21. S-Curve Diffusion of Digital Storytelling Innovation Digital Storytelling Innovation, T. Duke Traditional Storytelling has been in existence for many years Digital Storytelling grew out of the work of Joe Lambert founder and director of the Center for Digital Storytelling 1800 1993 2011 Diffusion of Digital Storytelling in education continues to grow and expand in style and complexity with the influx of available technology to use to capture stories
Hello Board of Directors! I’m Toni Duke, the Educational Technology Consultant for Oklahoma City Public Schools. Thank you for this opportunity to share with you one of the most innovative technologies for improving reading and writing in education – Digital Storytelling. If you have questions or concerns along the way, please don’t hesitate to stop me during this presentation.
I would like to begin with a cartoon video that talks about the fate of modern education and the growing use of technology. What will our future classrooms look like? I just read an article about Carpe Diem, a 6-12 school in Yuma, Arizona that uses technology predominately for instruction. Our newly elected Oklahoma state superintendent, Janet Barresi, was 'impressed' by the educational performance of this school. This school has 240 students and 6 teachers! The students learn on-line while a few teachers provide support. They then alternate for classroom instruction. Apparently, academic achievement is occurring, as the article stated: "A value added analysis of test scores found that they have the biggest gains in the state of Arizona. Their math results are really off the chart..." Do you see where technology is headed? We must begin to incorporate it into the reading and writing process, and ALL of education! (show video) (Reference: The Way of the Future: Carpe Diem. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://jaypgreene.com/2010/05/27/the-way-of-the-future-carpe-diem/ )
Diffusion of technology in the learning process. Technology should be important to all K-12 educators in this 21 st century. If we don’t equip our students with skills to be competitive in the workforce as well as college and careers, at the same time we are teaching them reading, writing and math, we are doing them a disservice as educators.
Today’s students have to learn skills to help them survive in the 21 st century. Those skills consist largely of technological knowledge. We have to find ways to fully engage today's students. Preparing students for a future we've never seen is a true challenge for educators!
Joe Lambert, originator of the Center for Digital Storytelling, indicates seven necessary elements of an effective digital story. A point of view. The author must have a point that they are targeting to initiate interest in the story. A dramatic question or content must be answered or discussed. If the digital story contains emotional content through pictures, video, or the audio story itself, it is much more interesting to the audience Economy Pacing. The audio (voice) must be paced to align with the video (pictures) The gift of your voice. Students can use a voice recorder or speakers on our laptops to incorporate their voices as they tell their stories. An accompanying soundtrack makes for a compelling and moving story to listen to while the mood is being set. “ The goal of digital storytelling is to allow a writer to experience the power of personal expression” (That quote is by Bull and Kajder, 2004).
The driving aim behind Digital Storytelling is to encourage students to tell stories through the agency of digital media. They will first have to write out their storyboard or plan, so many writing drafts will be created as they work with partners to create this masterpiece. This is where writing skills begin to improve drastically because students realize they will have an audience larger than just the teacher once their projects are complete. The purpose for writing takes on a whole new meaning and level of importance! “ Technology offers a number of opportunities for connecting classrooms with the world. The advent of the Internet has offered unprecedented prospects for classroom connections, but the recent diffusion of digital cameras throughout society offers instructional possibilities as well” (Bull, G. and Kajder, S., 2004).
Rogers indicates that there are 5 stages to the Innovation process: The KNOWLEDGE stage – this is where we first learn of the innovation. When we begin to discuss the innovation with others, sharing it’s benefits and helping to form a positive image of it, we’ve reached the PERSUASION stage. Then comes the DECISION stage when we make a conscious decision to adopt it, and IMPLEMENT it on a regular basis or for our organization (the 4 th stage). The CONFIRMATION stage is the 5 th and final stage that occurs when the benefits of the innovation are determined, recorded, and shared with others.
During the first stage, the knowledge phase, is when students learn the specifics of digital storytelling and all that is involved from beginning of project to completion. The teacher explains the steps to a successful project end, and shares expectations of the students.
During the PERSUASION stage, we’re sharing all of the benefits of digital storytelling with others – ‘persuading’ administrators and teachers that this is a worthy innovation, and we share available data indicating student success. Some of the benefits of digital storytelling are here on the slide….I’ll give you a moment to review them silently. (pause for about 20 seconds) So you see, digital storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories which can greatly enhance the learning-to-write process for students. Perfecting writing skills will take on a new meaning and will become FUN!
This innovation is not only for language arts classes. Any teacher of any subject can assign this out-of-the-box project to excite and motivate students. Students are always anxious to use technology. What better way than to write, edit, collaborate, and put together a video project with their voices narrating!
Please watch this Youtube Video of a digital story example. A Math teacher describes her fear and eventual calmness about teaching math via a video story.
Here is another example of a personal narration of a lady’s childhood expressed through a wonderful digital story, complete with animations, music, narration – this is a perfect example of possible student work. See how much pre-writing is required?
