Digital Storytelling as an Educational Tool

I recently stumbled upon some very, very interesting websites which featured some amazing digital stories, which got me thinking; how can I use this as a learning tool, if at all? This led to me stumbling upon an intriguing article written by Bernard Robin, which outlined the benefits of digital storytelling in the classroom. Robin describes digitally storytelling as creating a story utilising the technologies and capabilities a computer (or other technological device) has to offer, such as the incorporation of video, audio and even interactivity. Benefits of digital storytelling include their cheap production cost (once created, they can be distributed for free online rather than having to pay for printing) and the ability to create a very powerful story in a relatively small amount of time. Because of the ability to create these stories with software either standard on computers or with free downloadable software, anyone with access to a computer can easily create a simple digital story with just a few photos and some text. 

Robin also points out that the incorporation of audio and visual stimulation (through video/images) allows students to retain the information better, due to a reduced “cognitive overload” on the brain (Rudnicki et al, page 3). Robin includes images detailing the construction of a digital story, which can be found at the end of this post. Robin goes on to say that digital stories are effective at engaging students and promoting student discussion, and that the creation of digital stories can provide digital, global, technological, visual and information literacy skills, all of which are vital to living and working in the 21^st century (Howell, 2012; Scardamalia et al, 2010). Creating digital stories may even give students experience in criticising the work of themselves and others, and may provide students with an environment rich in social learning and emotional intelligence (Robin, 2008). Robin paints digital stories as being quite versatile methods of teaching, and having found some very cool, interactive digital stories myself, I can see their potential uses in the classroom. Why have kids read Shakespeare when they can also hear, see and even interact with Shakespeare? Digital stories take the learning out of the boring, pen and paper learning space and place the learning environment in a digital setting, where students are much more comfortable (63% of the teenage population use the internet every day, and 73% use social media (1)). Digital stories could even be viewed on mobile devices, allowing students to access them anywhere, anytime, like at breakfast or before bed. 

References:

(1)- http://www.webwisekids.org/programs-facts-statistics-beseen.html

Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom – Bernard. R. Robin, 2008

New Assessment and Environments for Knowledge Building  - Scardamalia et al, 2010

Teaching With ICT, Jennifer Howell , Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria, 2012

 The Buzz Continues...The Diffusion of Digital Storytelling across disciplines and colleges at the University of Houston – A.Rudnicki, A.Cozart, A.Ganesh, C.Markello, S.Marsh, S.McNeil, H.Mullins, D.Smith, B.Robin

Collaborating in the Classroom - The use of Wiki's as an Educational Tool

Collaboration in the classroom is, in my eyes, a very important part of education. Students collaborating to complete work paves the way for good cooperation and team-work skills later in life, and opens up students to a diverse range of opinions on the topic they are studying, allowing for a better understanding and (for me at least) better engagement.  Sing (et al) recognises a recent shift toward a much more group-based working society, and goes on to say that collaborative learning in the classroom is necessary to develop the skills and knowledge needed to navigate through 21^st century society effectively. Sing et al describes collaborative learning as learning that occurs with social interaction as a way to better understand the curriculum being taught or to create assessment items of a higher standard than usual. Collaborative learning strikes a chord with me; senior maths and chemistry involved a lot of collaborative learning due to the teaching styles employed, and it worked quite well for me.

 Sing et al provides a good example of a situation where collaborative learning is an effective way to solve problem. Once presented with the problem, students discuss the task, developing an ‘ownership’ of the task and further developing their own ideas and opinions toward the problem along the way. Once this sense of ownership has been formed, students share their ideas, further refining their own knowledge on the topic at hand as they gather each other’s differing viewpoints and understanding of the task. The sharing of ideas can then leads to students exploring further into the task via experimentation, research or other means, ultimately resulting in a level of understanding much deeper than if they had attempted the problem themselves. This is a fantastic description of collaborative learning, but I think it is better said later on in the article, when Sing et al draw on Vygotsky’s theory of social interaction in learning. In essence, the key concept in collaborative learning is that students develop a better understanding of a topic than if they to work on their own, due to having to process the knowledge, thoughts and opinions of others on said topic. Collaborative learning is by all means a fantastic way of educating classes, but it is noted in Sing’s work that it does have its shortcomings. If the class is full of very introverted students, minimal discussion may occur, destroying the very basis on which collaborative learning is built. A simple way around this issue (and a simple way of extending collaborative learning to the home) is with the use of ‘wiki’s’. Wiki’s are essentially a very simple way of collaborating online – individuals (be it the general public or a select group) can work together to produce articles, add in their own parts and edit mistakes others have made, all while remaining anonymous (which for shy students, may be all that is needed for them to collaborate, as it removes the fear of being ridiculed or ignored by the group). In a classroom setting, teacher and student alike are able to track the development of a group task as it goes on. Rather than the teacher and students marking a draft of the full article before assessment, all members of the classroom (including the teacher) can make suggested changes to the article as it is constructed (Duffy et al, 2006). Duffy also specifically mentions the collaboration possible when using wiki’s, noting, as Sing et al did, the need for sound communication skills in modern society and in the workforce. The use wiki’s in education allows for easy item assessment, as the teacher can view who made what contributions, identifying whether students are contributing enough (or perhaps too much). Wiki’s provide a digital approach to collaborative work in an increasingly digital world, and allows for the anytime, anywhere creation of a group item which is of high quality.

                                                           How Collaborative Learning might utilise technology available in smartphones.

References:

The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. In Proceedings Online Learning and Teaching Conference - Duffy, Peter and Bruns, Axel, 2006, pages 31-38, Brisbane

Advancing Collaborative Learning with ICT – Chai CHing Sing, Lim Wei-Ying, So Hyo-Jeong, Cheah Horn Mun, 2011

Images; http://ictconnection.moe.edu.sg/cos/o.x?c=/ictconnection/pagetree&func=view&rid=738

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