Get Involved

The students and teachers participating in CyberSmart!'s Africa's Digital Storytelling Initiative look forward to communicating and learning with a global, connected community of learners. Watch the students' digital stories in our video gallery and then connect what you've seen to your curriculum or collaborate with the storytellers themselves.

The Senegalese students participating in the digital storytelling project range in age from 11 to 15. They communicate in French. (French is the language used in school but at home the students speak Wolof and/or a native language.)

We are using the iEARN network MY COUNTRY forum as our global meeting place. The forum is hosted by the Senegal Ministry of Education. iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) is a global network that enables schools to use the Internet to collaborate on projects that enhance learning and make a difference in the world!

Link to the iEARN website. If you're not already a member, consider signing up. It's a free service.

Use the following questions to spark a conversation in English or French, initiate a writing activity, or begin a research project in support of your school's curriculum.

• What surprised you in the digital stories? What did you learn?
• How is your life different from the lives of the students in the videos?
• What else do you want to know after viewing one of these digital stories?
• How would you find the answers to your questions?
• The students worked in teams to make the videos. What other examples of teamwork do you see when you watch the digital stories?
• Take one thing you learned about Senegalese village life and compare and contrast it with your own life. What digital story could you tell to "answer" the story told in a Senegalese video?
• Write a one-line movie tagline, or slogan, for each of the digital stories. Make them catchy so that others will want to see the videos, too.