digital storytelling and student engagement
DESCRIPTION
Eunice Ivala's presentation at ICEL 2012TRANSCRIPT
E. Ivala; A. Chigona; D. Gachago & J. Condy
DIGITAL STORYTELLING AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:
A CASE STUDY OF PRE-SERVICE STUDENT-TEACHERS AND THEIR LECTURERS’ AT A UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
E. Ivala; A. Chigona; D. Gachago & J. Condy
Cape Town
Rationale for the study
Low student success rate
Evidence shows enhancing student engagement increases academic performance
Little is known about effective approaches to create student sustained engagement with learning resources
Aim of the study
Potential of digital storytelling in enhancing student engagement
29 – 4th year pre-service students-teachers and their lecturers.
Professional development course
Draws from Andersons (2003) model of interactions
Images
What is a digital story?
Digital Stories
Short
(3-5min)First personvideo-narrative
Combination of
text, images and sound Video
clips
Off the shelve
software
Digital Storytelling Projects
Product:A 3-5-minutes powerful and personally meaningful story
Reflect-on-actio
n:
7 roles o
f a
teacher
8 WeeksSeed story
Digital Storytelling Model
Recording story & adding
sound (Audacity)
Collecting images
Putting it all together into MovieMaker
Presentation day
Sharing story
Writing story
start
Methodology
A literature review on digital storytelling and student engagement
3 student focus group interviews conducted
1 focus group interview with 4 facilitators of the project
Data was analysed focusing on identification of conceptual themes and issues emerging from the data(Miles & Huberman 1994).
Literature Review
Digital stories and student engagement
Promote learner-centered approach
Encourage creativity and writing
Make students voice heard through their stories
Students are emotionally involved in process
The multi-modality and novelty effect of the medium
DS increase engagement through interactivity between students, students and lecturers and students and content.
Literature Review
Digital stories and student engagement
Little research is done internationally and nationally on DS and student engagement
Adoption of DS in conventional education setting is currently limited
The study aimed to further research in the field and to contribute an effective approach to enhancing student engagement with their studies.
Theoretical Framework
Andersons (2003) model of learning interaction The model describes educational communication as being made of:
Figure 1: Learning interactions. Source: Veletsianos (2010: 25).
Theoretical Framework
Deep meaningful learning
Surface learning
Student-student interactionlow medium high
Student-content interaction
Student-teacher interaction
low medium high
low medium high
Theoretical Framework
low medium high
Student-student interaction
Student-teacher interaction
Student-content interaction
x
low medium high
low medium high
x
x
Deep meaningful learning
Surface learning
Results and Discussion
Digital storytelling and the enhancement of student engagement
Students and facilitators reported that digital storytelling enhanced students engagement with the subject matter, at home and on campus.
Factors which led to the increased engagement were:
Factors for increased
engagement
Study beyond classroo
m
Motivation
Controlled learning
Peer learning
Extended opportunities for study beyond the classroom time
Staff B: …there were some students who would use every Wednesday (8:30am to 12.00pm-[the normal timeslot for the lecture]) and sit the whole day … from 8: 00 to 5: 00 pm in the lab on campus and work on their stories … and looked for pictures during the week… and then I think there were a lot who just came in the morning, got their information and did it on their own time at home or on campus.
Student E: … I got a lot help at home. So people at home and friends of mine outside campus, they knew quite a lot about the programs I was using. So they were able to help me in that respect. But as far as editing my story and saying maybe include this, maybe take out this, that’s where my colleagues helped me [on campus].
Motivation to interact with the subject matter-the seven roles of a teacher
Student B: ...its [producing a digital story] was so much exciting than rather doing …all the paper based assignments that we always have to do…you know it actually was something that we wanted to come, we wanted to do it and we loved every minute of it. It’s not often that you get an assignment that you actually really enjoy doing.
Student control of their own learning
Student D: …its [producing of digital stories] is very personalized. It comes from your perspective and then other people can relate to that…whereas when you write something [paper based assignment] it comes out very factual especially at this university level…people read something that you’ve written and they have a slightly different interpretation as you do in your head. Whereas this [digital story] …The mood is set and the pictures are there to show things from how you experience it and how you see it.
Peer learning and increased student-lecturer interactions
Peer learning
Student E: … Because like [student] C knew exactly what was going on with all the programming, whereas with writing and stuff, I would be fine on my own. Just like [student] A, but without C my movie would have been very different and without sort of D saying this sounds good, that sounds bad, we bounced ideas off each other.
Peer learning and increased student-lecturer interactions
Student-lecturer interactions
Staff C: … interpersonal relationships with the students. That
was really interesting because initially we showed them a video
and they tried to copy what they saw. And in the first instances
you had to basically get them away from what they saw and
get them to be busy with the seven roles of the teacher and
that took a bit of confrontation….the moment they realized
what they had to do, then they allowed me in and there was an
incredible mix, … a linkage between me and the students.
Student F: I also did most of my work at home like writing the
story and …asking the lecturers maybe to edit and just check if
my story is according to how it’s supposed to be… is it
according to the criteria.
Summary of findings
More opportunities for deep learning
High student engagement
Enhanced student motivation and interest in the subject matter
Hence deep understanding of the subject matter.
Conclusion and recommendation
Digital storytelling is an effective approach for enhancing student engagement
Hence should be recognized and supported as an alternative method of learning and assessment in teacher education
A question of sustainability and replication to other disciplines remains- further research
Acknowledgment
I would like to acknowledge the students who have taken part in this study for their input in this research. I would also like to thank CPUT RIFTAL funding which made this research possible.
