It's not easy to find good articles on DS

I just want to throw in a brief remark about searching for resources on DS. From my experience, there are so many good articles on DS in journals. The access to these professional periodicals is not easy. You either search for them in the UH Library or pay to download. This is a large limit as few would be ready to pay $40.00 just to read a paper. I wonder if there are easier ways to reach good sources of materials.

More on DS Research

From what I learned from web sites and articles on DS I read this week, it came to my mind that I could focus on DS as an illustration for the participatory learning mode in 'communities of practice' for my final project. (If this is new to you, Google the phrases and you may find them under big names in the field of instructional design such as John Seely Brown and M. Merrill, or Etienne Wenger and Jeane Lave). I'm taking a theoretical course on digital education, which I find useful in help me undersatnd better the theoretical foundation of practices applying technology in instruction, among which DS is a good example.

I don't know if Dr. Robin would like us to focus on online research of web sites or theoretical research for the final project. If he lets us have our own way, I may apply some concepts I have learned to analyzing DS. I need to talk to him about this.

DS in teaching ESL/EFL

I was an English teacher back in my country, so I was glad to find a section on using DS to teach ESL in our web site. The introduction and examples have given me an idea of how digital storytelling can support language learning.

The web site introduces two main levels for which DS is used: basic one - to learn vocabulary and more advanced - to tell a story (in doing so, the learner has to summon many skills such as writing and speaking and use them competently in order to deliver a meaningful discourse). I really like this use of DS because it raises the learner's awareness of the final goal of learning a language: to create meaningful communication.

However, this is only for ESL. How about EFL? English as a foreign language is quite different because the learners are not merged in an English speaking environment. They may be much less motivated in using English in their daily life; and therefore, they have fewer chances to practice the language. Moreover, culture is another barrier to foreign learners of English. From my experience of teaching and learning English, knowledge of the culture of the country whose language one is learning would help a great deal in developing the language skills.

I'm wondering if and how DS can help conveying culture-specific concepts to EFL learners. For example, a learner can make a digital story to present how she understands a community library in the US works, and then compare her own experience of using a library in Vietnam with that. This would reveal a lot for the teacher to correct, develop and cultivate.

I don't know if this can be developed into anything for my mid-term for final project. It sure will need a great deal of elaboration if it can.