Article: Digital Storytelling: A Beneficial Tool for Large Survey Courses in History by Julie de Chantal
“ The digital storytelling process–with historical research, the production of a detailed script, storyboards, and short documentary-style presentation–allows students to hone their critical thinking skills, develop their visual and digital literacy skills, and improve their writing skills, all while deepening their engagement with historical narratives.” Source: Chantal, Julie de. “A Beneficial Tool for Large Survey Courses in History.” Digital Storytelling, n.d. This quote helps to represent this article as a whole. Digital storytelling is a technique that has been used to liven the typical boring high school history classroom. Rather than students watching their teacher flip through a powerpoint, students are able to be hands on with their learning and create something they can be proud of. This will be something I want to utilize in my future classroom because these still allows students to grow through history and find the importance in it. Different tactics in classrooms are vital for a positive learning experience for both students and teachers.
” The first year that I assigned this project, I did not put any restrictions on topics and allowed students to choose a topic even if another group had selected a similar subject.” Chantal, Julie de. “A Beneficial Tool for Large Survey Courses in History.” Digital Storytelling, n.d. The article focuses on these different group projects that had been created and one part was that the first year, there were not restrictions on topics. I feel like this is a really valuable way for students to get involved in the project and pick something they are passionate about. At the same time, I wonder if there were any topics that students created that were inappropriate. I feel like when teaching high school there could be students could pick inappropriate topics and the article did not discuss if any of the projects encountered this. Naturally, I would assume there was a certain set of rules based on what the school code was, but this could definitely complicate projects.
“As my students grew more confident in their own abilities, their attitude toward learning about history reflected a transition from a mixed mindset to a growth mindset; they felt that they could improve and learn if they worked hard on the problem at hand.” Chantal, Julie de. “A Beneficial Tool for Large Survey Courses in History.” Digital Storytelling, n.d. I like that the author says this but I think it is unrealistic. She never discusses the students who never understand it. I feel like was at least one student who did not understand the digital storytelling and it never clicked for them. There is never a story about this. I felt like the author could add more of a story about how to help a student who cannot learn or adapt to the technology and how does that affect the classroom.
