Telling Tales: The Power Of Narrative
Aug 31st, 2006 by robynjay
[ image : robenjay ]
I never tire of introducing teachers to the power of digital stories; without fail, no matter the field, the context, the age, the gender, teachers can immediately see a use for the methodology to improve teaching and learning opportunities with their clients/learners.
This week I’ve run three workshops, two today, at Penrith, Ultimo and the MTA, Darlinghurst. Participants have include Business Admin, retail, recreation, disbaility, ESOL and automotive teachers.
Good digital stories are incredibly engaging; they capture real people, real lives, real experiences. Via imagery and first person narrative they expose hearts and souls. Everyone has a story that is begging to be shared and in the telling skills and confidence are gained.
What we are attempting to do in educational contexts is to capture the essence of what makes digital stories so engaging while shifting the focus to teaching and learning matters. How far can we push them towards a more report style without losing the effect? What elements must be retained - the first person element? the personalisation?
We had some interesting discussion at Ultimo TAFE this morning about how to take relatively ‘dry’ theoretical VET content and make it engaging via digital stories. The solution suggested was via capturing experiences of people; reflections, problems, solutions etc.
So how are teachers using digital stories? In many cases as a means to engage learners, to teach skills (literacy, language, IT etc) via a project based approach, to provide information and instructional material in a multimodal manner that moves the focus from written text, to capture evidence for assessment purposes, to promote and report. I wish digital stories were an option when my literacy students years ago were having to demonstrate oral communication skills via confronting F2F presentation modes!
I’ve been using SUPER to convert my digital stories to mp4 format for viewing on my iPod Video. What a great piece of software! The results are fantastic.
I’m seeking examples of digital stories constructed by teachers and learners for our national digitales wiki. Please let me know if you have something to share.
Robyn Jay
Project Manager
The conundrum……. too little infomation??? Too much information!!
Alex made a very appreciated visit to the Ballina Learnscope team today, and as a result we all feel excited, scared, but most importantly - motivated to become confident e-learners.
In a very short time, Alex provided us with a great deal of inspiration and assurance that we can all quickly adapt to the new ways of teaching and learning offered through multimedia.
I look forward to facilitating our team towards this learning.
Regan
Ballina Bits and Pieces
Sheesh…..that was glowing accolade !
I consider my contributions small compared and in unison with that of whats possible using these technologies with learners who have already embraced communication technologies in preference to other less salient forms ie. TV
Our students are not watching TV. They are creating things and evolving to be what we thought impossible five years ago. I look forward Regan, to what you and your teams unveil now and in the future.
It’s sure to be funky and above all relevant to the young people of tommorow.
Alex Hayes
A/Project Officer
NSW LearnScope