Digital Storytelling Reflection

Cheyenne Marski

Education Department, Southeastern Oklahoma State University

EDUC 5333- Digital Storytelling

Dr. Kate Shannon

December 10th, 2023

 Truong-White and McLean (2017) discuss how digital storytelling tends to highlight

systemic dominance and challenges the status quo. In the student examples of climate change

curriculum in digital media, students had a tendency to highlight their own privileges and then

reflected upon what impact they could make (p. 15-18). However, the students in India were

more inclined to make changes in their community, while the student in the American school

used a call to action for people in the western world. The kids in my community are somewhere

in the middle of Truong-White and McLean’s (2017) cited communities. Many of them come

from rural Mexican environments but their families have immigrated to the United States. My

students have experienced living in a developing country in comparison to living in the United

States, but they also understand that there are distinct class differences between themselves and

people their peers from local communities. In my project, my student (Ruben) discussed how he

felt uncomfortable in the predominantly white, middle-class Mustang High School because of

the dances, the loudness, and their intensity. However, he also noted that the students from these

communities were not disrespectful to anyone, and that he was capable of learning some

leadership ideas from these kids.

However, what Ruben and I did not mention is that we were the only school in the

leadership conference that was not invited to collaborate or visit another school. In my students

minds, that just cemented the “us vs. them” mentality that many of them seem to have. Digital

storytelling, in conjunction with digital collaboration, might be a solution that takes us away

from our district and allows us to see new modes of collaboration. Digital storytelling can do a

lot of good in a community that is insulated or doesn’t have a weath of resources because it

makes that community less insulated. In an educational environment, students can freely express

their thoughts and feelings about their lives and community without the voice only going to one
person. Additionally, in our current state of evieducation, having digitaldence of what students

and faculty are thinking and doing is extremely helpful to community members coming into a

school or district. All members have to acknowledge that educational communities are constantly

changing for a variety of reasons. Staff, faculty, and students are bound to change, and constantly

restarting traditions in school environments builds little sense of community. Digital storytelling

can express benefits and drawbacks, provide the record of a journey, and express collaborative

experiences. Long-term, this information is invaluable to all stakeholders. Thematic expressions

of stories can be noted, notes of improvements or failings can be tracked, and stakeholders can

have honest community opinions from students without fear of their voice being stifled. There is

nothing more concrete thaa something posted on the internet for all to see, and this is the type of

thing that younger community stakeholders find to be relevant and compelling evidence.
 Sources

Truong-White, H. and McLean, L. (2015). Digital storytelling for transformative global

citizenship education. Canadian Society for Education, 38(2), 1-28.