Impact of Digital Storytelling on Technology Literacy

By: Nicholas Graves

What is Digital Storytelling

• Digital Storytelling uses personal digital technology to combine a number of media into a coherent narrative. In their original form, digital stories include a voice-over narrative along with still images, music and titles. Digital stories usually include video footage, animations, and a variety of other mediums made possible by the latest technologies.

Why tell stories in school?

• Storytelling is an ancient pedagogical strategy used to make sense of the world and pass on values, knowledge, and beliefs (Coulter et. al. 2007). Many educational theorists have advocated for use of storytelling in conventional school settings.

• For example, Egan (1989) contends that “information with high emotional colouring within a story is much more easily remembered by humans then a random list”.

Why Use Digital Storytelling

• Digital storytelling not only helps students enhance their interpersonal skills, personal and social responsibility, basic literacy, but it develops their technological literacy (Czarnecki 2009).

• In order to be successful in the digital age, 21st century students need to develop technological literacy.

Why Use Digital Storytelling, continued…

• In a 2005 interview, Jason Ohler (Professor of Educational Technology and International Educational Speaker) described how, with the use of digital storytelling, ‘we are in between two very powerful models: storytelling, with its powerful ability to engage and teach students, and critical thinking, with its ability to turn students into thinking, reflective people, consumers, voters’ … and that by blending the two, we can offer a ‘powerful pedagogy’.

• After presenting their own digital story, and viewing their peers’, as well as critiquing their own work and that of others, students will gain confidence in their own abilities. This process also promotes social learning; by adding a group component, students are further introduced to collaborative brainstorming, designing, and executing of the digital story.

Case Study – The Power of One• http://www.alasmedia.net/SFETT//html_movie/Ican4/the_power_of_one.html• Our first case study is a digital story that explains how each and every vote counts• “The Power of One” is an approximately two-minute video narrated by student

Angelina Garcia • She illustrates, complements, or otherwise accompanies the words and the

message of along with background music, with approximately 20 images. • Most of these images are photographs are of the famous references to people she

found on the internet, and a few screens consist just of typed words. The pace and rhythm of the piece varies, as does Angelina’s speaking voice, in keeping with the background music and the message.

• In this digital story Angelina used no visual transitions, such as fading one screen into another. Instead, the images change precisely in time to the rhythm of the music, a technique which emphasizes the rhythmical and musical quality of the narration and the union of spoken word with the background music.

The Power of One, Cont’d

• The opening statement lasts for less than five seconds, but it introduces in a powerful fashion Angelina’s argument and the significance of each event that recur and are developed throughout the story.

• This digital story is about the power of democracy, and in it Angelina tells her story through her artful use of implicity aesthetic techniques, but by explicitly connecting her arguments with historical icons, past and present.

• Through the blend of music, narration, and imagery, she is able to emphasize these famous figures by removing them from their particular historical contexts, and recontextualing them in her own creative universe of this digital story.

The Power of One, Cont’d

• The effective use of repetition used as interwoven between each narrative element, is a screenshot of the main theme of the story:

Recontextualization

• As Bauman & Briggs (1990) have argued, these instances of digital stories do not simply reflect social life but have the capacity to comment critically on it as well. Like other forms of verbal art, digital stories reposition both authors and the texts (words, images, music, voices) they appropriate and “recontextualize” during performance.

• Bauman & Briggs claim that “if we consider what becomes of text once decontextualized, we recognize that decontextualization from one social context involves recontextualization in another” (p.74).

Recontextualization of Power of One

• Angelina’s use of text accompaniment with each historical photograph demonstrates this “recontextualization” process.

• For example, when the image of Adolf Hitler is juxtaposed with the accompanying text that states that one vote made him the leader of the Nazi party in Germany, the sudden significance of the story becomes immediately apparent.

• In reflecting on how digital stories as performative speech exemplify such recontextualizations, it is interesting to consider, as Bauman & Briggs (1990) do, what the recontextualized text brings.

Together

Case Study – Together

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOJu-hpmXBg• In our second case study of 17-year-old Brittany Lee Platt, we

see a young woman trying to come to grips with her life as her parents go through a bitter divorce, her relationships and her sense of belonging.

