This process was both enjoyable and a great learning opportunity. Growing up I loved reading Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) books which is probably why I indulged in some nostalgia for this digital storytelling project. There have been many reimagined versions of this style of writing, across genres aimed at different ages, over the years – even Netflix have developed a ‘Hybrid Text’ (Walsh, 2013) of CYOA television shows. At first I thought this project would just be fun, little did I realise there would be many hours of upskilling, tweaking and exploring other stories before I settled on my own CYOA. I practiced what I preached and planned my story with a template so I had my vision prepared to minimise procrastination (ha!). I did not expect to have so many dreams and iterations of my story, and changes to the pathways – as you can see if you compare my planning template to the final product. The process of creating a Google Form CYOA really solidified the value they have, not only for readers, but most certainly for writers. I particularly loved throwing in different endings which I didn’t even see coming in my planning process.
In Module 1 (Garrison, 2020) we explored the emerging literacy experiences where Walsh (2013, p186) explains “Digital narratives is the synergy between text and the aesthetics that engages the reader on another level”. This gives the reader a role in the story (Talbot, 2020, Forum 1.2) however, after writing my own digital narrative, I would say the writer could be just as engaged in writing. A CYOA digital narrative could potentially be a hybrid text as well, if the writer produces the audio and visual resources to include in their story. By including sound and short film clips in the digital narrative the writer potentially increases the audience’s interest, by tapping into the aspect of transmedia and propensity to watch. As mentioned, the rationale of this project, by creating a blog for students to share their digital story with their friends and family to read, they are able to see, from their data how many people access social media in a safe context leading into another area of Digital Citizenship.
As a teacher librarian (TL) I am looking for digital resources to support teaching and learning. It is equally important to provide students the opportunity to also create a digital narrative, “Technology provides a link to the world, enabling students to think critically and creatively and become involved as global citizens” (Armstrong, 2020). Through collaborative planning the classroom teacher and TL can teach this CYOA project giving students the learning opportunities around copyright, referencing and licensing creators’ work, further encouraging them to be ethical digital citizens.
There were some limitations of this project’s process that hampered my vision of what I wanted to include. While there are workarounds further considerations are required if I were to implement this task into a unit of work. I was only able to add video clips from YouTube, not my own video files. The implications for this would be having a YouTube channel which the students could upload their own made videos to include or selecting appropriate licensed work. Similar to the video issue I was unable to add an audio of any sort. I would have liked to have had atmospheric music playing to enhance the experience – maybe my creativity is more advanced than Google’s technology. These issues prompted me to create a ‘Thinglink’ image with sound effects to which I discovered I was not able to hyperlink within the text of the Google Form, so I included the URL in the caption line. To have a more seamless inclusion of my Thinglink, I needed to subscribe to be able to download my creation – I would need to explore alternatives if I wanted to include audio and visual in that way, without paying for a subscription.
Fair dealing is an area that teachers and TLs need to have a comprehensive understanding of in the digital age, and particularly in teaching students about ethical use of other people’s work. Smartcopying provide many resources, from fact sheets to interactive resources to assist in the understanding of copyright, licensing and ethical digital citizenship. To assist in the research process Creative Commons have also created a Chrome extension to assist in images searching, also teaching students how to access creative common licensing in google search is a valuable skill – one that was heavily used in the making of this digital narrative.
Overall this was a great learning experience. I further developed my Google Form skillset and feel confident in implementing this project into the classroom, or at least presenting a workshop to classroom teachers for them to include in future units of work.
References
Armstrong, K. (2020, September 24). Implications of digital literature in the classroom. [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/
Bruff, D. (2011, November 20). You’re the star of the story. [Photograph]. Flickr. https://bit.ly/2GmX3sA
Creative Commons. (2020). Introducing the CC search browser extension. [Blog]. https://creativecommons.org/2020/01/06/cc-search-browser-extension/
Garrison, K. (2020). Emerging literary experiences. Module 1.2. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_47762_1&content_id=_3573714_1
Smartcopying. (n.d.) Schools. Smartcopying. https://smartcopying.edu.au/information-sheets/schools
Talbot, K. (2020, August 2). Evaluating digital narratives. [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au
Talbot, K. (2020). Villa Stairs with tags. [Interactive Photograph] Thinglink. https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1367711290084032513
Using Technology Better. (n.d.). Pick a path planning template. [Goggle Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YAtA0H7DTpmmFJxp1ovqWsWnOhhH38WFdrf7uyCxYm0/edit?usp=sharing
Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment. L. MacDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. (p 182-195). Primary English Teaching Associations of Australia (PETAA).
Wotchit Entertainment. (2017). Netflix’s choose your own adventure shows are here. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/p1Q0X_38CRs