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SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 1
Active learning through digital storytelling
Jo Lonsdale Postgraduate Researcher
Centre for Active Learning, University of Gloucestershirejlonsdale@glos.ac.ukABSTRACT
Environment courses at the University of Gloucestershire encourage the use of activelearning, based on the Kolb learning cycle (1984) and Performances of Understanding(Blythe & Assoc, 1998). Developing reflective practice is an important, yet challengingpart of this approach. Reflection is not necessarily an individual process and can beimproved when others are involved (McDrury & Alterio 2002).This paper will discuss the development of digital storytelling with first year students anddraws on the use of reflection and storytelling as learning tools (Kolb 1984; McDrury &Alterio 2002; Moon 2004; Brown 2005). This approach also acknowledges the claim thatmany new students now learn differently and seeks to use technologies they arealready conversant with (Prensky 2001; Oblinger 2003; Brown 2005).Digital storytelling has been piloted as a reflective learning tool for individuals andgroups during their first year, as part of active learning; a dominant pedagogicalphilosophy of the Department of Natural and Social Sciences. Students are firstintroduced to digital storytelling within their discipline groups, during induction week,where it is used as a group work reflective tool. Additionally, as part of this induction,students of landscape design were introduced into the studio culture using storytellingas a community building activity, which was then integrated into a mini-project wherethe final output was a group reflective digital story. The technique has also been pilotedas a reflective component of a module where individual students were asked to reflecton their learning process and personal development at the end of their first semester.The paper will report on the results of the evaluation of digital storytelling. This willinclude student perceptions of the value of these techniques to their learningexperience, and staff views on its use and future development.
KEYWORDS
Digital story, reflective learning, collaboration, induction, student engagement
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 2
Active learning through digital storytelling
Introduction
This paper seeks to highlight some of the issues that have arisen from piloting digitalstorytelling (DST) as an active learning approach with undergraduate students at theUniversity of Gloucestershire. This is one of a number of studies assessing the impactof this process on student learning, student engagement and strategies to integratingtechnology in learning.
An Active Learning Approach
At the University of Gloucestershire active learning focuses on inquiry in the field,studio, laboratory and classroom, using real sites, community-related and employer-linked activities. It is seen as more than learning by doing and where ‘learning is theprocess whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience’ (Kolb1984, p38). Thus students are enabled to construct theoretical understanding byreflection on their activities and experiences, in communities of active learners wherestaff and students inquire together.The approach to active learning at the University of Gloucestershire has beendeveloped from the Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb 1984) and the Performancesof Understanding (Blythe and Associates 1998). The Kolb cycle may be described asfour stages: experience, reflect, generalise and test (Cowan 1988) which each link withindividual learning styles making this approach accessible to students of all abilities,ages and cultures. The introduction of the ‘performances of understanding’ (Blythe andAssociates 1998) into the model acknowledges that introducing activities at each stageof the cycle, requiring students to use knowledge in new ways or situations, allowsstudents to build and demonstrate their understanding, thus developing ‘capable andenthusiastic active learners’ (Centre for Active Learning: Active learning at theUniversity of Gloucestershire).
Digital stories
Digital storytelling began in California at the Centre for Digital Storytelling (Centre forDigital Storytelling) and is now a worldwide phenomenon. In Britain digital storytellinghas been used extensively by the BBC to capture the richness of people’s lives. Digitalstories are media artifacts or "mini-movies" of images and sound, created and edited byindividuals, or groups, using cameras, computers, scanners and hard copy images. It isan easily accessible technique that can be quickly learnt.The technique of digital storytelling has been developed at the Centre for ActiveLearning (University of Gloucestershire) building on the work of Simon Turner (SeniorLecturer in Media Studies) and a member of the BAFTA award-winning BBC Walesdigital story team.Digital storytelling uses narratives and collaboration as learning strategies, andtechnology to enable a fresh approach to student engagement. This allows students toexplore and develop communicative skills using images, text, sound and sequence and
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 3
thus a chance to develop a new literacy. Students can achieve results using readilyaccessible mobile devices, such as mobile phones with cameras, mp3 players etc.
Students in the Digital Age
The use of digital storytelling recognises that current students are from diversebackgrounds, and some belong to the first generation to grow up with digital technology,referred to by Marc Prensky (2001) as ‘digital natives’. This approach acknowledges theclaim that many new students now learn differently and seek to use technologies theyare already conversant with (Prensky 2001; Oblinger 2003). Other students, who arrivethrough widening participation are ‘digital immigrants’ (Prensky 2001) and thesestudents can be assisted in the use of the accessible technology by collaborativeworking. (Oblinger 2003, p 44)Traditionally, propositional knowledge, or “learning about” (Brown 2005, p40), has beenat the heart of university education but “knowledge [is] no longer perceived to be theultimate goal” (Oblinger 2003, p 40) and “results and actions are considered moreimportant than the accumulation of facts” (ibid). Twenty first century citizens will needlifelong learning or “learning-to-be” approaches (Brown 2005, p40) to enable them tocope with multiple careers, are the rapid acquisition of new skills across disciplines.Thus, the traditional lecture approach does not meet the expectations of many youngstudents (Oblinger 2003). These students may well respond better to an authentic,experiential approach which is also an immersive collaborative experience.The creation of ‘learning communities’ (Lave and Wenger 1991; Tinto 2000; Schön1983, 1987) is a supportive way to develop this type of experiential approach. Usingdiscipline groups to construct a socially, and intellectually shared, coherent experiencewhere there is an appreciation for the many ways in which individual knowing isenhanced when other voices are part of that learning experience. Developing reflectivepractice within communities of learners is an important and challenging part of thisapproach at the University of Gloucestershire where reflection is not seen as anindividual process (McDrury and Alterio 2002). Digital storytelling is seen as a tool thatcombines the use of technology in an environment that is fun, student-centred, withstorytelling as a learning tool (McDrury and Alterio 2002; Brown 2005) socontextualising and improving the learning experience and providing a forum to jointlyappreciate and learn digital skills.These narratives provide a new insight into the student experience and as Connelly andClandinin (1990, p2-14) suggest, the “study of narrative... is the study of the wayshumans experience the world” and uses the human “readiness or predisposition toorganise experience into a narrative form, into plot structures” (Bruner 1990, p45).Schön (1983, 1987) theorises that professionals use particular styles of reflection andreflective practice in their work. This research will investigate student
reflection-in-action 
 and
reflection-on-action 
(Schön 1983; 1987) and the use of a
reflective conversation with the situation 
, in a reflective practicum (Schön 1987), such as the studio. Socio-cultural learning theories have built on the work of Schön (1987) and have introduced a
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