• A lively and affectionate girl, Brittany found ways to reposition herself through digital storytelling both in relation to her family, and specifically her older brother Bill who she loves and admires

• Although we cannot categorize Brittany as an expert digital storyteller, certainly the finished product is one of a skilled writer possessing technological savvy who could assist her friends in creating digital stories.

Together, cont’d

• Through the experience of creating her digital story, Brittany was learning not only how to tell stories, but to rearticulate her sense of self in the process.

• In this way, these powerful multimedia pieces have helped authors like Brittany represent and reposition themselves.

Recontextualization of Together

• Brittany’s use of photographs show how these digital storytellers engage in such “recontextualization.”

• For example, Brittany’s decentering of the photograph of her divorced parents and the photo’s recentering within his own digital story is a symbol of what powerful figures with the right tools can do.

Case Studies – Summary • We have presented two case studies that illustrate how two individuals

authored themselves by means of multimedia storytelling and the social and material resources of a school

• Both authors found ways to create a social world through multimedia• composing in conjunction with music-making• Each constructed an authority through a consciously artful and aesthetic

use of• language, image, and music. • They each also constructed an authority through the recontextualization

of images linked to words and music, and through a juxtaposition of those

• They also constructed supportive social relationships through their storytelling methods with famous figures and with family.

Conclusion• The areas of literacy, digital technology, and storytelling, will

continue to expand to create alternative learning spaces where individuals and groups can define and redefine themselves, through the creation of authoritative texts.

• The use of digital storytelling has dramatically emphasized the role of multimedia and multimodality as a powerful form of communication and means of representing self, family, community, and social worlds.

• We would argue that digital storytelling are one example of what constitutes an expected part of a person’s literate repertoire. It is especially exciting that unlike traditional essays, digital stories, through their combination of image, music, sound, and text, seem to engage young communicators and to provide an especially potent way to perform a self.

References• Agency for Instructional Technology. (2008). Technos interview with Jason Ohler. Retrieved from Agency for

Instructional Technology: http://www.ait.net/technos/e-zine/interviews/jason_ohler.php • Barrett, H. (2006). Researching and evaluating digital storytelling as a deep learning tool. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.),

Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2006. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

• Bates & Poole. (2003). A framework for selecting and using technology. In Effective teaching with technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. • Coulter, C., Michael, C., Poynor, L. (2007). Storytelling as pedagogy: An unexpected outcome of narrative inquiry.

Curriculum Inquiry. 37:(2), 103-121. • Czarnecki, K. (2009). How digital storytelling builds 21st century skills. Digital Storytelling in Practice. Chicago: Library

Technology Reports. • Egan, K. (1988). Teaching as storytelling: An alternative approach to teaching and the curriculum. London: Routledge. • Lambert, J. (2009). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community. Berkeley CA: Digital Diner Press. • Laird, R. (2011) Proceedings form SD43 Pro-D conference 2011. Technology and its effects on child development. Slides

retrieved from http://slides.rosslaird.com/teachers.html5.html#slide18 • Meadows, D. (2003). Digital storytelling:research-based practice new media. Visual Communication, 2(2) 189-193. • Ohler, J. (2006). The world of digital storytelling. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 44-47. • Ohler, J. (2008). Digital storytelling in the classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. • Robin, B. (2008) Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom. Theory Into Practice,

47(3), 220-228.

What is Podcasting?

• Are digital media files, both audio and video, that can be subscribed to and downloaded

• RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology allows an aggregator program, like iTunes, to download and sort podcasts automatically

• The word comes from combing the word iPod, Apple’s almost ubiquitous Mp3 player, and broadcasting

Why Podcasting

• “Podcasting is not simply a new way to distribute audio recordings; it is a form of expression, or interaction, of community building” (Geoghegan and Klass, 2005)

• There are many uses of podcasts in an educational system but these purposes can be broken down into two overarching categories:– Content delivery– Knowledge Creation or Active Learning

Podcasts as Content Delivery

Carvalho & Aguiar (2009) identified seven uses that can contribute to the learning process:1. Assist auditory learners2. Provide another channel for material review3. Assist non-native speakers4. Provide feedback to learners5. Enable instructors to review lectures or lessons6. Replace full classroom lectures or online sessions 7. Provide supplementary content

Examples of How Educational Podcasts Have Been Used

• Summarizations of key points, or quick snapshots of particular topic (Carvalho & Aguiar, 2009)