In the DECISION phase, the decision to implement any technology requires a discussion of its educational benefits . This is no different for digital technology. Some of the benefits are that students will become more interested in writing due to an expanded audience. They realize their peers will read, see, and hear their final presentations, their teachers might share the best ones on the school website, and perhaps she (or he) will even share their projects at Parent Night at school or with other classes at other schools! Students will work their hardest to shine. Anther important benefit is that this type of writing activity could indirectly increase student achievement on standardized writing tests. If they become really involved in the process and do their best to make it look great, they will continue to strive to produce good writing assignments – whether digital or not. Finally, there is little to no additional cost to schools! Most schools have MovieMaker already on their computers and at least one digital camera for a class to borrow over the course of a semester. There is no expensive software program to purchase or professional trainers to bring in. Only the subject being interviewed, a video recorder, and creative student minds are necessary.
To implement this technology, it would be good if teachers could receive basic training; however, it is not necessary. Once they see an example of digital projects, and incorporate the learning objectives to explain to students their expectations, students will run with it! Students will be able to train teachers, in most cases. There is no major training necessary. To fulfill the technology needs, schools will need at least a few computers with speakers and internal or external microphones to record students voices as they narrate their projects, and download their digital pictures into their projects. They will also need digital cameras, internet access (to access pictures, research topics further if necessary, etc.), head phones, and possibly voice recorders to record their interviews with their subjects.
I’ll allow you to review this CONFIRMATION statement in silence (silence occurs & soft music automatically plays).
Telling stories traditionally focused on the retelling of folktales, fairytales, myths, legends, and other familiar tales, which have been passed down generationally. Everyone, indeed, has a story to tell; thus, the reason storytelling has evolved over many decades and, as of late, into the digital form.
Around 1993, as technology became more enhanced, educators began to experiment with digital storytelling, building on many aspects of traditional storytelling while incorporating new technologies. After a story is written, for example, one can narrate the story using a voice recorder, and then create a slideshow of pictures or illustrations to accompany this narration. A video is created and background music can be used to compliment the production.
The need exists for this innovation because students need exposure to 21 st century technology skills to be competitive; writing creates a voice for students who may not communicate their feelings in any other way; the process of telling stories helps struggling writers with expression. As part of classroom instruction, storytelling has the potential to inspire and develop imagination and oral fluency, encourage visualization, improve public speaking skills, enhance listening skills, and, ultimately, inspire students to write.
iLearn Digital Storytelling is an available curriculum to aid the learning and diffusion of Digital Storytelling in our schools, providing t eacher training, teacher books and on-line documentation, and student books on CD rom.
In this next video, “ Literacy, ELL, and Digital Storytelling: 21st Century Learning in Action, Life Academy, Oakland”, you will see an actual teacher explaining the digital storytelling project expectations with her class, and various examples of stories told by students as they completed their semester-long digital storytelling assignment.
People have passed stories on from family to family for years since the 1800s. With the technological boom, we’ve found a way to capture memories for years to come and enhance the story.
When I think of who will be the first to adopt this technology and encourage its use, I think of our new, younger teachers first. Provision of adequate support for teachers as they begin to introduce it will be the most persuasive tactic to help convince them to adopt it. If students catch on and learn the process, they can help each other!
Potential laggards of this innovation will be more ‘seasoned’ teachers, those who do not like change, and those without strong technological skills. They will need to have their hands held to become motivated to adopt it!
Critical Mass will be reached when all of the teachers in a building adopt this storytelling technology, then the word is spread to the next school. At this point, the innovation will become self-sustaining and teachers will not need further convincing to implement it.
A decentralized diffusion approach would definitely work best for digital storytelling. Specific lead teachers will adopt it, realize student enjoyment and see growth in their reading and writing abilities, and share the success of this technological implementation with other teachers who will, in turn, implement the technology into their writing curriculum.
Lead teachers, or teachers who are willing to try to implement digital storytelling in their classrooms, will be expected to act as CHANGE AGENTS in schools. They will provide the “…link between a resource system…of expertise and a client system, as stated to be a “need” by Everett Rogers in his book “Diffusion of Innovations”, written in 2003.
It is vital that we get all key change agents/ ”champions” of digital storytelling - on board. Plans for this to happen are: Careful examination of reading/writing student results Sharing of these results with key decision-makers/ administrators Convincing strongest teacher buy-in and spread the excitement of this innovation
In closing, I reiterate the importance of the adoption of this technology into your district. I can’t say enough about the importance of reading and writing for our students. If we can allow them to have fun, and to shine in the light of others, why don’t we give it a try! I’ll begin identifying change agents at Arthur Elementary School, introduce digital storytelling to their staff, and move in any direction you would like for me to – beginning next week!!
Thank you for your time and consideration. Are there any questions or discussion?
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