Why incorporate digital texts and storytelling into your programs?
As I have begun to discuss with subject with colleagues back at school, I have struggled to articultate the ‘why’ of digital storytelling. Of course it is engaging, it is dynamic and its fun- but beyond that I realised I needed to be able to describe the educative value that exploring digital literature could open up.
For our context at a rural school, I think that digital storytelling presents the opportunity for students to gain a much deeper understanding of the experiences of people from other places. Our students may not have tried different cuisines, heard music from other cultures, been exposed to any languages other than standard English. Many have not ridden elevators, walked past a skyscraper or ridden on a train. Most would not have seen intercultural atire, navigated a crowded space or had a conversation with a migrant or refugee. Digital storytelling has the benefit of supporting students to create layered and complex schemas of understanding, through multimodal texts. If done well, digital storytelling could assist students to access contextually approriate background knowledge that they need to better understand unfamiliar settings, characters and situations. It may help to build empathy, intercultural understanding and enhance social relationships. This is certainly something I would like to explore more in future.
The other benefit that comes to mind, is that a digital narrative can be responsive to a student in many ways. Text features can enhance comprehension through pronunciation demonstrations, embedded definition and glossary functions or via screen settings. Accessibility can be improved for students with specialised learning needs, provided they have access to internet and a device.
Digital stories can also respond to students innate curiosity through interactivity, allowing them to drive the plot, assume the role of main character or influence other elements of the text. For our students who are familiar with gaming or have experienced reading as a reciprocal process in another context, digital stories may be one of the ways to deliver the benefits of quality literature and to spark creativity and imagination.
As a teacher, I am still learning the full potential of digital literature and as this field is in constant evolution, perhaps that will alwasy be the case. I think the most important thing for me professionally, is that I continue to bring my teacher colleagues on this journey and be open to learning alongside my students.