• Discussions between experts and students or educators on a particular topic (Carvalho & Aguiar, 2009)

• Textbook study guides, or commentaries on readings and/or authors (Salaberry, 2001)

• Skill based tutorials, such as the teaching of 3D modeling and software use (Salaberry, 2001)

• Foreign language lessons, particularly focused on pronunciation (Salaberry, 2001)

• Instructions, and or class announcements (Carvalho & Aguiar, 2009)

Podcast Length

• Length depends ultimately on purpose on content• Scottish Council for Educational Technology (1994)

reported that audio under 30 minutes is useful for conveying details and facts, and over 30 minutes is useful for general opinions and arguments

• There is no hard and firm rule then, but general consensus is that 5 – 15 minutes is appropriate length for content delivery podcasts (Chan et al., 2006; Geoghegan & Klass, 2005; Cebeci and Tekdal, 2006)

Individualized Content

• Podcasts are personal experiences that allow learners to engage with what they want when they want

• This increases learner efficacy and also increases the opportunities for learning by making the process more convenient

• Also podcasts can be used while engaging in the content, for example while learning about a concept learners can also be practicing the concept

Case Study – Tourism and Podcasts

• Park ranger guided tours have occurred at Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks in the United Sates, since the 1860s

• The are considered to be one of the most effective ways to educate visitors on the natural, historical and cultural features of a park

• Guided tours have also been linked to increasing stewardship and pro-environmental behaviour

• Budget cuts have reduced the availability and variety of these tours however, and a more cost effective alternative

(Myunghwa & Ulrike, 2012)

Case-Study cont.

• In 2006 the National Park Service began offering interpretive podcasts on historical, nature related or environmental topics

• By 2008, 18 national parks offered podcasts, providing hundreds of audio and video podcasts for park visitors

• A visitor to a park can now choose a tour based on their interest and experience it at their own pace

Research• Podcasts are much more cost-effective than tours

and they are able to be individualized in a way that tours cannot be

• However park ranger led tours are able to enhance stewardship and in general visitors experiences at the park

• Myunghwa Kang and Ulrike Gretzel, sought to determine the impact of podcasts on a visitors experience at a park

• Over ten days they surveyed and interviewed 221 participants and analyzed the results

Results

• In general social responses to a narrator’s voice led to enhanced experiences, of enjoyment and escape

• Individuals were most moved by podcasts with multiple narrators and by topics that they were able to choose

• A natural and conversational narrator was the most effective speaker tone and connected with the listener on the greatest level

• Podcasts also increased positive experiences and lead to greater intentions to engage in stewardship

(Myunghwa & Ulrike, 2012)

Conclusions

• This study had several limitations, but it does strongly indicate that podcasts have the ability to influence actions and feelings

• It also indicates that individuality and choice play a significant role in the effectiveness of podcasts

• Finally it also indicated that podcasts tend to be most effective with multiple narrators in a conversational setting

User Driven Content

• Podcasts are most commonly used in delivering content, and as a result often just extend current pedagogy

• By refocusing podcasts they can be used as tools for user driven content

• In this way podcasts move learning from a passive experience to an active one

Digital Audio Learning Objects (DALOs)

• DALOs are podcasts, or similar audio recordings, that are collaboratively built and hosted in away that they can be reused

• They provide students the opportunity to engage in knowledge and build on it to produce community based artifacts

• They also allow future learners to engage in their content and ‘remix’ them to enhance or elaborate on the knowledge

(Lee, McLoughlin, and Chan, 2008)

Key Features of Digital Audio Learning Objects

• Simple to produce: Have a well-defined and limited scope, so that they can be easily planned, made and reused

• Immediate: High-end technology is not necessary and allows for cheap and quick production

• Educationally focuses: Clear and well-defined learning objective

• Reusable: Should be able to be interpreted according to the needs of different learning contexts, either within the same or in a different course

• Engaging: Audio is best used selectively, to capture attention, summaries and ‘add colour’ to the learning experience

(Lee, McLoughlin, and Chan, 2008)

Research on DALOs• Mark Lee, Catherine McLoughlin and Anthony Chan

(2008) examined the efficacy of DALOs in a university setting

• Students were self selected from a cohort studying a first level information technology unit at Charles Stuart University

• Students collaborated in groups of five and were tasked with, scriptwriting, casting, recording, and publishing of the podcast

• The groups worked on a variety of podcast topics and formats, but all with a general focus on internet technology

Sample Podcast TopicsTopic Format Knowledge Focus

‘Oops I missed my first lecture’

Two students talk about what happened the first week of class

Reflections on content of the first lecture

‘Right to copy or copyright?’

