IMPALA Informal Mobile Podcasting and Learning Adaptation

Enhancing Students' Learning Experiences Through the Use of Digital Storytelling

Centre for Active Learning (CeAL), University of Gloucestershire

Summary
The case study introduces an example of using digital storytelling as a means of promoting students' reflection and engagement with active, independent and collaborative learning experiences.

Context
The University of Gloucestershire started piloting the use of student-generated digital stories in 2006. Since then its use has been adopted in several disciplines and contexts. An example of how digital storytelling has been used is illustrated in Jenkins and Lonsdale (forthcoming).

Digital storytelling was first integrated into a field-based induction week activity to engage new first-year university students in 2006. The induction week event was promoted by the University's Department of Natural and Social Sciences in conjunction with the Centre for Active Learning (CeAL). Its aims were to: provide an enjoyable and relaxed learning experience that introduces students to active learning; offer the opportunity to meet staff and fellow students; help students develop social networks; introduce new skills; develop students' independence. The induction week event is linked to a compulsory Semester 1 skills module that seeks to develop and embed core skills; this module also introduces the students to Personal Development Planning (PDP).

In 2007, a total of 80-90 students from Criminology, Sociology, Community Development and Landscape Design were involved in creating digital stories.

Rationale
The purpose was to use digital storytelling as a mechanism to engage new first-year university students with active, independent, and collaborative learning experiences; and to encourage their reflections on the learning activity with which they were engaged.

Application
The structure for the activities during the 2007 induction was as follows:

• Day 1: students were organised into groups of 5-6 and given briefing sessions introducing them to the activity, their role and an introduction to digital storytelling, including a presentation of examples created by students as part of the 2006 induction event.
• Day 2: students went into the field to gather data and capture physical evidence for the digital stories.
• Day 3: students spent the day putting their stories together, using the evidence they collected in the field on Day 2 and supplemented by information gathered from research in the Learning Centres and/or from websites.
• Day 4: the digital stories were shown to the group at an open event, providing an opportunity for students to view each others work and receive feedback on their stories.

Two different scenario-based activities were used in 2007:

1. The sociology-based students (Criminology, Sociology and Community Development) acted as social researchers to investigate the impact of the July 2007 floods in Gloucestershire on local communities. Working in groups the students were taken to the affected locations to investigate local people's experiences of flood, and obtain evidence through interviewing local residents, personal observation, capturing of images and using local information sources such as public libraries.
2. The Landscape Design students were tasked with making a design proposal for a site in the Stroud Valleys, using the story to explain their design approach and ideas.

Fifteen stories were generated, each about 2-3 minutes in duration. Example digital stories, from these induction activities and other uses within the University of Gloucestershire, will be made available on the University's Higher Education Academy (HEA) funded Pathfinder project, Enhancing Students' Learning Experiences Through the Use of Digital Storytelling, website: www.glos.ac.uk/tli/lets/projects/pathfinder/index.cfm. The stories are also useful as learning resources and can be integrated into students' skills development (for example as part of an evidence-based PDP portfolio).

Technology
A range of equipment including voice recorders, iPods, digital cameras, laptops was made available to students. However, it was found that most students arrived with equipment that could be used to support this activity, for example the camera and audio recording functions within mobile phones. The stories were compiled using free downloadable software: Photo Story 3 or Windows Movie Maker. Further information can be found on the Centre for Active Learning website: www.glos.ac.uk/ceal/pedagogictoolsguides/digitalstorytelling.cfm.

Evaluation
Students' experiences and perceptions on digital storytelling as a learning tool were captured through a short questionnaire survey with a small group of 13 students who participated in the 2007 induction activity. Staff views on the use of digital storytelling were gathered through a personal interview with the Academic Manager of CeAL.

Results

The results show that students have been engaged with the aim of the project, that they found the activity engaging (46%) and interesting (61%), because of the opportunity of 'go out, research and meet people' and 'creating something visual'; they have been engaged with active learning (77%) and independent learning experiences (38%); they had an opportunity to develop collaborative learning and communication skills (70%) through 'working as a group', and promote reflections on what they had learned (70%); they had an opportunity to develop research skills (38%), such as 'how to collect research evidence', interview skills on how to 'ask questions and get answers', and 'talk to a subject'. Most importantly, they valued the opportunity of learning a new technology (92%), such as Photo Story 3 or Windows Movie Maker, and the opportunity of learning through socialising with others (100%), in students' own word, an opportunity to 'meet new people', 'we got to learn from each other'.

Recommendations

Evaluations from these case studies and other uses of digital storytelling within the University of Gloucestershire indicate that this technique presents a different way for students to present their work. The use of simple technologies mean that it is accessible to all students; although it is recommended that support sessions are provided to ensure that students are comfortable using the technology.

When introducing the use of digital storytelling students should be provided with clear guidance. Where possible this should be backed up by showing the students a good quality example, perhaps even an exemplar created for this purpose.

Lessons learned
The use of digital stories is a new approach for staff as well as students. The evaluation and assessment of the stories can require support. To address this, the University of Gloucestershire has developed a framework that can be used to identify factors to be considered when evaluating and assessing digital stories, which can also be used as criteria for students to help them in the development of their stories. This framework is available at University's Higher Education Academy (HEA) funded Pathfinder project, Enhancing Students' Learning Experiences Through the Use of Digital Storytelling, website: www.glos.ac.uk/tli/lets/projects/pathfinder/index.cfm

Future work
The University of Gloucestershire is continuing to develop the use of digital storytelling in different contexts and to determine how it impacts on staff and student creativity.

Reference
Jenkins, M. and Lonsdale, J. (forthcoming) Podcasts and students' storytelling, in G.Salmon and P.Edirisingha (eds), Podcasting for learning in universities. McGraw Hill.