No arguments from me on this week's issue of using teaching and learning time to focus on learning digital literacy skills. That said I am still not convinced that digital storytelling is necessarily the best strategy for addressing all these needs all the time.
Sure it's yummy, but is it good for you?
Like chocolate, digital storytelling can be rich, pleasurable and even nourishing, but too much is not a good thing. Like a 24/7 Willy Wonka diet, relying on digital storytelling to cover all our digital literacy needs will only end in a tummy ache, rotten teeth and tears.
Digital storytelling is only a valid use of teaching and learning time if the teachers are equipped to plan the use of this strategy into a balanced educational program designed around the learner needs and purpose.
“A common scenario today is a classroom filled with digitally literate students being led by linear-thinking, technologically stymied instructors.” (Jones-Kavalier, Flannigan, 2006). Good intentions are not enough. There is simply not enough research yet to support the theory that digital storytelling is the best option for teaching digital literacies.
Superficial, moi?
In the article Weaving the literacy Web: Changes in reading from page to screen Wendy Sutherland-Smith puts forward the arguments of some theorists against the dominance of technology in the classroom:
“Birkets (1994) and Postman (1995) believed the advent of computer technology will lead to an impoverishment of the english language...poor concentration skills in dealing with lengthy and deep textual reading, poor writing skills, and a superficial understanding of issues, due to lack of in depth reading.” (Sutherland-Smith 2002)
This quote highlights some of the arguments for not relying on digital storytelling to deliver all of the classroom literacy strategy. It could be claimed that a student who has spent many classroom hours building a delightfully creative, personal story using web 2.0 technology as a sole strategy is disadvantaged. She/he will have lost opportunities to develop the same depth of understanding compared to a student who spends some time on digital storytelling balanced with offline collaborative and individual exploration of history, archetypes, structure, expression and critical reflection.
Same skills, different medium?
“Using the same skills used for centuries – analysis, synthesis, and evaluation – we must look at digital literacy as another realm within which to apply elements of critical thinking.” (Jones-Kavalier, Flannigan, 2006)
“So”, I can hear Jo say, “why not endorse digital storytelling as the way to teach these hallowed skills?” Analysis, synthesis and evaluation can all be modelled through digital storytelling. To a degree this is correct, but my argument is that it is not necessarily the best approach for teaching all digital literacy skills, all the time.
Digital storytelling best? Don't forget the rest!
For example, Wendy Sutherland-Smith describes a series of strategies she developed around reading and evaluating web-based information, including “snatch-and-grab reading technique” for web pages, refining strategies for key word searching and “chunking technique” to describe breaking down complex topics into logical components. These strategies form an approach to teaching “web literacy and the application of reading to onscreen text” that is just as legitimate an approach for teaching digital literacies as digital storytelling. Blogs, twitter and thousands of web sites also attest to local, strategies for incorporating digital literacy approaches in the classroom. There is no “best” strategy.
New technology and connectivity is vast, exponential and with more regenerating variety than can be expressed. Doesn't it make sense to expand and translate core literacy skills into all aspects of the curriculum to reflect this environment?
Absolutely teaching and learning time should incorporate digital literacy skills, but why should we limit the “delivery” of these skills to one format (or subject) that is mandated as the 'best”? Digital storytelling is one approach that can be utilised, but why define boundaries around the skills required to exist in a boundless online space?
“The greatest challenge is moving beyond the glitz and pizzazz of the flashy technology to teach true literacy in this new milieu.” (Jones-Kavalier, Flannigan, 2006)
References:
Jones-Kavalier, B.R & Flannigan, S.L (2006) Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century, retrieved on 22 May 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/ConnectingtheDigitalDotsLitera/157395
Sutherland-Smith, W. (2002) Weaving the literacy Wed: Changes in reading from page to screen, retrieved on 22 May 2010 from https://ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6437896&site=ehost-live
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