Introduction
St. Joseph School is the first school in the school board to fully transition traditional learning spaces into 21st-century flexible classrooms. The physical space students learn in affects how students learn. 21st-century classrooms are designed to be flexible and foster collaboration (Ministry of Education, 2016). The school board initiated and directed the project, engaging educators and students that learn and work in the building throughout the process. The digital story includes photos and interviews that illustrate the impact on the learning environment. The story includes discussion of physical and pedagogical transformations and the impact on student learning and behaviour.
Context for the digital story
St. Joseph School’s Transition to Flexible Seating is a journalistic feature article that tells the story of the staff and student’s experience through the transformation of their learning space. The school principal, teachers and students share their perspective through personal interviews. The interviews provide the audience with a primary source of information to develop the artifact of the digital story (Fuhler, 2010). The interviews capture the voice of those directly impacted and illustrate their feeling, challenges and recommendations for future school transitions to a 21st-century learning space with flexible seating (Ministry of Education, 2016).
The School Board Administration Team initiated the project at St. Joseph School. The video article will tell the story of the transition by providing administration with valuable feedback to inform future projects. It is vital that the school’s educators and students voice their thoughts, feelings, challenges, impact and recommendations to the school board to conclude the project. The digital story is the project consolidation, by reporting back to the decision-makers for the school board.
Digital story tool selection
Digital storytelling is using multimedia tools to share stories in a powerful, emotional and engaging way (Matthews, 2014). The medium for the digital story St. Joseph School’s Transition to Flexible Seating was video, using the program WeVideo. WeVideo was selected over iMovie as WeVideo is the software licensed by the school board; students in Grade 3 to Grade 8 access WeVideo on their Chromebooks. Constructionist learning tasks, such as this, provides the creator with a rich, authentic experience to engage in a platform that is being used in the classroom (Kearney, 2011). It is advantageous to engage in a program that will be used by students. A video clearly and transparently shares the authentic and genuine feelings of students, teachers and the school principal.
Primary interviews as the digital story storyboard
The goal of the video to create an artifact to illustrate how the new spaces have influence student learning and behaviour and document educators learning journey as they adapt their instructional practices to maximize the new learning space. Educators and students responded to the same questions; these questions formed the storyboard for the digital story. The story will uncover their thoughts and feelings about the project. The concept of flexible learning spaces is to encourage collaboration, enable the creation and student self-awareness (Ministry of Education, 2016). The board will learn how their investment in the school has stimulated students.
The interviews capture teacher and student excitement and apprehension. Students provide honest feedback, outlining how their new learning space supports learning and their involvement in the project. Teachers explain how a 21st-century learning space has changed their practice and their observations of student behaviour in the flexible learning environment. It was important to include all the voices from the school to create a digital artifact that tells the story from all users perspectives. The digital story communicates the school’s ideas to school board decision-makers.
|
Principal Questions |
● What were your initial thoughts and feelings when you learned about the flexible seating transition at your school? ● What have you noticed about teaching practice as a result of the transition of the physical classroom space? ● What have you noticed regarding student behaviour since the transition to the physical learning environment? ● What have you noticed about student learning since the transition? ● What were the challenges you encountered during the transition and what would have improved these challenges? ● What needs to be done to support students and educators to fully benefit from the flexible seating in the school? ● Please share any final thoughts or ideas you may have regarding flexible seating transitions in schools.
|
|
Teacher Questions |
● What were your initial thoughts and feelings when you learned about the flexible seating transition at your school? ● How has the classroom transition affected your teaching practice? ● What have you noticed regarding student behaviour since the transition to the physical learning environment? ● What have you noticed about student learning in the flexible seating classroom? ● What were the challenges you encountered during the transition and what would have improved these challenges? ● What needs to be done to support students and you as the educator to fully benefit from the flexible seating in the school. ● What is your goal or dream for your physical classroom? ● Please share your final thoughts and ideas regarding the flexible seating transitions at school. |
|
Student Questions |
● Were you excited when you learned you were getting new furniture in your classroom? Why or why not? ● Did you have an opportunity to share what furniture you wanted in your classroom? ● Do you like your new learning space? Why or why not? ● How has new furniture helped you learn? ● What are your final thoughts or opinions about the flexible seating in your classroom/school? |
The Purpose and Audience of the Digital Story
The purpose of the digital story is to provide the Senior Administration Team and Trustees for the school board with a report of their investment. The video article will be shared at the October board meeting. According to Alexander (2011), a story is the telling of an event using media that interests and engages the audience. Creating a video artifact to illustrate St. Joseph’s School story is essential. Seeing the faces of students and educators and hearing their voices as they share their authentic and transparent perspective will emotionally move the school board decision-makers.
The story will be shared with schools within the board who will be undertaking a similar project. The video will serve to engage educators and students prior to the change in their school’s learning environment. The video will support the implementation of improvements to future schools transitioning from traditional learning environments to flexible learning spaces. All stakeholders can benefit from learning from the experience captured in the digital story.
Reference List
Alexander, B. (2011). Storytelling: A tale of two generations, Chapter 1. In The new digital storytelling: Creating narratives with new media. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com
Fuhler, C. J. (2010). Using primary-source documents and digital storytelling as a catalyst for writing historical fiction in the fourth grade (Ch. 11). In B. Moss, & D. Lapp (Eds.), Teaching new literacies in grades 4-6: Resources for 21st-century classrooms (pp. 136-150). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Kearney, M. (2011). A learning design for student-generated digital storytelling. Learning, Media and Technology, 36(2), 169-188, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2011.553623
Matthews, J., (2014). Voices from the heart: The use of digital storytelling in education. Community Practitioner, 87(1), 28-30. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1474889132?accountid=10344
Ministry of Education. (2016). 21st Century Competencies Foundation Document for Discussion. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resources21CL/About21stCentury/21CL_21stCenturyCompetencies.pdf