Over the course of this subject, my views have evolved from seeing technology as a teaching aid that adds an eye-catching element to lessons, to recognising it as a transformative medium with the potential to change access, participation, and communication. Engaging with theoretical perspectives, creative works, blog reflections, and peer feedback has highlighted the dynamic, participatory nature of digital environments and reshaped my thinking about how powerful this tool can be within my teaching pedagogy.
Initially I would have viewed digital narratives as a passive activity, one where students are merely consumers. (Shi et al., 2022) challenged this assumption with his discussion around how media changes how we interact by breaking the fourth wall and we become part of the narrative, which ultimately changes our role from consumer to participatory. The types of digital narratives that are being created today offers and also demands higher-order interpretative skills (Dawkins, 2025), which means endless differentiation is available for teachers to employ to meet the individual needs of students. Creating my own digital narrative helped me to refine my thoughts further as the creating forced me to think about how students would engage with my story and what options I could build into the technology to offer a variety of experiences, such as audio and visual reading. I was encouraged to take it a step further in my peer feedback when (Fox, 2025) challenged me to add an extra activity for my students to compare my story to primary history sources, which extends their skills in critical thinking and research. By incorporating her suggestion, I was able to further differentiate the narrative to teach students new skills that would aid them in their higher order thinking. This experience underscored that digital technology offers boundless possibilities for integrated learning, shifting my role as an educator from one of knowledge transmission to designing for interaction, immersion, and co-construction of meaning. Even though Book Creator was fairly intuitive and easy to use, I would have loved students to have more of an interactive role – such as being able to respond digitally or potentially record their responses to my prompts at the end of the story, which would provide flexibility for me as a teacher in assessing their responses.
I was challenged by the work of (Duffy & Cunningham, 1996) who state that even though culture creates the tool, the tool can change the culture. Those participants using the tool can appropriate tools to meet their goals, thereby transforming their participation in the culture. This highlighted the reciprocal nature between technology and our own practice. While these digital tools emerge from cultural contexts, once they are created, they have the potential to reshape how individuals engage with knowledge, communication, and learning. This was especially pertinent when I reviewed the New York Public Library Insta novels. The culture creates the tool (Instagram), but the tool can change the culture – modern users engaging with canonical texts, perhaps for the first time. How might using technology open up opportunities for access to those who might never pick up a book or enter a library? (Dawkins, 2025). In constructivist terms, this means that learners have the potential to appropriate digital tools, whether through collaborative platforms or interactive applications, not only for their own personal learning, but it can transform how they participate within the broader learning community. Every culture has their own watershed moments, such as the invention of the Gutenberg press in the 15th century, to steam powered printing presses in the 19th century, to more modern advances such as film and animation in the 20th century, to the 21st century tools such as smart phones and streaming services. Each culture has engaged with the tools and in turns, the tools have shaped the culture.
I see now that my view on my role as an educator in digital environments has expanded considerably. It is no longer enough to see digital technology as a novel teaching tool. Instead, it is a medium that can dissolve boundaries, requires new literacies for engagement with it, and can open up space for access and inclusion. My role as an educator morphs too – to design, curate, scaffold and guide students in the complexity and creative opportunities of these digital worlds. This kind of technology is not simply an add-on but can be transformative. By engaging with theoretical perspectives, creative practice and peer feedback, it has helped to reshape my views and given me encouragement to delve deeper into these tools, knowing that many benefits it holds for my students.
References
Dawkins, B. (2025, July 21). Digital Literature Review, Core Values. Librarium of Adventure. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bdawkins/2025/07/21/digital-literature-review-core-values/
Dawkins, B. (2025, July 21). Digital Literature Review, New York Public Library Insta Novels. Librarium of Adventure. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bdawkins/2025/07/21/digital-literature-review-new-york-public-library-insta-novels/
Duffy, T. M., & Cunningham, D. J. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Educational communications and technology (pp. 170-199). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.
Fox, K. (2025) Peer Feedback on Digital Storytelling Project Proposal. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bdawkins/2025/07/22/digital-story-telling-project-proposal/
Y. Shi, T. Gao, X. Jiao and N. Cao (2022). Breaking the Fourth Wall of Data Stories through Interaction in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 29(1) pp. 972-982. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2022.3209409.