Monday, October 17, 2011

Digital Storytelling-playing on children's skills to promote learning


I watch a lot of television.  The funny thing is that compared to the rest of my generation, 5 tv shows per week is actually quite minimal.  However, the influence television has had on my life is profound.  When watching a show like Modern Family, I have been able to relate to, and laugh at some of the major issues that complicate family life today.  When watching a show like Law and Order SVU, I have been informed of many different laws in our government.  The news gives me insight into different historical events taking place around the world.  Television can be considered a form of digital storytelling, taking into account the three main examples of a narrative, informative, and historical format for storytelling.
            As we know, most children watch an overwhelming amount of TV.  Because they are exposed on a daily basis, to some form of digital storytelling, it seems only logical that we should utilize this technology to enhance and promote learning.  As Robin’s article on the Educational uses of Digital Storytelling explains, using digital storytelling “can generate interest, attention and motivation for the "digital generation" students in today’s classrooms.”  It also seems important to further develop our student’s abilities to function in the technological world.  Using digital storytelling, we promote technological literacy.
            As Robin relates, there are some challenges when using digital storytelling as an effective learning device.  Taking into account how time-consuming it is, a digital story may also be ineffective if a child does not conduct proper research.  Because this learning tool does promote technology, it might be tempting for students to use other Internet sources such as music and images to include in their story.  In this way, they may not produce their own work, and there might be intellectual property issues.  To combat these challenges, it is important to sufficiently explain the parameters surrounding a digital storytelling project.  It seems they should be used to enhance a topic or theme of study, rather than independently teach that subject matter.
            Furthermore, as Blagojevi et. Al. explains, digital storytelling may also be used to promote many different methods of expression.  For example, with a dual-language learner, using digital storytelling to promote literacy will also allow the student to utilize his skills in visual (artistic), and auditory (music) capacities to access subject matter.  This seems like an invaluable tool for all students, as we know that everyone has a different way of learning.  Just as I tend to be more of an auditory/verbal learner, my students might be more comfortable using visual enhancements to help process of explain their thinking.  In this way, digital storytelling not only promotes technology usage, but also enhances all methods of learning in a familiar fashion.
          Rebecca Gotlib

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