

What happens during the course?

Face-to-face session (1 day)
In this session you will find out about the elements of a digital story, learn about how to apply the rules of storytelling to create a great story, and develop and write your own story (classroom based with teaching and small group work).

Online session (approximately half a day of work in your own time over 4 working days)
Course materials and follow-up advice will be provided in Moodle on the 4 consecutive working days following day 1. You will need to set aside approximately half a day to record your finished story and put it together with an image in wevideo. All the guidance you need will be in Moodle and there will be a tutor presence for support.
As part of the course you will be given a license for the online WeVideo service and you will use this to create your final digital story which will be in the form of a short video (mp4 file).

After the course finishes

At the end of the course you will be able to download a copy of your finished digital story from WeVideo and use it in any way that youlike, for example you could upload it to your own youtube account to show to colleagues, peers, friends or prospective employers.

Please note: by signing up for this course you give the University of Nottingham permission to show your final digital story video to students, staff and the public and to upload the video to youtube, mediaspace or any other distribution mechanism.

Aims/ Objectives:

This course will help you create a single image digital story.

  • Discover how to communicate effectively using stories
  • Write and record your own story
  • Further your technical skills and understanding
  • Construct a single picture digital story
  • Export the finished story as an mp4 file

Booking Conditions 

Privacy Statement 

The Researcher Academy is committed to protecting the privacy of researchers who register for our training courses and events. Your completion of the booking process shall constitute your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal data to University staff and external partners responsible for the delivery of the course or event for which you have registered.  Personal information shared includes; name, role/position, mode of study, School/Department, dietary and accessibility requirements. 

Latecomer policy 

Researchers should plan to arrive prior to the advertised course start time. Except for exceptional reasons, there will be no admittance to a researcher academy or Faculty Training Programme (FTP) course 15 minutes after the advertised course start time. 

Importance of booking commitment 

When booking on to a Researcher Academy short course you are entering into a commitment to attend. If you find that you are no longer available to attend you MUST cancel your place (on the system if more than three days before the course) or if at short notice by emailing ra-training@nottingham.ac.ukThis will ensure that your place can be offered to another researcher on the waiting list. Failure to cancel a place results in other researchers missing out on places through the waiting list process. 

It is unacceptable for researchers to just not attend when booked onto a course. The Researcher Academy maintains records of those who repeatedly do not attend courses they have booked. This may affect future eligibility to book onto further Researcher Academy courses and will affect considerations for Researcher Academy funded opportunities. 

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