There are seven main elements of a digital story developed by digital storytelling pioneer Joe Lambert in his Digital Storytelling Cookbook (2003).

1. Point of View: "... the goal of digital storytelling is to allow a writer to experience the power of personal expression. Therefore, students' digital stories need to be constructed from their own experience and understanding. Using the first-person pronoun "I" rather than the more distant third-person point of view is essential."
2. A Dramatic Question: "A story that holds the attention of the audience has a dramatic question that is resolved by the end of the story. This characteristic distinguishes the digital story from a travelogue. Narratives that lead the reader to become invested typically pursue a compelling question that evokes interest and commitment."
3. Emotional Content: "The most effective digital stories evoke an emotion from the audience. We often see laughter, tears, and expressions of pleasure from the audience when digital stories are screened. This can be tremendously rewarding to student writers, validating the effort and investment they have made."
4. The Gift of your Voice: "The pitch, inflection, and timbre of the storyteller's voice convey meaning and intent in a very personal way. This has proven to be one of the most essential elements that contribute to the effectiveness of a digital story. There is no substitute for using your own voice to tell your story."
5. The Power of the Soundtrack: "Properly employed music can enhance and underscore the accompanying story, adding complexity and depth to the narrative."
6. Economy: "Modern digital editors offer a plethora of special effects and transitions. It can be tempting to replicate the visual onslaught of music videos on MTV. We have found that the effective digital story uses only a few images, a few words, and even fewer special effects to clearly and powerfully communicate intended meaning."
7. Pacing: "Monotonous refers to an unvaried inflection and pace. The word has become synonymous with boring because an unvaried pace will not hold the audience's attention. For student writers, pacing means pulling back or racing forward when the story calls for it, as opposed to when the time limit approaches."

In 2010, Lambert rewrote his seven elements into seven steps:

• Step 1: Owning Your Insights: We want to help storytellers find and clarify what their stories are about. We often start with the question: “What’s the story you want to tell?”
• Step 2: Owning Your Emotions: To help storytellers identify the emotions in their story, we ask a series of questions regarding their process: “As you shared your story, or story idea, what emotions did you experience?
• Step 3: Finding the Moment: We want to help them tell their story as a story by identifying a single moment that they can use to illustrate their insight. Is there more than one possible moment to choose from? If so, do they convey different meanings? Which most accurately conveys the meaning in your story? Can you describe the moment in detail?”
• Step 4: Seeing Your Story: Because we help storytellers share their stories in the form of a digital story, we also want to look at how the use of visuals and sound bring things to life for the audience. “What images come to mind when recalling the moment of change in the story? What images come to mind for other parts of the story?”
• Step 5: Hearing Your Story: The recorded voice of the storyteller telling their story is what makes what we call a “digital story” a digital story—not a music video or narrated slideshow. “Beyond the recorded voiceover, would the story and the scenes within it be enhanced by the use of additional layers of sound? Would the use of ambient sound or music highlight the turning point in your story?”
• Step 6: Assembling Your Story: At this point in the process you have found and clarified what your story is about and how it sits with you today. You have also established the overall tone you want to convey. "How are you structuring the story? And, within that structure, how are the layers of visual and audio narratives working together?
• Step 7: Sharing Your Story: Therefore, it is important to take time now to revisit the context in which the story was initially described in order to determine the relevant information to include when the story is being shared. To help storytellers do this, we ask: “Is audience? What was your purpose in creating the story?

Robin (2008) offered these additional insights into the use of digital storytelling in the classroom. His perspective goes beyond the scope of personal narrative, and he suggests:
1) “personal narratives - stories that contain accounts of significant incidents in one’s life,
2) historical documentaries – stories that examine dramatic events that help us understand the past, and
3) stories designed to inform or instruct the viewer on a particular concept or practice.”

In addition, he includes literacy skills that can be embedded in the process of digital storytelling:

• Research Skills: Documenting the story, finding and analyzing pertinent information;
• Writing Skills: Formulating a point of view and developing a script;
• Organization Skills: Managing the scope of the project, the materials used and the time it takes to complete the task;
• Technology Skills: learning to use a variety of tools, such as digital cameras, scanners, microphones and multimedia authoring software;
• Presentation Skills: Deciding how to best present the story to an audience;
• Interview Skills: Finding sources to interview and determining questions to ask;
• Interpersonal Skills: Working within a group and determining individual roles for group members;
• Problem-Solving Skills: Learning to make decisions and overcome obstacles at all stages of the project, from inception to completion; and
• Assessment Skills: Gaining expertise critiquing their own and others’ work.”

Lambert, J., Hill, A., Mullen, N., Paull, C., Paulos, E., Soundararajan, T., & Weinshenker, D. (2003). Digital storytelling cookbook and travelling companion. Center for Digital Storytelling at the University of CA Berkeley.

Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Center for Digital Storytelling at the University of CA Berkeley. Digital Diner Press.

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom. Theory into practice, 47(3), 220-228.