INF533 – Context for Digital Story Telling Project

Context

Throughout my 12 years of professional experience as a ‘Digital Technologies Teaching and Learning Coach’ the presence of movie making and digital storytelling has worked its way into the current Victorian Curriculum (VCAA). For classroom teachers in a primary setting this means moving away from a simple narrative, digital story telling can be an explanation and told at any time and on any day and can take many forms such as podcast, video, audio and software (Burgess 2006).

For many, this is a daunting task as non-digital native teachers move away from being the ‘bearer of all knowledge’ to being the facilitators for learning and responsible for providing their students with multiple exposures of a variety of formats of literacies. Ensuring that students develop multimodal skills (Walsh, 2010) is an important component for 21st century learners (Dockter 2010), therefore, teachers are required to up level their digital capabilities in order to successfully deliver an up to date, engaging and outcome rich program.

This notion encouraged me to seek clarity on my role as a coach and how I could best support primary educators to deliver a unit of work on movie making through the use of digital story telling.

Intended Purpose

The intention of this resource is to scaffold teacher directions and encourage creativity and self-guided exploration for learners in Years 3-4. Students will receive a challenge brief by a ‘Movie Director’ to become the producer of their own movie. The digital story will support them to consider different aspects of moviemaking and encourage further thoughts and ideas through reading through strategically guided but self-directed online exploration.

Through digital storytelling, students can engage with the content of the narrative or explanation in a far richer format that through a traditional text. The story can come to life with a ‘soul’, a story that outlines experiences, the challenges faced, the solutions found, and the helping hands along the way… creates a moment in the digital noise and forms a story to “make me care”( Bubenheim 2018)

This digital story was created specifically as a resource to support educators to feel more confident in delivering the ‘DigiProducer’ unit where the technology and programs are considered daunting for some. Using digital storytelling takes the fear factor out of presentations for less confident teachers where there is less need for teacher led instructions when introducing new concepts and ideas whilst maintaining the rich learning experience for teachers and students alike.

 

 

 

Victorian Curriculum Links

The curriculum links for this unit can fit diversely into different subject areas particularly in the areas of English and Digital Technologies. For the purpose of the ‘DigiProducer’ Unit the following content descriptions are the focus.

Level 3-4 Digital Systems – Explore a range of digital systems with peripheral devices for different purposes, and transmit different types of data (VCDTDS019)

Level 3-4 Data and Information – Individually and with others, plan, create and communicate ideas safely, applying agreed ethical and social protocols (VCDTDI022)

Specific Learning Intentions for the ‘DigiProducer’ Unit of work

  • I can use and explore different online sources of data
  • I can engage an audience with a digital presentation
  • I can design a digital presentation for a purpose

Audience

This digital story is designed for two target audiences; the Victorian Curriculum Level 4 student and the digital classroom teacher. Through using platforms such as Powtoon, Prezi, Thinglink, YouTube and Microsoft Sway the intention is to model how these digital platforms can be integrated into a teaching experience to support instruction and enrich the learning experience for students.

Value of the Digital Story

For any curriculum area that entails writing, digital storytelling could transform students’ perceptions of and their actual abilities to express themselves beyond simply using the written word. Digital storytelling encourages the reader to engage with the topic in a far deeper manner than simply through the reading of a text.

A consideration for the inclusion of learning through digital immersion is the need to justify its value to more traditional educators and the community. The use of technologies can easily be mistaken for simply ‘putting students on a laptop’ and as Bjorgen (2010), Walsh (2010) and Tackvic (2012) all agree, digital storytelling can positively contribute to learning, but only when thoughtfully integrated in the curriculum. Using tools such as the SAMR model can assist to determine the value of such a platform for educators.

Student Needs

21st Century learning opportunities assists to provide for diverse learning needs found in a classroom. This can range from academic needs through to developmental as well as cater for learning styles and preferences. Mastering storytelling means two different skill sets: (a) understanding narrative structures, and (b) being able to give them shape, verbally, visually or aurally, and with the aid of different media. (Botturi 2012) using digital storytelling as a form of digital explanation, the immersive nature of the experience can lead to individual buy in and ownership whilst exposing them to necessary skills needed to navigate today’s online environment.

References

Bjørgen, A. (2010). Boundary crossing and learning identities: Digital storytelling in primary schools. Media, Technology & Life-Long Learning, 6(2), 161-178.

Botturi, L., Bramani, C., & Corbino, S. (2012). Finding your voice through digital storytellingTechtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning56(3), 10-11. doi:10.1007/s11528-012-0569-1

Bubenheim, J. (2018) What is Digital Storytelling? https://www.cyberclick.net/numericalblogen/what-is-digital-storytelling

Burgess, J. (2006). Hearing ordinary voices: Cultural studies, vernacular creativity and digital storytelling. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 20(2), 201-214.

Dockter, J., Haug, D., & Lewis, C. (2010). Redefining rigor: Critical engagement, digital media, and the new English/Language Arts. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy53(5), 418-420.http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ871723&site=ehost-live

Tackvic, C. (2012). Digital storytelling: Using technology to spark creativity. The Educational Forum, 76(4), 426. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131725.2012.7075622

The SAMR Model Retrieved from http://techinfusedlessons.weebly.com/samr-model-for-reflection.html

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/

Walsh, M. (2010). Multimodal literacy: What does it mean for classroom practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(3), 211–239.

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