Part D: Critical Reflection
The changing role of the teacher librarian (TL) as a facilitator of information literacy in an evolving digital environment, has been a concept consistently central to my reflective practices (Bertalli, 2023; Bertalli, 2023 ; Bertalli, 2024). While initially, I was not confident on how to apply criteria to determine whether a digital text could be classified as literature (Bertalli, 2024), ETL533 enabled me to engage with a variety of scholarly definitions of digital literature (Combes, 2019; Kearney, 2011; Kingsley, 2007; Lamb, 2011; McGill, 2022; University of Houston; 2013) and I became better able to articulate my own understanding of various narrative structures, only possible in the digital world (Bertalli, 2024; Bertalli, 2024; Bertalli, 2024). This new learning provided me with the knowledge to address an issue I have been grappling with for some time. How do I make impactful changes in my own collection development practices to enhance a primary school library that consists of 99% physical resources (Bertalli, 2024)? Combes (2019) points out that inevitable changes in the infosphere requires recurrent monitoring and assessment of the library collection to ensure it continues to address patron needs and evolving information literacy requirements. Being equipped with the confidence to identify and select quality digital literature, is a notable turning point in my professional development as an early career TL and has already had visible outcomes in my school library with the addition of audiobooks, eBooks and iPad viewing/ listening stations added to our library this term, inspired by ETL533.
While previously studying collection development, the educational benefits that a balanced, hybrid collection could have for my students, especially in supporting the acquisition of information fluency skills, became clear (Bertalli, 2024; NSW Department of Education, 2022). However, ETL533 further unpacked what constitutes a quality digital literary resource, where to locate them and even how to use numerous content types as powerful teaching tools for reading, text response and composition. Through this subject I have gained practical knowledge that I have applied in my work as a primary school TL this term. Not only was I inspired to address the digital deficits in our library collection, I also developed a curriculum unit of work in multimodal storytelling, based on the digital storytelling requirements of this subject. This has allowed me to explore firsthand the evolving nature of narratives through tools and platforms suggested in this course, as well as troubleshoot and debug my way through this unfamiliar genre. Kingsley (2007) acknowledges that as teachers begin to weave digital tools into their teaching to address curriculum outcomes, they are also better catering to diverse student needs. I certainly found digital storytelling to be an engaging topic for all students, with the collaborative nature of the task appealing to the varying strengths and interests of all my individual students. The largest challenge I have faced in teaching my students about digital literature, is convincing teacher colleagues to see the value added to students’ transliteracy development through digital literacy. I believe that this is an area of focus for me in the future as I work to gain the confidence and skills to collaborate and share these insights with my teacher peers.
Digital literature provides an opportunity for collaboration unparallel to traditional storytelling methods. This was particularly evident in the use of peer feedback to refine our digital storytelling proposals. I appreciated the insightful comments from likeminded educators to support strategies that enhanced my project and better addressed the needs of the audience (Weibye, 2024), reminiscent of the collaborative development process applied to the Dark Citadel (LC Publishing, n.d.). Kingsley (2007) acknowledges that collaboration and training are two ways that teachers can improve their own technology skills. ETL533 discussion boards, videos and modules were also extremely valuable aids in helping me break down barriers to new learning and understand challenging concepts.
Prior to ETL533, I had not really considered the impact of social reading communities despite being a follower of many author accounts, BookTok reader profiles and literary inspired fan artists. As a TL always looking for ways to improve school reading culture, I met with my library leaders (year 5 and 6 students) to begin a discussion on how to initiate an online social book club across our small network of rural schools (Bertalli, 2024). This too was motivated by the content of ETL533 and is bound to have a positive impact for my professionally, as I communicate with TLs from other schools, as well as educationally for my students.
The role of the TL is dynamic, exciting and marked with creative potential. Allan (2021) affirms that a fixed definition of digital literature is impossible due to the ever-shifting nature of the digital domain. It is for this reason that I am determined to remain engaged in professional communities and professional learning opportunities that will support me to keep informed with evolving literature trends, continuing the creative journey that ETL533 has taken me on.
References:
Allan, C. (2017). Digital fiction: ‘Unruly object’ or literary artefact? English in Australia, 52(2), 21-27. https://search-informit-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/epdf/10.3316/aeipt.216171
Bertalli, B. (2023, March 8). Teacher librarians- it’s time to renew our role. Talk Wordy To Me [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2023/03/08/teacher-librarians-its-time-to-renew-our-role/
Bertalli, B. (2023, May 20). Looking back on chapter one…. Talk Wordy To Me. [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2023/05/20/looking-back-on-chapter-one/
Bertalli, B. (2024, May 20). CDP- The Tool for Change. Talk Wordy To Me. [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2024/05/20/cdp-the-tool-for-change/
Bertalli, B. (2024, August 12). Review 1: The Beehive- “Can an artwork also be classified as digital literature?” Talk Wordy To Me. [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2024/08/12/review-1-the-beehive-can-an-artwork-also-be-classified-as-digital-literature/
Bertalli, B. (2024, August 12). Review 2: Dark Citadel- The interactive story forging its own path. Talk Wordy To Me. [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2024/08/12/review-2-the-dark-citadel-the-interactive-story-forging-its-own-path/
Bertalli, B. (2024, August 12). Review 3: twisted tales- digital storytelling to develop empathy. Talk Wordy To Me. [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2024/08/12/review-3-twisted-tales-digital-storytelling-to-develop-empathy/
Bertalli, B. (2024, March 6). 99% there- yet so far to go! Talk Wordy To Me. [Blog Post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2024/03/06/99-there-yet-so-far-to-go/
Bertalli, B. (2024, July 2024). Simulated social networking. [Discussion post]. https://learn.csu.edu.au/d2l/le/17892/discussions/topics/34952/View
Combes, B. (2019). Digital Literacy: A New Flavour of Literacy or Something Different? (2019). Synergy, 14(1). https://slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/v14120163
Kearney, M. (2011). A learning design for student‐generated digital storytelling. Learning, Media and Technology, 36(2), 169–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2011.553623
Kingsley, K. V. (2007). Empower diverse learners with educational technology and digital media. Intervention in School and Clinic 43(1), 52-56. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10534512070430010701
Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and leading with technology, 39(3), 12-17. https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/8636/39-3.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
LC Publishing. (n.d.). The Dark Citadel [Alexa Skill Game]. Amazon Skills. LC Publishing. https://www.amazon.com.au/LC-Publishing-The-Dark-Citadel/dp/B079MH4L12
McGill, K. M. (2022). The digital lineage of narrative: analyzing interactive fiction to further understand game narrative. In Bostan, B. (2022). Games and narrative: theory and practice (pp. 77-90). Springer.
New South Wales Department of Education. (2022). Information Fluency framework. https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/media/documents/Information_fluency_framework.pdf
University of Houston. (2013). Educational uses of digital storytelling: What is digital storytelling? http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/page.cfm?id=27&cid=27
Weibye, A. (2024, August 26). I really like the sound of your proposal! Creating a website that families can access from home is a clever. [Comment on the blog post “ETL533 Digital Storytelling Project Proposal: Starting School Social Story Website”]. Talk Wordy to Me. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bbertalli/2024/08/12/etl533-digital-storytelling-project-proposal-starting-school-social-story-website/#comment-13