The ‘Digital Storytelling at Goldsmiths’ Initiative
Digital Storytelling Workshop - 21st June 2011 from10:00 to 15:00
Goldsmiths Learning Enhancement Unit (GLEU) has been awarded a grant from the Goldsmiths Annual Fund to facilitate the development of Digital Storytelling for learning and teaching. As part of this initiative, we are planning to run in collaboration with Digi Tales (www.digi-tales.org.uk) a Digital Storytelling workshop on 21st June 2011 from10:00 to 15:00
By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:
- Identify what Digital Storytelling is and does.
- Explore how Digital Storytelling can be used.
- Articulate an awareness of the requirements in planning and producing a Digital Storytelling project (essential storytelling literacies: digital, media, art, oral literacy, written literacy; digital equipment such as digital cameras, voice recorders and digital video cameras and simply software tools).
- Explore how Digital Storytelling can be used as a reflective tool in learning and teaching.
- Produce in a small group a simple digital story project outline as a future project with the support of GLEU
Lunch and coffee is provided
Who can participate?
We welcome students, academics and academic-related staff from all backgrounds who are interested in using digital storytelling in their teaching practice.
Sign up or find out more
Contact Fotios Begklis (f.begklis@gold.ac.uk )
1. Digital storytelling
In the light of work done by the Centre for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley California, the term “digital story” is most strongly associated with a 3-5 minute video produced by someone who is not a media professional, typically constructed as a thought piece on an experience that is important to the author. The simplicity of the process, and the fact that the technology required is fairly basic and easy to use, means that the focus is on the story rather than the technology.
Digital storytelling offers new ways for students to present and reflect upon their work. It enhances students' experience by encouraging personal ownership, reflection and self-discovery and promotes engagement, technical and non-technical skills and the accomplishment of a project (Barrett, 2006). Storytelling requires the active use of prior knowledge and experience, thus enriching the cognitive resources which are available for future narrative thought and analysis (McDrury & Alterio, 2003). Narrative is a powerful method for people to make sense of their identity and experiences. This has been recognised in many fields including psychology, journalism, anthropology and social work (Goldstein, 1990, quoted in Nygren & Blom, 2001). The development of digital literacies are also an important and useful facet of digital storytelling. Arguably, it is increasingly important for students to be IT / digitally literate, so learning and teaching methods which promote digital literacy could be increasingly important. (Brown, 2005)
Research in educational theory shows evidence that storytelling has a significant impact in how students learn. One of the biggest impacts is its ability to connect the subject matter to a personal experience of the learner, allowing for a more powerful exploration of the content being studied. (Abrahamson, 1998) Abrahamson concludes that stories “develop an active context for learning and remarkable ownership of learning, both in terms of process and content.” (p. 450)
2. Tell me a story: Some examples of Digital Stories
Within higher education digital storytelling is most common within education departments, reflecting the use in schools, and also in media production departments (McWilliam, 2009: 46). McLellan (2006: 73), while recognising that digital storytelling has applications in a range of disciplines, prioritises its use for personal stories, digital story archives, memorial stories, vocational stories, educational stories and stories in medicine and health. This wider pattern of usage has been evidenced from the University of Gloucestershire case studies (Landscape Design, Football in the Community, Voices from the Flood and Managing change), were outlined some of the ways that digital storytelling has been used within different disciplines and pedagogical contexts (Transforming higher education through technology-enhanced learning, 2009). At the University of Leeds, four case studies were performed across a range of disciplines (Performance Arts, Education and ICT, Dietetics and Medicine). A variety of technologies were used to obtain digital multimedia artefacts to facilitate reflective learning. At the end of the project, tutors considered that digital storytelling enhanced reflective learning, especially for students who did not have a preference for written approaches. (Final report, 2009)
Some examples of digital stories:
- Capture Wales: BAFTA-award winning project
- Pathfinder project: University of Gloucestershire
- Elke Kramer in True Design: a digital storytelling project
- Breaking Barriers
3. What students and academics have said about using digital storytelling process to facilitate reflective learning:
“I enjoyed the experience; I had been more honest and creative – unafraid to include more obscure ideas that could be better understood when accompanied by image/sound.” [Performing Arts Student, Leeds Univeristy](Final report, 2009)
“… presentations allow you to have many references (sound, image, etc) thus provoking imagination, logical consequence and comprehension” [Education Student, Leeds Univeristy](Final report, 2009)
“I was looking for something that would be enabling ... to perhaps be more free thinking.” (Module Leader for ‘Managing Change’, Gloucestershire University)(Transforming higher education through technology-enhanced learning, 2009)