After the implementation
of a 1:1 iPad device model in my school system, students have become
increasingly distracted in class. While many of my students are comfortable
with technology, especially the iPad, many lack the digital literacy to engage
digital media to its fullest extent. To that end, the problem of practice
to be addressed is this: By using the iPad, how can my students’ level of both
digital literacy and engagement with the Modern United States History
curriculum be increased?
Data and Analysis:
In anecdotal
conversation with teachers at my school, many teachers express frustration with
their students and the fact that the students use the iPad for social or gaming
activities, while they become increasingly distracted to the content of the
classroom. I have noticed this in my own classroom as well. Research
supports this anecdotal observation. As Hobbs
and Jensen (2009) point out, students mainly use digital technology for
entertainment. Digital messaging, in the
form of instant messaging (IM), text messaging, Twitter, or other forms of
social media are also preferred uses of digital devices for current high school
students. Levine, Waite and Bowman (2007) also demonstrated that student distractibility
increases due to digital messaging. This
distractibility can have adverse effects on reading comprehension and other
academic activities.
While some of my
colleagues have simply stopped allowing students to use digital devices in
class (either the iPad or the students’ smart phone), I have chosen to look at
ways to increase student engagement with the content by embracing digital
technology . The method I have chosen to increase
student’s engagement with the curriculum is through digital storytelling. Many
authors credit storytelling as a way to engage students with the
curriculum. Thordarson (2014) says
“storytelling is central to moving people persuasively.” Digital storytelling can increase engagement
with the curriculum because it provides students “opportunities to talk about
history (Fielding, 2005).” Digital
storytelling can also improve student motivation (Hung, Hwang & Huang,
2012). Lastly, digital storytelling can
build empathy in the student telling the story (Pandya & Pagdilao,
2015). Through talking about their own
personal history, students make connections with both the content and their own
personal family story.
Digital storytelling not
only allows students a way to engage with the curriculum, research also shows
that it builds literacy skills (Eisner, Fleming & Kaffel, 2007). These literacy skills can be traditional,
reading related skills or they can be related to digital literacy. Digital storytelling also builds digital
literacy by supporting 21st Century skills (Morgan, 2014).
Building digital literacy
in students in important, especially among students of lower socioeconomic
backgrounds. The more affluent a
student’s family, the more likely they are to have developed digital literacy,
regardless of their access to technology (Hobbs & Jensen, 2009). The school I teach in is 41% minority. Since minority students are less likely to
have developed the digital skills necessary to be successful after high school,
it is essential that digital literacy be increased in the classroom in any way
possible. This is one of the advantages
of using digital storytelling in a history class. Not only do students grow increasingly
engaged with the content, they increase their digital literacy skills.
Abstract of Solution:
Like many high school
history teachers, I like to tell stories. History is, in effect a story, both our
nation’s story as a collective whole and our story as individuals. I
often tell stories from my family that directly relate to the Modern US History
content. As students share their own families’ stories, I share them as well.
One of the ways that I propose to have students engage with the
curriculum is through researching and then telling their own family story.
Storytelling is a basic
way that humans communicate with one another. Through stories, students
learn about the group they belong to and its history. They also learn to
empathize with groups that are different than them. Digital storytelling
is generally defined as combining the traditional activity of storytelling with
the digital media like audio, video, and pictures (Robin). According to Palacios (2012), digital
storytelling “incorporates some aspects of traditional storytelling.”
Digital storytelling is a way to continue the benefits of traditional
storytelling, while appealing to the desires of digital natives to engage with
the world through the use of digital media.
The challenge
given to students will be to initially discover a family story. In some cases, when talking to a parent,
grandparent or other family member is impossible, students will be tasked with
finding a family friend, community or church member, etc. and discussing one on
of the friend’s stories. The assignment
the students will be given is not only to tell their family story in a digital
format, but the students will also relate the story to United States history
from roughly World War II until modern day.
These stories would all fall under the Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies (2010) Grade 11
standards.
Students will complete research on the parts of US
history that their story relates to and include that in their story. Students will turn in their story idea to the
teacher electronically via a shared document and comments will be returned to
them via the shared document.
