As a teacher-librarian, I’m eager to search for new ways to connect students with stories—and in today’s world, many of those stories live in digital spaces.
I’m about to begin a new chapter in my learning journey with ETL533: Literature in the Digital Environment, and I’m keen to discover examples and exemplars of how technology is being used to advance literacy.
Over the past year, I’ve studied multiliteracies and transliteracies through my Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) and discovered the rich potential of digital literature. In Resourcing the Curriculum and Literature Across The Curriculum, I explored a range of literary formats. I developed a resource kit on First Nations authors, which included digital literature. One highlight was incorporating the interactive My Grandmother’s Lingo—a captivating example of how digital storytelling can educate as well as preserve language and culture. My Year 6 students were engrossed, and it was a joy hearing them speak the Marra words as the story unfolded.
Over the years, as a teacher, I’ve eagerly engaged with new digital literature trends as they emerged, in many forms, including:
- Digital read-alouds with light animation and effects through Storybox Hub
- Audiobooks for listening to rich texts
- Student-created digital books using Powtoon, Canva, and PowerPoint
- Collaborative digital poetry projects with students using Canva video
Each of these experiences has shown me how digital formats can make literature more engaging, accessible, and creative.
I understand digital texts enrich the curriculum, providing accessibility for students with diverse learning needs, as well as providing an engaging and dynamic experience for all students. In this subject, I’m particularly looking forward to determining the difference between what can be called digital literature, as opposed to narrative-led gaming. At what point does it become simply a gaming experience? Is Zelda an interactive story? And if yes, then how can I promote and advocate for this evolution of the literary world to teachers and parents?
By the end of this subject, I am hoping to be able to answer these questions.
Learning the trends of 21st-century literature is part of being future-focused as a teacher librarian and literacy expert. Therefore, I’m looking forward to diving deeper in ETL533 and sharing my discoveries here as I learn more about this ever-evolving digital literature landscape.
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