Digital storytelling and teaching and learning
Storytelling in an educational context
We all tell stories, but why? Some stories are used to convey information, or perhaps to motivate colleagues or friends (McDrury & Alterio, 2003), but many stories are used to help us make sense and meaning of our experiences (Abrahamson, 1998; Matthews-DeNatale, 2008; McDrury & Alterio, 2000). Storytelling has long been recognised as a means for storytellers - or learners in an educational context - to give meaning to their own particular experiences, to demonstrate their own understanding of the world (Miley, 2009; Nygren & Blom, 2001: 372). In this respect the sharing of stories is an important element: “For a story to be a story, it must be shared” (Orech, 2008). It is by sharing our stories that we can obtain a deeper insight into their meaning.
Stories can be created as personal narratives, stories to inform or as critical analyses. In whatever context they are used educationally the process of developing a story engages the students in cognitive strategies:
[In the story] construction process judgments and inferences are required at two levels: about discrete items of information and the adequacy of the unfolding story. Selecting, comparing, inferring, arranging and revising are activities which we regard as cognitive strategies. (Robinson & Hawpe, 1986)
In particular, creating a story is a powerful stimulus for reflection.
Digital storytelling
Benmayor (2008: 198) identifies digital storytelling as a social pedagogy, approaching learning as a collaborative process. The opportunities for collaboration within the digital storytelling process exist at multiple levels.
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