Students will also collaborate with one another via a
shared document. This collaboration will
be a brainstorming activity sharing various technologies and methods that could
be used to create a digital story.
After deciding on a topic and a method of making a movie,
students will begin to work on their digital story. Students will write a script version of the
story. They will then be allowed to use
whatever form of digital media they like.
Being mindful of research that points out that students don’t have as
much knowledge and experience with digital media as many teachers believe
(Hobbs & Jensen, 2009) students will mentor one another in the use of
digital technology. The teacher will
also have to mentor students as well, at least at the initial stages of the
process (Warschauer, 2007) to reassure students and give confidence both to the
mentor and the mentee.
After students have produced the video, it will be loaded
to YouTube. A picture of the student and
a QR code linked to the video will be placed outside the classroom. Other students, teachers, administrators and
community members will be able to scan the code and view the digital story.
One purpose of this activity is to advance my use of
technology in the classroom along the SAMR model. The graph below illustrates how various
activities of this activity fit on the SAMR model:
Level of SAMR
|
Activity
|
Substitution
|
Using Safari or Chrome
to research the historical topic related to the story.
|
Augmentation
|
Using Google docs to
collaborate both student to student and student to teacher.
|
Modification
|
The actual creation of
the digital movie and then sharing and adding audio and other effects.
|
Redefinition
|
Posting the video to
YouTube and allowing not just the school, but the world to see it and create
a dialogue about personal stories.
|
Summary of Outcomes:
Through the telling of their own families’
stories, it is hoped that students will increase their engagement with the
content. The goal is for the students to
find the Modern US History content to be more relevant to their own lives. This relevance will come from the connection
made in their story.
In addition to their
increased engagement with the content, students will also increase their
empathy with their classmates and other groups of people represented in diverse
student body represented at our high school.
Students will increase their knowledge of history by researching
particular time periods and events in history and relating them to their family
story.
In addition, students will increase their digital
literacy through engaging different technologies to create a movie that tells
their story. This increase in digital
literacy will be beneficial to them. This
will build lifelong and valuable skills, since students will have to perform
similar tasks in the future, either in this class, in other classes, in college
or in the workforce.
At this time, the project is not fully complete, but I
have observed that the first time students collaborated with one another via
the Google doc they had fun deleting each other’s typing, and generally enjoyed
the “cool” factor of the instant collaboration.
After a few minutes, they all settled down and began to complete the
assignment. It was really beneficial to remind
them that the teacher was a member of each group and had the rights to bring up
the various versions of the doc and see who had been on and off task. Though increasing digital citizenship is not
one of the stated goals of this project, this is certainly a teachable moment
for that goal.
Works Cited
2010 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies. (2012). Retrieved from Alabama Learning Exchange:
http://alex.state.al.us/standardAll.php?ccode=US11&subject=SS2010&summary=3
Eisner, N., Fleming, N., & Kaffel, N. (2007,
November 1). Research supports digital storytelling. Retrieved from
Digital Storytelling:
http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~jevogel2/lis506/research.html
Fielding, J. (2005). Engaging students in learning
history. Canadian Social Studies, 39(2).
Hobbs, R., & Jensen, A. (2009). The past, present
and future of media literacy education. Journal of Media Literacy Education,
1-11.
Hung, Chun-Ming, Hwang, G.-J., & Huang, I. (2012,
October). A project-based digital storytelling approach for improving
students' learning motivation, problem-solving competence and learning
achievement. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(4),
368-379.
Levine, L., Waite, B., & Bowman, L. (2007).
Electronic media use, reading, and academic distractibility in college youth. CyberPsychology
and Behavrior, 560-566.
Morgan, H. (2014). Using digital storytelling
projects to help students improve in reading and writing. Reading
Improvment, 51(1), 20-26.
Palacios, J. (2012). Traditional storytelling in the
digital era. Fourth World Journal, 41-56.
Pandya, J., & Pagdilao, K. (2015). "It's
Complicated": Children learning about other people's lives through a
critical digital literacies project. Australian Journal of Language and
Literacy, 38(1), 38-45.
