December 26, 2006
Research
Alright, let’s get the discussion surrounding digital storytelling going so that we have an equally rich experience at SITE continuing our discussions. I’ve been working on my dissertation work which looks at digital storytelling as a form of reflective practice among our teacher education students. This has been an interesting journey as the students that I have followed and documented are not all technology users and so I really had to focus on the stories they developed and told and not the technology and the ‘look’ of the final project. This brought up a really interesting piece for me as a scholar and researcher, as we conduct research in the area of instructional technology and teacher education there need to be times where we clarify how we see technology’s role in the learning environment.
Personally I’ve always taught my courses with technology as an underlying thread, a connecting piece that weaves in and out of the areas we are exploring. As such, it began to make sense to me that while conducting my research I focus on the total learning experience during the semester as I followed my research participants and during that time that I ‘not’ make digital storytelling the focus but rather their development as future teachers. In this way, my research looks at the growth and development of the teacher education student and digital storytelling becomes a piece or thread of that development.
I’ve found that the data that I’m gathering is rich with stories and the process that these students, some technology buffs, some struggling with the technology used while developing their final reflections on their growth as a teacher.
We have long discussed our contention that technology integration should be seamless in the classroom and this should be true for our research whenever possible as well. As I work through this study I’ve decided to follow the participants for another semester for their reflective thoughts and perhaps a look back at the story they created this semester as I further examine their growth from teacher education student to teacher.
Furthermore, as researchers we need to begin to document and show the impact of technology on learning outcomes in the schools. This has always provided an ethical dilema for us as we debate the need for a control group that does not use the technology or a way to isolate learning to show that indeed the technology was the reason for the increased test scores or comprehension.
As I mull around in my head future studies in this area I would love to discuss with others strategies for solving this dilema and doing productive research in this area. We ‘know’ digital storytelling makes a difference in student engagement, meaningful learning and content comprehension but how do we design studies so that we can honestly say that it was the use of images, music and narration woven together with stories that made the difference?
And now, your turn…I look forward to the discussion.
Cynthia Garrety
Comments(5)
Cynthia,
Your post regarding using digital storytelling as a form of reflective practice for preservice teachers is very interesting and full of interesting sub-topics that connect with my own work and probably many other SITE members as well.
This past semester, I worked with a group of first year teachers who enrolled in a graduate course I teach on the educational uses of digital photography and digital storytelling. Even though the title of the course sounds like it focuses primarily on the technology, like you, I try to minimize the technical aspects of the course, which are used as the underlying foundation, with a strong emphasis on content that can be used in the classroom. And as you mentioned, I too deal with students who come in with varying levels of technology expertise and expectations. We discuss these issues in class and students are most interested in the technology to help them become better teachers. I will include an overview of what I’ve found in my presentation in San Antonio and hopefully, we can get others who have a shared interest in this area to come to both of our sessions and add their ideas through questions and further discussion.
I’m also interested in learning more about your research results and comparing what you found with the data I’ve collected from my students. You make an excellent point about the dilemma of needing to find non-technology using control groups, which seems quite out of place in today’s classrooms. It would be great if we could begin a discussion here on the blog and have other SITE members share their ideas and strategies on this important topic.
Bernard Robin
Cynthia,
You make some interesting points and pose some interesting questions. Let me respond from the context of being far away in Ecuador.
I doubt that Jane Goodall had a control group for her study of chimpanzees and I think she did a fine job nevertheless. I believe much of what you describe fits well in the qualitative research paradigm and you should not be afraid to use it. And, I say that as a quantitative researcher.
Regarding how to view applications of technology (instructional was the word I believe you used), I think we many need to start viewing this particular application of technology (that is, blogging) as a medium, or as a place we consciously go to study and learn certain things that work there well, just as Jane Goodall went to the Amazon, Mike is in Costa Rica, weather specialists study ice cores in Antartica, and I am now in Ecuador to help faculty here conduct research on issues in Ecuadorian education. I think it will help to remember blogs are a place we go and not the everyday universe of sandwiches and showers and sleeping where we humans live. So perhaps don’t try to look for a matched pair comparison “non-technology” to blogs as you study them, but instead focus on studying what can best be researched within them. Undoubtedly there will be a few monkeys that make a lot of noise and produce little in the mix, but I suspect some beautiful truths about (the educational equivalent of) glaciers and rain forests will be discovered as well. Maybe digital storytelling is one of them.
I guess if we were to give proper tribute to Papert, we might say a blog is like a microworld, not a new form of CAI. Digital storytelling is one type of animal that seems destined to flourish within this medium. So I would not attempt to classify this application of technology as ’seamless’ any more than I would attempt to say recess is a seamless part of a typical classroom environment.It is a new kind of universe. At least that is one person’s opinion. I hope this may help in your thoughtful quest.
Gerald Knezek
Univ. of North Texas
SITE VP for Research & Evaluation
Hi Cynthia and all,
PS. My apologies to Jane Goodall, misplacing her work which was primarily in Tanzania, Africa. One of my Ecuadorian students politely corrected me today.
Gerald Knezek
[...] Gerald’s response to Cynthia Garrety draws together some threads from different places and makes links between his current work in Ecuador and Mike’s project in Costa Rica. You can find it under Research in the Digital Storytelling area. [...]
This is a very wonderful post. The availability of tools and technical know how, and the ease of using the tools make a big difference in teacher participation in real life. Bonnie