Student interviewed University copyright coordinator

Discussion around copyright and how it effects students

‘HCI today’ Student interviewed a UK-based textbook author over the internet using skype

Coverage of topical issues of current interest to Human-Computer Interaction

Topic Summaries

Various formats – personal reflections, mailbag questions, round table conversations

Summaries of topics covered in lecture, usually to give an alternative perspective

Case Studies Various formats Assortment of studies connecting topics in the study schedule with practical application

(Lee, McLoughlin & Chan 2008)

Data Collection and Analysis• To better understand the knowledge-creation

process inherent in DALOs focus groups were arranged and interviewed

• An open ended survey was arranged and participants were encouraged to discuss their feeling with one another as well as the interviewer

• The data was analyzed with a content analysis strategy that sought to not only count variables but also to interpret these variables through theoretical focus

Results of the Study

• Indicated that knowledge-building occurred through out the process

• Idea generation, collective problem solving, and the exchange and revision of ideas were all evident

• Some areas of knowledge-building like progressive problem solving were more developed than others

• However some areas like the use of authoritative sources were not as evident during the process

Conclusions of the Study

• The study was limited by a small sample size and no global claims could be derived from the study

• In general though the study does support the idea that DALOs are useful knowledge building tools

• The collaborative nature of the process ensured an ongoing dialogue between the participants and encouraged ownership of their learning

• The study also showed the potential for podcasts to be used as more than a delivery content tool

Overall• Podcasts have numerous uses in an educational

environment, but are most effectively used as a way to deliver content and as an active learning tool

• They allow for learners to choose what they want to learn and when they want to learn it

• They also allow for learners to participate in knowledge building, taking their learning from the abstract and situating it in a practical experience

• Podcasts are most effective when they are used to supplement the learner’s experience and are not the sole means of content delivery

• Their main strength lies in their versatility; in almost any situation podcasts can be used to enhance the learner experience

References Part 2• Carvalho & Aguiar. (2009). Impact of podcasts in teachers education : from consumers to producers. Association for the

Advancement of Computing in Education. Retrieved November 11, 2013, from http://hdl.handle.net/1822/9920 • Chan, A. & Lee, M. (2005). An MP3 a Day Keeps the Worries Away: Exploring the use of podcasting to address

preconceptions and alleviate pre-class anxiety amongst undergraduate information technology students. In Student Experience Conference 2005 – Good Practice in Practice (pp. 59-71). Charles Sturt University.

• Cebeci, Z. & Tekdal, M. (2006). Using podcasts as audio learning objects. Interdisciplinary Journal • of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 2, 47–57.• Geoghegan, M., & Klass, D. (2005). Podcast Solutions: the complete guide topodcasting. Friendsofed: Apress.• Guertin, L., Bodek, M. J., Zappe, S. & Kim, H. (2007). Questioning the Student Use of and Desire for Lecture Podcasts.

MERLOT – Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(2), pp. 1-9.• Lee, McLoughlin, and Chan (2008) Talk the talk: Learner-generated podcasts as catalysts for knowledge creation, British

Journal of Educational Technology 39(3), 501-521• McDonald & Hawcroft (2011) Sound selection: podcasts prove positive, The Australian Library Journal, 60(3), 231-236,• Myunghwa & Ulrike (2012) Effects of podcast tours on tourist experiences in a national park, Tourism Management 33,

440-455• Roy, AK & Roy, PA. (2007) Intersection of training and podcasting in adult education. Australian Journal of Adult

Learning, 47 (3), 479-91• Salaberry, M. R. (2001). The use of technology for second language learning and teaching: a retrospective. The Modern

Language Journal, 85, 1, 39–56.• Scottish Council for Educational Technology (1994). Audio. Technologies in learning (pp. 24–25). • Glasgow, Scotland, UK: SCET.• Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27, 4–

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