Robin, B. (n.d.). The educational uses of digital
storytelling. Retrieved from
http://digitalliteracyintheclassroom.pbworks.com/f/Educ-Uses-DS.pdf
Thordarson, K. (2014, October). Education update:
Road tested/ Engaging students through storytelling. Retrieved from ASCD:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/oct14/vol56/num10/Engaging-Students-Through-Story-Thinking.aspx
Warshauer, M. (2007, March 13). The paradoxical
future of digital learning. Retrieved from Springer Link: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11519-007-0001-5/fulltext.html
A link to the video of my proposal is here.
The same video embedded into the blog:
Todd I really like that you used the exact applications on your video that you are expecting students to use.
ReplyDeleteWhat collaboration tools will you use for students to work and share on? Oh I see you mentioned Google docs, always a fav for collaboration. It's aways a good idea to give students time to "play and explore" or they won't be able to concentrate on what is coming up.
You mentioned that digital citizenship wasn't a part of your learning objectives but inadvertently was something you ended up touching on and it seems to me that this probably happened a bit during your lesson, just not recorded as it is not the focus and not something you are assessing.
I wonder what means of assessment you would use for this project? Not sure what your reporting looks like, but if you write narratives I can see how this project alone could give you so many target areas to write about. Just to mention a few are history skills, 21st century skills, and ISTE benchmarks!
Hello Todd,
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that after viewing your engaging video and reading through your Diigo list, I was tempted to run out and purchase and iPad. This is something that I never, ever thought I would say, let alone admit to thinking. You see, I am a diehard Android user. I was excited to scroll through your Diigo list, but then realized that most of the contents all started with that dreaded lowercase “I”. Maybe I will cave and purchase an iPad the next time I see one on sale. If I do, I will think of you and your excellent presentation.
I found it interesting how you felt that he implementation of a 1:1 iPad device became a distraction. There are many teachers in my school district who long for this to be common place. However, after reading your paper, I can see why this could happen. What I really applauded was where you pointed out the fact that although our students are considered to be “digital natives”, that they are still in need of instruction. Simply because they know how to use their Smartphones, or iPads, does not always translate into them being able to use all devices or all apps. This is something that all teachers need to consider when introducing the use of new technologies into the classroom for student use. I applaud your determination to make the use of digital technology work in your classroom instead of simply abandoning it. The fact that you chose Digital Storytelling is exciting!
Like you, I tell many stories of my own during my Human Growth and Development class. I had never thought about using Digital Storytelling with my students as a vehicle for them to use instead of a simple essay. We have an iPad cart in my school, and I am going to investigate the possibility of investigating if it has the apps that I need to offer this option to my students. Thank you for this inspiration.
The way in which you are manipulating Digital Storytelling and history with your students is very engaging. The fact that you are asking your students to write about their lives means that they now have a vested interest and control over the outcome of their work. By speaking with a member of their family as they seek to gather information about “their story” is a wonderful way to also connect them to family members that may not speak with on a regular basis. This assignment has the power to reconnect children with family members and to open new gateways for future communication, hence strengthening family bonds and relationships.
Tracy-
DeleteI can't say that I have too much experience with Android, but I do have a little. I've only settled on the iPad because it was provided to me by the school. Unfortunately, at my school the iPads are out at the end of the year and Chromebooks are in. The Chromebook will be easier to type on, but it doesn't seem to be as creative to me.
All that to say, you should give an iPad a try. Almost all the apps I use are free. Occasionally I'll splurge on a very cheap app if I like what it does. Unfortunately, they are not cheap and Apple doesn't like to reduce the price much.
I really like how you plan to require your students to write a script as well. So many times the written aspect of a project is lost when educators start introduce different technologies into their classrooms. I know that in my district, reading and writing across the curriculum is always present and the way you have structured your project supports that.
ReplyDeleteI discovered how to attach my information to a QR code last summer when taking an elective class at Lesley. I have yet to implement its use in my classroom, but I do plan to as soon as the opportunity arises. I was so excited about how you are going to use the student’s photo and their QR code in the hallway outside of your classroom. This is a great technology for your students to learn, as well as for students who are not members of your class to use. The book that I read, Blended, used QW codes throughout. It was so much fun to zap the code with my phone and watch a video that was directly related to the content that I had just read. I have been looking for a way to simulate this with my students, and after reviewing your work, I am determined to find a way. Thanks once again for inspiring me!
