‘Home’, a digital story in the form of a website, was created for a Stage 4 English class within New South Wales, although it could be used as a resource in other subjects such as Geography and Science as it focuses on environmental issues. Through the text, students will learn about the Cross-Curriculum Priority of sustainability (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2016) and explore English devices (figurative language, symbolism, visual techniques). The text is a cautionary metaphor for the destruction of the planet. Eventually, the teen narrator is no longer able to live in her house due to her unsustainable actions.

The website is intended to be read and studied as a class and does not provide students with a stand-alone lesson. It creates flexibility for teachers as they can use reading strategies that are appropriate for their students; irrelevant activities and questions do not interrupt the story. Students will use the website as a model when they create websites about their own personal experiences with the planet we call our home. Through creatively and collaboratively creating digital texts, individuals can develop a greater understanding of the complex issues associated with sustainability (Daskolia, Kynigos & Makri, 2015). Furthermore, students are able to immediately respond to the text and a guiding question in the ‘comments’ section of the website. This helps them consolidate their thoughts and opinions about the text and sustainability.

‘Home’ is a valuable resource for the junior English curriculum because multimodal texts are an essential part of the NSW syllabus. Students are expected to ‘effectively use a widening range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing texts in different media and technologies’ (NSW Education Standards Authority, 2012). These types of texts are also prevalent in today’s society, so it is important for students to explore a variety of multimodal texts in order to become contemporarily literate (Abrams & Gerber, 2014). During a study of ‘Home’, readers encounter interactive elements, text, images and videos. These features contribute to the meaning rather than just being superfluous. For example, the title (‘Home’) provides a hyperlink to the home page but it becomes unfunctional or ‘broken’ at the end of the story when the house is ruined. The poll encourages readers to think about the length of their showers and how much water they are using.

This website targets and supports a younger audience through its use of social-media style textual features (hashtags, emoticons, references to popular culture, filtered images, first person language, comment section, external links). Students and adults alike are already telling their stories via social media (Alexander, 2011), so it is important to utilise these known formats (Wilber, 2010). The ability to comment on the story provides a social element, which promotes engagement and supports the reading experience (Huang, 2011; Valenza & Stephens, 2012). Some of these elements, specifically the comment section and the website links, are positioned at the end of the story so as to reduce distractions and create clear reading paths.

Easy accessibility is a distinct benefit of ‘Home’. Websites can be used by anyone with an internet connection and students do not need to buy extra devices or download additional applications. It is also free and won’t cost students or schools money like many other digital stories. Most importantly, the short chunks of text and the visual nature of the website allow struggling readers to develop a deeper understanding of the content. The combination of words and images in texts results in increased retention because the visuals make the story more memorable (Botzakis, DeHart & Connors, 2016). It has been proven that these types of texts cater for a wide variety of students by motivating disengaged readers, creating connections for ESL students and providing alternate information paths for deaf students (Botzakis, DeHart & Connors, 2016).

Finally, the website format allows for continuous changes and updates, ensuring ‘Home’ remains contemporary and relevant. Too often, texts become unusable or obsolete because they are not updated to correspond with newer operating systems, software or hardware. For example, educational CD-ROMs were prevalent during the early 2000s, with many academics lauding their benefits in the classroom (Jongsma, 2001; Witham & Krockover, 2001). Now, these are mostly unusable because newer computers do not have CD drives and/or the current operating systems do not support the software. The website is online, so isn’t affected by the physical limitations imposed by changing devices.
Overall, ‘Home’ is a contemporary digital story that provides flexible learning opportunities for Stage 4 English and HSIE students. It is intended to be a springboard for students’ own explorations of sustainability through reflection, discussion and the creation of similar websites.

References:
Abrams, S., & Gerber, H. (2014). Cross-literate digital connections: contemporary frames for meaning making. English Journal, 103(4), 18-24. Retrieved from https://www2.ncte.org/resources/journals/english-journal/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016). Sustainability. Retrieved from
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/sustainability/

Alexander, B. (2011). The new digital storytelling [ABC-CLIO]. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central.

Botzakis, S., DeHart, J., & Connors, S. (2016). Graphic text and visual literacies in reading comprehension. In S. Israel G. Duffy (eds.), Handbook of Research on Reading Comprehension [Guilford Publications]. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central.

Daskolia, M., Kynigos, C., & Makri, K. (2015). Learning about urban sustainability with digital stories. Constructivist Foundations, 10(3), 388-396). Retrieved from https://constructivist.info

Huang, H-C. (2012). E-reading and e-discussion: EFL learners’ perceptions of an e-book reading program. Computer assisted language learning, 26(3), 258-281. DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2012.656313

Jongsma, K. (2001). Instructional materials: using CD-ROMS to support the development of literacy processes. The Reading Teacher, 54(6). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20204959

NSW Educations Standards Authority. (2012). English K-10 Syllabus. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/english-year-10/english-k-10

Valenza, J. K., & Stephens, W. (2012). Reading Remixed. Educational Leadership, 69(6), 75-78. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership.aspx

Wilber, D. (2010). iWrite: using blogs, wikis, and digital stories in the English classroom [Heinemann]. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central.

Witham, S., & Krockover, G. (2001). CD-ROMS in the classroom. The Science Teacher, 68(8), 72-74). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/214625725?accountid=10344