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Digital Storytelling Student ID in Higher Education

Thesis · July 2014

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Sandra Ribeiro
Polytechnic Institute of Porto
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Abstract
Identity achievement is related
to personality, as well as
cognitive and interpersonal
development. In tandem with the
deep structural changes that
have taken place in society,
education must also shift
towards a teaching approach
focused on learning and the
overall development of the
student. The integration of
technology namely Digital
Storytelling (DS) may be the
aggregator capable of
humanizing Higher Education
(HE) while developing essential
skills and competences.
Grounded on an interpretative/
constructivist paradigm, we
implemented a qualitative case
study to explore DS in HE. We
found participants to be the
ultimate gatekeepers in our
study. Very few students and
teachers voluntarily came forth
to take part in the study,
confirming that the challenge
remains in getting participants
to see the value and understand
the academic rigor of DS.
Despite this reluctance, DS
proved to be an asset for
teachers and students directly
and indirectly involved in the
study. Besides the
technological-related
advantages, DS seems to
challenge HE contexts, namely
regarding teacher established
perception of students;
thestudent’s own expectations
regarding learning in HE; the
emotional realm; the private vs.
public dichotomy and the shift
in educational roles.
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Digital Storytelling
Student ID in Higher Education
Sandra Ribeiro,
António Moreira, Cristina Pinto da Silva
Department of Communication and Arts and Department of
Education, CIDTFF, University of Aveiro
Education today, namely HE, is not merely about transferring consolidated role of emotions and interpersonal relationships in the learning process; the
or developed knowledge. There is a need for a range of generic skills that technological evolution of storytelling towards DS – the Californian model
are relevant for society, essential for employability, and overall citizenship according to Lambert (2002) – and its connections to identity and education.
such as applying knowledge in practice; adapting to new situations;
information management skills; autonomy; team work; organizing and Conclusion
planning; oral and written communication; without ignoring interpersonal Digital Stories are puzzles. Each story presents one of the many possible
skills (see European Commission for Education and Training Framework as self-representations, inseparably connected with the micro, meso and macro
well as the Partnership for 21st Skills, in addition to the state of the art context. We were able to identify a continuum throughout the DS process:
literature on these topics). Thus, we posit Digital Storytelling is the adhesive student self-perception almost always coincides with teacher perception of
force capable of aggregating what research has identified as core. DS is the student, indicating that perhaps everyday teacher/student interaction is
capable of integrating different literacies and language skills, as it combines enough to obtain the adequate insights into who our students are. However,
multimedia researching, production and presentation skills with more all participants admitted that DS had a significant impact on them and was
traditional activities like writing and oral production skills. In practice, DS essential to provide the missing pieces and deeper understanding of
compels student to interpret, organize, prioritize, and make meaning of situations and students (e.g. The unexpected, Fig1). Teachers and students
scattered events. Students are forced to reflect on their relationship with professed having undergone a deeper reflection process and understanding
themselves and their relation to others. The preparation and creation phase regarding their own lives, motivations and behaviors and that of others,
requires students to search for and collect audio and visual materials, such confirming the pivotal position of DS in personal and social development.
as images, photos and soundtrack, to support their story and then combine
and organize them in such a way that allows them to create the effect they
want. It obliges students to think critically about the meaning and
Fig 1 / Screenshots of The unexpected
effectiveness of multiple modes (elements) and their combination. This also
Connected to emotion and self-disclosure, interpersonal relationships
confronts students with copyright issues on the Web. The narrative function
influence have significant impact not only at the personal level, but also on
allows students to tell a story with their own voice. Students need to reflect
the academic and the professional realms. However, the personal is still
and decide on what to disclose. They are able to record and edit their stories
seen as unessential and even uncalled for in HE by teachers and students
as often as they want before finally presenting them to their teachers and
alike. Students are understandably reluctant to talk about themselves and
colleagues, thus being able to improve their work until it is to their liking. DS
what they perceive to be as private and not belonging to the field of
is a personal self-representation, mediated by its limits. Length restrictions
academia.
foster new ways of thinking, creativity and imagination. DS is also user-
generated media, placing the focus on the student instead of the teacher,
In this study, technology drove student participation and involvement.
giving students leeway to cater to their own individual interests and learning
However, our work with DS over the last four years (even the one beyond
styles, toward a more personalized learning context. This however, changes
the scope of this thesis) has revealed, time and time again, that 21st century
classroom dynamics and relationships, putting a spin in traditional lectured-
students often lack even the most basic digital and media literacy skills,
based HE classrooms. Digital Storytelling seems to offer more than an
contradicting the notion that many teachers, who are themselves trying
opportunity to incorporate technology. As a process, Digital Storytelling
desperately to catch up as far as technology is considered, have that our
demonstrates the capacity to aggregate the essence of HE: human
students are from a technology savvy generation (e.g. story in Fig 2).
(personal) development, social relational development, and technology.
The motivation for this project stemmed precisely from the challenges that
teachers and students face in HE, in Portugal, in terms of the integration of Fig 2 / Screenshots of There once was a bird
technology as a means to foster interpersonal relationships using DS.
In this study, students irrefutably argued DS improved their digital and media
Traditional storytelling and educational technology can be said to have
literacy skills. DS is the technological evolution of age-old storytelling
travelled divergent paths in education. While technology has seeped
however, it is not delimited by a specific technology. While technology is
relentlessly into classrooms of all grade levels, storytelling seems to be
spiraling towards inconceivable realities, DS is adaptable and able to
imprisoned in lower grade levels (K-4), and the remaining grade levels
permeate otherwise chaotic experiences with rigor and structure. Yet, DS
continue to intently pursue Portuguese and Mathematics with a strict focus
does demand a wide variety of skills and a new mindset for all those
on standardized, national assessment. This system pervades HE. However,
involved.
research has, time and again, demonstrated the connection between
storytelling and higher-order thinking skills (Bruner, 2004; McAdams, 1993),
References
as well as emotion and cognitive development (Illeris 2003, Damasio 1994).
Bruner, J. (2004). Life as narrative. Social Research: An International
Stories are essential to human communication, learning and thinking. DS
Quarterly, 71(3), 691-710.
allows conjugating storytelling and the latest technologies accessible to our
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' error: emotion, reason, and the human
students for learning purposes. DS addresses story in its multiple,
brain. New York: Putnam.
interrelated elements, as well as visual and media literacies. DS challenges
Illeris, K. (2003). Towards a contemporary and comprehensive theory of
traditional education and established mindsets.
learning. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 22(4), 396-406.
We draw on the literature of multiple subject areas as basis for our work, Lambert, J. (2002). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community.
namely: identity construction and self-representation, within a psychological Berkeley , CA: Digital Diner Press.
and social standpoint; Higher Education (HE) in Portugal after Bologna, McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: personal myths and the
college student development and other intrinsic relationships, namely the making of the self. New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company.