Assessment 4 Digital Storytelling Project
Part C Critical Reflection
INF533: Literature in Digital Environments feels as though it came at the perfect time for my studies. We, as a society, have been propelled into the future of digital environments, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2020). Furthering my understanding of the importance of digital literacies, skills needed to access these ever-expanding texts, and where to locate and organise them were all key learning opportunities for me. This course has allowed me to consider more aspects of the future of digital literature, and its implications in educational settings which will impact my new role, Elementary Technology Integrationist.
There was a crossover of my learning from the Game-Based Learning course. This was the focus of narrative as a characteristic of game playing and digital storytelling (Walsh, 2013). As a child, reading often came from printed texts. However, I reflect that a lot of my earliest and most engaging reading opportunities were from computer-based games and the stories they allowed me to be immersed in. This overlap of learning allowed me to add strength to my pedagogy that holds value in game-based learning and see where digital narratives fit with their value. It also helped to broaden my scope of ‘what is literature?’ and classifications of digital literature ranging from linear ebooks to game narratives (Unsworth, 2006; Walsh, 2013).
I felt that the best learning experience was the creation of the digital story. I was able to create a piece of digital literature that I can use immediately, and I also learned just how valuable creating can be. Rosenthal (2015) affirms that it is not about being able to use programs or tools, but the valuable skills you gain from creating your own artefact. Creating is Blooms highest order thinking skill comes at the top of the SAMR model (Schrock, 2013). It is lucrative and this is what we want to provide for our students.
Creating a digital story gave me a new lens to view these models, as a student and an educator. It has given me ideas on how to promote creating through digital storytelling and sharing through digital platforms to give an authentic audience to authors. Both of these are important aspects for 21st century learners (Malita & Martin, 2010). Rowan (2012) states that educational pedagogy should take a focus on students as “legitimate participants in knowledge communities and potential producers of new knowledge” (p. 219). I also got to experience traversing the realm of creative commons and fair use rights as a student. This gave me valuable insight to consider in future teaching moments.
Copyright and licensing remain an area I would like to continue to grow my knowledge in. Colebatch (2013) discussed the restrictions on resources which come from Digital Rights Management, which have proved problematic for educational institutions and their libraries. It was interesting to see what access I have, as a student, to the different databases at Charles Sturt University Library (2020). This is something I would like to learn more about in my workplace as I will be working closely with the elementary school librarian.
As an Australian working within an American context, I found some interesting differentiations between the Unites States more flexible “fair use” policy in comparison to Australia’s “fair dealing” as discussed by Suzor (2017). This could make for an interesting teaching point in my new role as we could possibly look into Korean copyright laws and where these differentiate.
It is exciting to think about the future of digital literature with what we already have access to. These include augmented reality books (CleverBooks, 2020), immersive audio add-ons (Novel Effect, 2019) and mixed reality technology in the works with opportunities for collaborative transmedia storytelling (Ries, 2020). There is no doubt that as new technological advancements, platforms and devices continue to be invented digital media and literature will continue to grow. So grows the umbrella for defining what literature is.
The challenges of defining digital literature will always be there. Just the same as we, as individuals, and institutions both struggle to keep pace with what’s new in digital landscapes, including Web 2.0 participatory platforms (Walker, Jameson, & Ryan, 2010). These are the places that not many educators may feel comfortable to go, whereas, our students are creating and interacting in these environments continually (Walker, Jameson, & Ryan, 2010).). The challenge of keeping up and keeping track is evident. This course has given me tools to curate what resources I find and store them for future references and also the creative confidence to share on Twitter with colleagues.
My final reflection is to remain mindful of “enhancement for enhancements sake” (James & De Kock, 2013), as this is not the purpose of digital literature. Pedagogy should come before integrating any digital literature texts or tools within a learning experience. Employing the SAMR model (Schrock, 2013) to evaluate whether a technological resource can benefit and empower students.
References
Charles Sturt University. (2020). eBook platforms at a glance. Library: eBooks. https://libguides.csu.edu.au/c.php?g=836937&p=5977399
CleverBooks. (2020). CleverBooks STEAM Augemented Reality for Education. https://www.cleverbooks.eu/
Colebatch, C. (2013). Pick your digital lock battle: Is it the law or licenses we should be worried about?. Feliciter, 59(1), 15-17. http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=85444929&site=ehost-live
Malita, L. & Martin, C. (2010). Digital Storytelling as web passport to success in the 21st Century, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 3060-3064, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810005057
Novel Effect. (2019, March 13). Novel Effect: Read Aloud Books / Interactive Storytime Fun. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPDmW_hxdC0
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2020). Education responses to covid-19: Embracing digital learning and online collaboration. https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=120_120544-8ksud7oaj2&title=Education_responses_to_Covid-19_Embracing_digital_learning_and_online_collaboration
Ries, K. [mrsries_edu]. (2020, 8 September). Mixed reality technology minus the isolation of a headset. The collaborative transmedia storytelling that could take place with this idea [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/mrsries_edu/status/1303237845671268354
Rosenthal, S. T. (2015). Digital Storytelling: What is is…and…what it is NOT. Langwitches: The Magic of Learning. http://langwitches.org/blog/2015/08/18/digital-storytelling-what-it-is-and-what-it-is-not/
Rowan, L. (2012). Imagining futures. In L. Rowan, & C. Bigum (Ed.), Transformative approaches to new technologies and student diversity in futures-oriented classrooms: Future proofing education (pp. 217-225). ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=886148
Schrock, K. (2013, November 9). SAMR and Bloom’s. Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything. https://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html
Walker, S., Jameson, J., & Ryan, M. (2010) Skills and strategies for E-learning in a participatory culture. In Sharpe, R., Beetham, H., & De Freitas, S. (Eds.), Rethinking learning for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences (pp. 212-224). ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=544011
Unsworth, L. (2006). E-literature for children: Enhancing digital literacy learning. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=198496
Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment. In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. (pp. 181-194). Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA). https://doms.csu.edu.au/csu/file/863c5c8d-9f3f-439f-a7e3-2c2c67ddbfa8/1/ALiteratureCompanionforTeachers.pdf