Digital Storytelling in the Time of COVID: Developing Writing Pedagogies with Students

Framework

Humans are natural storytellers and by engaging students in the act of storytelling, teachers can help them to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Gaeta et al., 2014) while facilitating their ability to make sense of the world and their personal experiences (Egan, 1988; Rambe & Mlambo, 2014; Wyatt-Smith & Kimber, 2009). Digital Storytelling, short movies that combine “the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia” (e. g, images, audio, and video), has been popular in K-12 classrooms since the early 1990s (Robin, 2006, p. 1). These short movies typically take the form of one of three types—personal narrative, historical events, or informational/instructional. Each of the different formats of digital stories must contain seven elements--point of view, a dramatic question, emotional content, the creators voice, music, under three minutes long, and appropriately paced (Robin, 2006). The continued popularity of digital storytelling in the classroom can be attributed to the instructional benefits they provide students and teachers.

Perhaps the primary benefit of integrating digital stories into the classroom is the development of traditional literacy skills. Creating digital stories can improve writing (Shelby-Caffey, Úbéda, & Jenkins, 2014; Alismail, 2015) by engaging students in a “continual process of planning, writing, and creating,” including “constant revision as students evaluate whether the story works and is appropriate for the intended audience” (Yearta, Helf, & Harris, 2018, p. 15). The digital nature of these stories allows them to be placed online and shared with a wider, authentic audience, which has been shown to prompt students to spend more time planning (Graham & Harris, 2013) and revising their stories (Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009) as well as being more active and invested in the writing process (Yearta, Helf, & Harris, 2018). Through sharing their stories with an authentic audience, students come to understand that being part of a collective conversation means listening and learning about ourselves and one another (Yearta, Helf, & Harris, 2018, p. 15). This process can assist in the development of a sense of community (Bromley, 2010; Lambert, 2013; Cunningham, 2015), an understanding of each other and the world (Cunningham, 2015; Lambert, 2013; Rief, 2016), creation of empathy and perspective taking (Garcia & Rossiter, 2010; Yearta, Helf, & Harris, 2018), and build an emotional connection to the content they are learning about (Revisited p. 196). Digital storytelling has also been linked to gains in students’ reading fluency and oral language skills (Campbell and Hlusek 2015; Morgan, 2014; Isbell et al. 2004). Morgan writes about the benefits of creating digital storytelling circles to improve student reading. Fluency and vocabulary can also be improved when teachers assign students to work collaboratively with a peer on their stories (Morgan, 2014) and encourage them to use new words in their stories (Royer & Richards, 2008). Morgan also asserts that creating digital stories can be used to excite reluctant readers about literacy.

In addition to the development of traditional literacy skills, the integration of digital stories in the classroom provides teachers with the opportunity to engage students in the development of several New Literacies. As noted by Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, and Henry (2013) “new literacies build upon foundational literacies rather than replace them completely” (p. 5). Communication through traditional literacies, reading and writing, will take new forms as text is combined with new media that allows multiple modes of communication (Leu et al., 2013, p. 5). By incorporating digital storytelling into their instruction, teachers allow students to demonstrate learning through multiple modes of communication (Miller & McVee, 2012), which in turn can expand their understanding of what “counts as valued communication” (Hull & Nelson, 2005, p. 253). Johnson and Kendrick (2016) explain that

Working with different modes and their respective cognitive and affective qualities challenged the students to take different approaches to thinking about their experiences. The process of choosing an appropriate image further involved considering which image best represented his own experience of that emotion through design elements such as color, light, perspective, and foregrounding. Finally, selecting music (i.e., thinking musically) required paying attention to the overall structure of a piece and its elements, such as tempo, dynamics, melody, key, and instrumentation. (p. 672)

Using different modes of communication in a literacy project can “shed new light for students on their experiences and themselves” as well as improve their self-confidence and positive identities and lead to increased feelings of personal achievement and significance (Johnson and Kendrick (2016, p. 673). The multimodal nature of digital storytelling can also assist struggling writers. The limited nature of traditional modes of communication constrains the ability of students to communicate (Kress & Jewitt, 2003). The auditory and visual nature of digital stories provides alternative means for struggling writers to develop their voice and “the opportunity to express themselves in new ways” (Erstad and Silseth, 2008, p. 221).

Digital storytelling also facilitates the development of 21st century literacies (Robin, 2006). Shelby-Caffey, Úbéda, & Jenkins (2014) point out that the development of digital stories often requires students to conduct research, providing students with an opportunity to develop the necessary skills 21st century literacies associated with reading on the internet to locate, analyze, synthesize, and communicate information (Leu et al., 2013). Robin (2016) identifies a number of other literacies associated with 21st century literacies that student develop when creating digital stories:

Digital Literacy - the ability to communicate with an ever-expanding community to discuss issues, gather information, and seek help);

Global Literacy - the capacity to read, interpret, respond, and contextualize messages from a global perspective; Technology Literacy - the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance;

Visual Literacy - the ability to understand, produce and communicate through visual images; Information Literacy - the ability to find, evaluate and synthesize information. (p. 21)

Additional benefits of digital storytelling in the classroom include enhancing student’s communication skills by “learning to organize their ideas, ask questions, express opinions, and construct narratives” (Robin, 2006, p. 4) as well as promoted student engagement and reflection (Robin, 2016; Ribeiro, 2016). This includes prompting pre- and inservice teachers in self-reflection (Gachago et al., 2013).