I found your project to be student-centered, engaging, and well aligned with the SAMR model. I also feel like this project supports UDL guidelines. I wonder if your principal would embrace the idea of you sharing your project with your faculty. Maybe you would inspire those teachers who have already given up on the 1:1 model to give it another try? When given the choice of engaging students while also bringing their level of understanding to a higher level, who would choose not to? I believe that if given the opportunity to share your project with your colleagues, that you would inspire them just as you have inspired me.
Tracy-
DeleteThanks for the comments. I appreciate them. You asked about sharing the project with my principal. I may do that, but my main subversive goal is in my own department, specifically among my own colleagues that teach the same Modern US History class. We are all storytellers by nature and I am hoping to hook them in by the amazing stories that I will get out of my students. Their students have stories that are just as amazing and I know they want to know them. I hope I can blaze the trail, so to speak, to get them on board with me.
Hi Todd,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I really like how their are two parts of your problem of practice - the increase of digital literacy and students' engagement in studying U.S. history. What I like about this is how you're combining an education technology goal with a subject-based goal, as well as incorporating some UDL-inspired pieces about engagement. By defining and approaching your problem in this way, I think you've set yourself up for an interesting and rewarding journey.
Your data and analysis makes a concrete, real world connection back to your own professional work at your school, citing anecdotal evidence that helps frames the data. This is really helpful in contextualizing your analysis. But one thing I wonder about is the data being somewhat dated. Given how quickly technology changes, do you think that what Hobbs and Jensen writ in 2009, or Levine, Waite, and Bowman in 2007, are still relevant and/or timely today? On the flipped, I really like your description of Thordarson's ideas about digital storytelling since it's directly related to your approach. It's a great segway into your solution itself.
Your solution makes clear your commitment to and enthusiasm for digital storytelling. But in such a standards-based world, it would be useful to hear more about your solution's alignment with curriculum standards, as well as technology standards for high school students. Perhaps your school has some sort of mission statement too that relates to your solution? I think that finding more connections between your solution and other related goals will only serve to strengthen the efficacy of your solution, as well as the support it receives - and YOU receive! - in your school.
Regarding your connection to SAMR, you've done a good job of categorizing different technology tools and their place on the SAMR model, as well as making the connection back to your digital storytelling solution. One question I have is about redefinition. You wrote that posting the video to YouTube is redefining, but I would argue that more needs to be done to promote or facilitate online discussion/feedback before that act is truly redefining. What do you think about that? Perhaps you were thinking that already, in which case your use of SAMR might benefit from some more explanation around that.
Finally, though you only mention it briefly, I like how you described your observations of experiential digital citizenship during your "testing" phase. It's so interesting to see the unexpected positive results that come from projects like these! Overall, it sounds like you've had an awesome experience thinking through and testing your problem and solution. Keep up the good work and good luck as you continue to implement your solution!
Best,
Jason
Todd, what a great use of technology for your history class! Your video has put mine to shame :-) so creative and what a great way to show case all the different video apps available. 15 years ago I was hooked on iMovie and now I teach in a district that will not allow Mac computers, so sad. MovieMaker just isn't the same. Anyway, I was most curious about the collaboration price and what your plans were exactly besides Google Docs. Have you looked into Google Classroom? I haven't used it much but have heard it is much easier to "turn" documents and make comments easier. I believe it works a lot like any student management system like Moodle or Schoology.
ReplyDeleteThe use of QR Codes is another great idea. This gets the whole school involved and students can take pride in ownership. I think students will put forth more effort if they know their peers or other teachers will be viewing their projects. I forget if you mentioned it or not, but will students be working in groups or by themselves?
Digital citizenship is huge right now in my school district. We are looking into some free curriculum called "The Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship" (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html). My district would like to start this at the elementary level on up because as technology advances so do the risks and liabilities. My district pulled away from iPods and iPads in the classrooms because they could not be controlled and monitored. I so completing understand your concerns with students being distracted. Good luck and thank you for sharing.