Literature in Digital Environments (ETL355) has introduced me to new forms of literature that I had not experienced before and has helped me in reclassifying literature that I had engaged with in the past. Reflecting back on my initial understandings at the commencement of this unit, I had already been using digital literature sporadically within my classroom teaching, I just did not realise at the time. In my initial blog post, I mused as to whether the app Scratch Jr (DevTech Research Group & Scratch Foundation), which I had used with my students in the past, was a form of digital literature (Wilson, 2023-a, para. 3). With the information that I have now learned from this unit, I now recognise that the app itself is not digital literature, but it can be used as a platform to create digital literature. Although the primary focus of my lessons was technology and coding, I was inadvertently encouraging my students to create their own pieces of digital literature.

 

In Module 4.1, I shared my concerns around the use of social media as a platform to create digital literature (Wilson, 2023-d, para. 2). Research has shown that users engage with social media on a shallow level, with many sharing articles they have never read or voting in polls attached to articles they have not clicked on (Glenski et al., 2020, p. 40). Personally, I have witnessed this myself on Facebook with news articles containing deceptive headlines and when reading the attached comments, it is clear that many people did not actually read the article. Whilst an author creating a piece of Twitter fiction does not have the intention of spreading false information, users that come across these tweets may not have the engagement level needed to comprehend that what they are reading is fiction and therefore I still hold these concerns at the conclusion of the unit.

 

Creating my own digital story has been an educational and personally meaningful experience. I challenged myself by selecting a platform I had never used before to create my digital story. Through this process I have enhanced my digital technical skills by learning how to embed video, create hotspots within pictures and use programs, such as JuxtaposeJS (Knight Lab, n.d.) to enhance and engage readers with the story. The digital literature piece that I created is not only a valuable piece for use within the classroom, but it has also become a personally meaningful piece of digital literature for my family, serving to preserve our family history and will be treasured for many years to come.

 

The feedback that I received on my digital storytelling proposal encouraged me to think beyond the digital story itself to how I could use my digital story within the classroom. Two pieces of feedback suggested using my digital story as a proforma for students to create their own texts on their grandparents (Forfar, 2023; rachelerinives, 2023). The inclusion of prompts encouraging text-to-self connections throughout the story would give guidance on the kinds of interview questions students could ask an older person who is significant to them. Another piece of feedback encouraged me to consider the reading levels of the students accessing the text (lizfrench77, 2023). This feedback was acted upon through the inclusion of narration to support early-readers in accessing the text. The many different perspectives provided through the feedback on how the digital text could be used in the classroom was encouraging and demonstrates the versatility of the digital story that I have created.

 

As a current classroom teacher, my takeaway from this unit is that digital literature, when embedded authentically, has the power to enhance and support the student learning experience (Sukovic, 2014, p. 206). In Module 2.3 I identified that I could begin to adapt my current pedagogy by embedding quality digital literature in to my guided reading lessons (Wilson, 2023-c, para 1). This small but meaningful step will just be a starting point from which I can further embed digital literature in authentic ways to develop my students’ digital literacy skills and enhance curriculum content.

 

As a future teacher librarian, I hope to cultivate a digital literature collection that goes beyond eBooks. In Module 1.2, I identified three main points when it comes to selecting quality digital literature for a school library (Wilson-b, 2023, para. 1-4). This knowledge, coupled with the experience of critically evaluating three pieces of digital literature in the first assessment, has equipped me to be able to critically evaluate digital literature for the inclusion in my future school library.

 

References

DevTech Research Group & Scratch Foundation. (n.d.) Scratch Jr. https://www.scratchjr.org/

 

Forfar, L. (2023, September 17). Hello Amanda [Comment on blog post “Digital Storytelling Topic Proposal”]. Connect the Dots. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/amandawilson/2023/08/27/digital-storytelling-topic-proposal/#comment-15

 

Glenski, M., Volkova, S., & Kumar, S. (2020). User Engagement with Digital Deception. In Shu, K., Wang, S., Lee, D., & Liu, H. (Eds.). Disinformation, Misinformation, and Fake News in Social Media Emerging Research Challenges and Opportunities (1st ed., pp. 39-62). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42699-6

 

Knight Lab. (n.d.). JuxtaposeJS. https://juxtapose.knightlab.com/?_gl=1*1c6rflz*_ga*MTAxNTYwNDE2MC4xNjk0NjA3MTQ5*_ga_8F4WPDMPL5*MTY5NDYwNzE0OC4xLjAuMTY5NDYwNzE0OC4wLjAuMA..

 

Lizfrench77. (2023, September 16). Amanda, your proposal sounds fascinating and has the potential to be a memorable and meaningful learning experience. [Comment on blog post “Digital Storytelling Topic Proposal”]. Connect the Dots.

 

Rachelerinives. (2023, September 3). This is such a great idea on a way in which to present a history topic and engage students. [Comment on blog post “Digital Storytelling Topic Proposal”]. Connect the Dots. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/amandawilson/2023/08/27/digital-storytelling-topic-proposal/#comment-12

 

Sukovic, S. (2014). iTell: Transliteracy and Digital Storytelling. Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 45(3), 205–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2014.951114

 

Wilson, A. (2023-a, July 9). Prior Knowledge and Pigeons: My Preliminary Understanding of Digital Literature. Connect the Dots. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/amandawilson/2023/07/09/prior-knowledge-and-pigeons-my-preliminary-understanding-of-digital-literature/

 

Wilson, A. (2023-b, July 18). Evaluating digital narratives [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_68469_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_140370_1&forum_id=_321155_1&message_id=_4517189_1

 

Wilson, A. (2023-c, August 6). One small change in my classroom practice [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_68469_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_140370_1&forum_id=_322389_1&message_id=_4547401_1

 

Wilson, A. (2023-d, September 8). Concerns around using social media platforms for digital storytelling [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_68469_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_140370_1&forum_id=_323703_1&message_id=_4579869_1