Pedagogically, digital storytelling is an effective tool for teaching content knowledge. In the process of creating digital stories, students can develop traditional and new literacies while building community and gaining insight in personal experiences and developing empathy for the experiences of their peers. Digital storytelling can also be used with pre- and in-service teachers to model effective integration of technology to support content instruction and promote reflection.

Methods

This qualitative research study employed a case study design (Merriam, 1998). Qualitative inquiry was selected as the means of observation given that data yielded are “a source of well-grounded, rich descriptions of social processes” (Miles et al., 2020, p. 3). The case was bound by time, experience, and place. Juniors taking both a literacy methods course and a stand-alone technology course in the spring of 2020 were asked to participate in the research inquiry through sharing product and process artifacts of creating a digital story connected to their experience with COVID-19.

Participants

Thirteen students participated in the study. All participants were pre-service teachers at a small, private liberal arts university in a mid-western city and had a double major in elementary education and exceptional children’s education. It is notable that the university is in a city that experienced a considerable number of demonstrations and protests due to the police killing of a woman of color in the late night/early morning delivery of a search (arrest?) warrant. This is notable because in the course of their digital storytelling, some students connected to the idea of multiple pandemics – not only of COVID, but also the long-lasting disease of racial injustice.

Data Source and Collection

Sources of data included the students’ digital stories, reflective essays about their writing process, and written exit slips completed the day that digital stories were shared in their literacy methods class. The project was initiated in the literacy methods class through an assignment entitled, “Living Life as a Writer.” The purpose of the project was twofold: to engage students in their own authentic writing experience and to give them a means of analyzing and reflecting on their process as the writer. The completed assignment consisted of three parts: two authentic writing pieces (one of these was assigned as a digital story connected to their experience with the pandemic, the other was of a topic and genre completely of the student’s choosing), and a reflective essay chronicling what the student had learning about their own writing process, the role of writing instruction, and ways to engage their future students in the writing process. The assignment was introduced early in the semester. The pandemic digital story was assigned a due date around midterm and the second authentic piece of writing and reflective essay were completed at the end of the semester. Once the assignment was introduced in literacy methods, students explored components of digital stories in their technology integration class. This included reading and discussing relevant articles, identifying key characteristics of digital stories, and analyzing models. Students were given a choice about what software to use in completing their stories including, but limited to I-movie, Photo Story, Movie Maker, and PowerPoint. After working on their digital stories for several weeks, students shared their work in class through an author’s share. Students had opportunities to provide feedback to one another regarding their stories and at the end of the class period they reflected on important walk-aways from the experience from composing and crafting to sharing with peers.

Processes of open coding and in-vivo coding (Miles et al., 2020) were used in analyzing students’ work products (including exit slips from the day the pandemic digital stories were shared, pandemic digital stories, and reflective essays). Codes were assigned by each researcher independently and then collapsed into relevant themes. The sections that follow articulate the patterns that emerged and evidence from artifacts, which supported the presence of a particular concept.

Results

We are currently completing the Findings and Discussion section. Data analysis revealed themes clustering around three central concepts: content and themes of the digital stories, characteristics and craft applied to the digital stories, and instructional implications for their future classrooms. Within the concept of content, themes which emerged included an exploration of dichotomies (or juxtapositions) from the conflict, a feeling of epiphany or insight referred to by some students as “opened my eyes,” and an exploration of time, space, and isolation. Characteristics and digital story writing craft evident in students’ products included purposeful selection of visual images, intentional use of music, and application of narration that created an increased sense of writing voice. As students were participating in methods classes (both for writing and technology integration) consideration of their connection to future teaching practice was important and included reflections on the role of writing and digital storytelling in creating classroom community, means of increasing efficacy and motivation, and the importance of choice in the learning process and through assigned tasks.

Importance

Giving pre-service teachers the opportunity to engage in personal writing around a topic, in this case the pandemic, and requiring them to create a digital story through a cross-class collaboration, afforded students the opportunity to create and present a story that was personally meaningful and make note of how the process was impactful to them in this moment, but how it also would be impactful to their future students. Implications for other teacher educators include: the value of collaboration across methods courses to create authentic, high impact learning experiences and the value of immersing pre-service teachers in opportunities that they could provide for their students (e. g., engaging in personal writing, publishing writing through the digital story, development of digital literacies, and sharing writing as a class). Pre-service teachers noted the power of the experience in building connections with their peers and increasing their sense of themselves as writers and creators of digital content.

Implications

Digital storytelling as a means of publishing students’ writing. Publication heightens students’ sense of purpose and engagement with writing.

Writing as a means to support social-emotional well being by offering an outlet to express ideas, emotions, and experiences

Sharing of writing as a means to build community and create a sense of connectedness and belonging

Benefits of collaboration between methods professors rather than working in silos – through experiencing meaningful technology integration, pre-service teachers were better able to see possibilities and potential for modeling integration

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