Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling: Are We Doing Well?

The digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21^st century classroom is an academic article that presents the history of digital storytelling and how it has been applied in different ways in classrooms. In the article, they reinforced the importance of including technology tools in educational institutions, yet adding computers is not enough and does not provide any valuable experience to students’ knowledge. This academic tool allows students to create a more critical and creative thinking; however, this is useless if professors do not know how to combine education and technology. This article also evidence the excellent results that not only technological material but also digital storytelling brings to students and professors. They also describe the three main categories in which storytelling can be divided. Also, they mentioned the TPCK (Technological pedagogical content knowledge) which means that a professor should have knowledge about a specific content, the use of technological tools, and also about connecting those elements coherently with the curriculum content. At the final part of the article they make a connection between recent researches and what it is happening in classrooms. This article presents three main aspects related to current situations in education.

First, this article shows the importance of improving certain essential abilities through different methodologies that are ignored nowadays. One of the main abilities that is the key to success in different life areas is creativity. Education plays an important role at this point because schools are the place where children can improve their creativity and imagination; on the other hand, as a popular TED expositor explained current schools are killing creativity. The article explained that digital storytelling offers the opportunity to create new ideas that develop and improve this type of skills. Based on that, students can create their own story individually or in groups. Also, schools should incentive students to think critically. Professors should teach students to express their ideas and to defend them, so they will be able to have a strong opinion about different topics or situations. If we teach students this, they will have the ability to analyze different situations and to be able to discuss their opinions. How can we teach students to think critically? The article mentioned that students who create storytelling involve their feelings and thoughts in order to have a more critical view. Besides, educational organizations should create experiences where students can develop different abilities and competences. According to Robin (2008), “Students develop enhanced communication skills as they learn to conduct research on a topic, ask questions, organize their ideas, express opinions, and construct meaningful narratives”. These skills are obtained throughout the education process, but the problem is that some professors are more concerned about teaching the topics and evaluating them that they forget other responsibilities. For example, here in Costa Rica I have had professors that spend their time in useless activities based on textbooks instead of taking advantage of time. It is important to develop these skills because in that way students will be more prepared to the future and they will be more competent. 

Also, digital storytelling will help not only to understand the content but also to improve their academic abilities. The first reason is that students are reading more because they should read from different sources to create their own storytelling, and it is important because today’s students do not like reading. Storytelling incentive students’ imagination and creativity, but also different perspectives and opinions about a specific topic, which will increase the information that they will present. In addition, more reading in schools means more vocabulary and knowledge; on the other hand, non-English speakers will improve their reading, writing and oral skills with this technique. Here in Costa Rica is very common that students complain about reading an article or a story, yet with digital storytelling they will have an entertaining learning alternative. Also, with digital storytelling students learn to summarize. This will avoid plagiarism since schools; consequently, high school and college students will have a previous knowledge about summarizing or paraphrasing. Finally, digital storytelling can be applied in different areas, categories and contents. According to Robin (2008), “Researchers such as Burmark (2004) have found that integrating visual images with written text both enhances and accelerates student comprehension, and digital storytelling is an especially good technology tool for collecting, creating, analyzing, and combining visual images with written text”. Digital storytelling is a functional technique because professors can apply it in different subjects. This type of technological tool will help students in their future researches and comprehend the content.  

Finally, as it was mentioned in the article, teachers need to know how to include technological tools as digital storytelling in their classrooms. In this way, teachers should learn what technological techniques are more effective for including them as educational tools. Against many current teachers’ thoughts, technology does not mean computers. According to Robin (2008), “Teachers do not know how to apply technology in the classroom while teaching digital storytelling allows computer users to become creative storytellers through the traditional processes of selecting a topic, conducting some research, writing a script, and developing an interesting story”. Also, more prepared teachers implicate more motivated students. If there is a positive classroom environment there will be in consequence appropriate lessons, classes more attractive, and the content will be explained correctly. Consequently, the students will be more interested and the technology will be applied correctly. Finally, professors should know not only about technology, but to match it with the curriculum and the content. In the article, they called this TPCK or technological pedagogical content knowledge, and it refers that teachers should know about technological tools and how to apply them in the curriculum. If professors apply correctly this technique, then the educational process will be effective too. In addition, if professors are prepared, then the students will graduate and will enter to college ready to solve problems.  

In brief, these three main aspects should be included in today’s education because they improve the learning process. It is important to engage and motivate students because they spend at least eleven years during the primary and secondary process in classrooms. This will help students to understand appropriately the content and to be active participants in their learning process, so they are the owners of their knowledge and not just listeners of the content. On the other hand, this will be only possible if professors accept this challenge and start to include this successful techniques in their classrooms.  I think as a future teacher that each professor needs to keep learning about innovative tools and techniques no matter how many years have we being teaching. Are we doing well? Maybe, but it is time to improve our teaching perspectives.

Bibliography

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21^st Century Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47, 220-228. Retrieved November 15, 2017 from: http://digitalstorytellingclass.pbworks.com/f/Digital+Storytelling+A+Powerful.pdf