Youths’ Posting Practices on Social Media for Digital Storytelling

Most young people spend time online every day in order to access social networks, where not only do they consume, but also produce content. The posting of content ends up reflecting a personal story in which young people recognize themselves. This posting practice requires competences that can be developed in digital literacy-related educational activities. Our research is aimed at understanding the posting habits of young people with the goal of integrating these practices in formal educational contexts. For this purpose, we have qualitatively analyzed the interviews of 21 young people. The results show different posting habits, as well as the motivating factors, perceptions and types of content posted by young people on social networks. An interpretative analysis of the results shows the possibilities of working on the storytelling experiences of young people on social networks from the perspective of the Personal Digital Storytelling educational methodology.

Where there's smoke: digital storytelling for healing

Columbia University School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab, in collaboration with Columbia’s Department of Narrative Medicine, developed Where There’s Smoke, a story and grief ritual that mixes interactive documentary, immersive theatre and online collaboration to invite healthcare providers and others into resonant conversations about life, loss and memory, and to imagine how stories can be used to create empathetic healing spaces. When Robert Weiler was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, the complexity of healthcare and ensuing grief for the family, led his son Lance, a storytelling pioneer, to realize that a straightforward story wasn’t enough to explain and explore the experience, so he created Where There’s Smoke. Where There’s Smoke premiered in 2019 at the Tribeca Film Festival where it was hailed as an “absolute can’t miss” (Backstage). However, when COVID-19 submerged the world in loss, uncertainty, and isolation, Lance reimagined the piece as an online experience. He also combined the piece with protocols of Narrative Medicine as provided by faculty, Deborah Starr. The piece traces a heartbreaking journey through end-of-life care and grief, embracing grief as nonlinear and immersive, grief as an escape room with no escape. Participants sift through artwork, videos, and conversations and are provided with immersive moments for individuals, pairs and groups to have opportunities for self-discovery, unexpected intimacy, and ensuing healing. This is a personal yet universally relevant narrative, which gradually reveals itself to be something more…the possibility of immersive storytelling to create space for empathetic healing, grieving, and connecting.

University teachers’ digital stories of sustainable development: A method of learning to teach

In order to help teachers teach sustainability more effectively, we need more knowledge about both their understanding of suitable pedagogical methods and their own positioning in regard to sustainable development. This qualitative research focuses on how teachers see themselves as educators of sustainability and how they experience creative methods such as digital storytelling in supporting their learning. Interviews were carried out with nine university teachers during a staff training course on sustainable development and how it is best taught and learnt. Findings indicate that teachers’ positioning in regard to the teaching of sustainable development varied according to their discipline and their understanding of its four dimensions, namely ecological, social, economic and cultural. Digital storytelling thus proved to be a promising method for supporting holistic learning and teachers’ self-positioning in regard to education concerning this complex domain. However, some restrictions exist in relation to resource-taking and teachers’ need for additional support.

Equity and Engagement Through Digital Storytelling and Game-Based Learning

This chapter is founded on the idea that literacy is the cornerstone of teaching and learning across disciplines and is the scaffold for quality communication across modes. Therefore, it contends that the ever-widening education and opportunity gaps seen throughout United States school systems have the potential to be bridged through engaging communicative literacy experiences. Information and resources provided are supported through a theoretical framework based on engagement theory, equitable access as a construct, and multiple literacies theory. As educational equity gaps continue to develop and widen for students based on race, income, language, and technology, it is imperative that innovative practices be researched, reviewed, and put into practice. By utilizing digital storytelling and game-based learning, this chapter attempts to provide the reader with a deeper understanding of issues related to classroom practice, educational equity, learning engagement, and literacy opportunities.

Digital Storyworlds

The digital storyworld model is conceptualised in this chapter as an innovative digital storytelling that incorporates both transmedia and meaning-making narrative approaches. Working with Aristotelian story elements in a non-linear digital series of mini-worlds, the higher education narrator-as-learner enters real-world situations mirrored in a fictional and fragmented environment. The model encourages a playful engagement in the experiential learning process through a range of points of view, encouraging empathy for differing perspectives that are transferable to real-life environments.