While considering digital storytelling from different perspectives, I often came upon the concepts of sociocultural theory and constructivism in articles. However, when I tried to categorize studies in these perspectives to compare the approaches, I got confused.
The two approaches in consideration here can be separated for the purpose of analysis. However, researchers actually draw on multiple theories for conceptual framework, and the same practice, research design or finding can be addressed from different views. To draw a clear- cut divide between social-cultural theory and constructivism in practice is almost impossible because even the original theories lend themselves to each other. Vygotsky’s propositions have been seminal and fundamental to both socio-cultural and constructivist approaches to learning. It would be more sensible to consider what the research questions in each study are and how the theories are incorporated in the investigating to find the answers to the questions before a study can be considered as to be more socio-cultural or constructivist-inclined.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
My final project on DS
I decided to work on the topic of using digital storytelling in teaching ESL/EFL for two reasons: the first one is because I was an English teacher, the second one is because there has been not much under this title in EUODS.
It was more challenging than it had looked. A surprising thingis that in the large body of literature on digial storytelling since 1990's, there is not much dedicated to this topic. DS has been addressed generally as a learning approach in various educational contexts, or a method of assessment in constructivism. A great number of studies have been conducted on various aspects of DS, but the use of DS to teach ESL/EFL has not been investigated at length.
What I found was enough for a short paper, which I wrote for the purpose of contributing to the web site. However, if I had to write a real literature review, it would be insufficient. I guess one of the reasons for this is because DS cannot be applied as a tool to build up the English literacy from the beginning. It is not very suitable for developing separate practical skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. DS can be used only when learners have achieved a considerable level of integrated skills to create the story. What is more, while technology is the power of DS, it requires other kinds of literacy to be brought in such as visual and media literacy. This may exceed the the constraints of many ESL/EFL classrooms in time and facility beside the limited technology skills of the teacher.
It was more challenging than it had looked. A surprising thingis that in the large body of literature on digial storytelling since 1990's, there is not much dedicated to this topic. DS has been addressed generally as a learning approach in various educational contexts, or a method of assessment in constructivism. A great number of studies have been conducted on various aspects of DS, but the use of DS to teach ESL/EFL has not been investigated at length.
What I found was enough for a short paper, which I wrote for the purpose of contributing to the web site. However, if I had to write a real literature review, it would be insufficient. I guess one of the reasons for this is because DS cannot be applied as a tool to build up the English literacy from the beginning. It is not very suitable for developing separate practical skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. DS can be used only when learners have achieved a considerable level of integrated skills to create the story. What is more, while technology is the power of DS, it requires other kinds of literacy to be brought in such as visual and media literacy. This may exceed the the constraints of many ESL/EFL classrooms in time and facility beside the limited technology skills of the teacher.
Literature review on DS
While taking this course on digital storyelling, I attended another one on the theory of instructunal technology. This gave me an opportunity to do more research on digital storytelling (because I chose to write on digital storytelling as a versatile learning tool that integrates technology into the classroom so nicely for the theory course).
I didn't know that digital storytelling has drawn so much attention and critiquing from different psychological and learning perspectives. My background is linguistics and literature. Entering the field of technology (thoug it is not technology for techies) is a big challenge to somebody who has been familiar with only text like me. So it was such a nice surprise to find that sociocultural theory is brought in like a nice tool to analyze the conceptual framework and practice of digital storytelling. It was fascinating to see how Bakhtin, Vygotsky or Bruner are cited as influential theorists for studying the narrative in digital storytelling.
After reading my first literature review on DS, my professor of the theory course said that this would be a useful assignment if I choose digital storytelling for my dissertation. This is too early to say, but I really feel interested in this suggestion.
I didn't know that digital storytelling has drawn so much attention and critiquing from different psychological and learning perspectives. My background is linguistics and literature. Entering the field of technology (thoug it is not technology for techies) is a big challenge to somebody who has been familiar with only text like me. So it was such a nice surprise to find that sociocultural theory is brought in like a nice tool to analyze the conceptual framework and practice of digital storytelling. It was fascinating to see how Bakhtin, Vygotsky or Bruner are cited as influential theorists for studying the narrative in digital storytelling.
After reading my first literature review on DS, my professor of the theory course said that this would be a useful assignment if I choose digital storytelling for my dissertation. This is too early to say, but I really feel interested in this suggestion.
More on searching resources for DS
One of the very useful things I learned about how to search for resources on digital storytelling is using the databases. Formerly, I just sticked to Google and Yahoo as my search engines. After doing the assignments for this course, I started to use ERIC, Questia, Komix and others to enlarge my searches for research articles on digital storytelling. A helpful tip is to use double quotation mark, plus and mimus and signs for descriptors. This did me a great favor in hunting for good papers for my literature reviews on digital storytelling. I also came to know many good journals in the field of education, psychology and technology with online resources. The most beneficial thing is I recognize that UH library is a first-class one in this aspect.
Searching for other types of information on digital storytelling offers great benefits too. I found dozens of web sites, blogs, wiki, podcasts with interesting contents for using and teaching with DS. There was amazing findings like the Search Me site, which displays visual presentation of web sites related to the theme in search. I also learned a great deal from my classmates. Each of us contributed something really valuable to the course.
Searching for other types of information on digital storytelling offers great benefits too. I found dozens of web sites, blogs, wiki, podcasts with interesting contents for using and teaching with DS. There was amazing findings like the Search Me site, which displays visual presentation of web sites related to the theme in search. I also learned a great deal from my classmates. Each of us contributed something really valuable to the course.
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