Multimedia and Digital Storytelling in Education

Anita Lanszki PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Hungarian Dance University, Budapest, Hungary; Visiting Lecturer, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

Enikő Orsolya Bereczki PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

Course Type:  Education and technology-focused, Teacher training

Keywords: technology-enabled narrative, education, critical thinking, Creative Commons, digital storytelling, branching structure, authoring tools

University Department Level Credits Length Medium
Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Education and Psychology Graduate 5 13 x 90 minutes online (Zoom, Canvas LMS)

Course Description

This course is part of the Education Science – Educational Technology MA program. 

Digital storytelling can take many forms that result in exciting and effective ways to engage students and has proved to be a powerful tool that can be used in multiple educational contexts. The course is based upon a constructivist learning approach in which students work collaboratively to produce their own digital narratives and digital storytelling unit plans. During the course, a range of topics related to the design and development of multimedia-rich educational projects will be explored by a mixture of demonstration, discussion, and hands-on experiences about emerging authoring tools.

Weekly Outline

  1. The Role and Possibilities of Using Multimedia in Education
  2. Forms/Genres of Interactive Digital Narrative Creation (Digital Storytelling, Transmedia Storytelling, Data-Driven Storytelling, Design of Interactive Digital Narratives)
  3. Data Visualization and Storytelling
  4. Using Videos in the Classroom 
  5. Podcasts in Education
  6. Basics of Transmedia Storytelling
  7. Basics of Interactive and Digital Storytelling
  8. Story Circle – Story Writing Games
  9. Images, Videos, and Creative Commons
  10. Scriptwriting, Storyboarding, and Recording Audio Narration
  11. Presentation of Digital Stories, Creating Rubrics for Evaluation
  12. Developing a Teaching and Learning Plan for a K-12 Classroom Process with Authoring Tools
  13. Course Evaluation

Course Objectives ​

This course aims

  • to provide students with an understanding of incorporating technology-enabled narrative as a useful tool to support teaching and stimulate learning; 
  • to allow students to gain first-hand experience with modern classroom practices using storytelling and authoring tools;
  • to inform students about the components of stories and the storytelling process, as well as allow them to gain practical experience creating such stories using different authoring tools;
  • to inform students about several authoring tools used in interactive digital storytelling;
  • to help students develop critical attitudes through the analysis and creation of narrative-embedded media contents;
  • to provide students with an understanding of using the Creative Commons licenses while re-creating and sharing contents;
  • mastering autobiographical digital storytelling as a tool for self-representation;
  • to facilitate community formation through interacting and sharing ideas related to narratives;
  • to support students to design and develop interactive narratives for the classroom.

Reading

  • About CC Licenses – Creative Commons. (2020, May 22). Creative Commons. https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/
  • Lambert, J. (2002/2013). Digital storytelling, Capturing Lives, Creating Community. Computers (4th ed.). New York – London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0097-8493(01)00172-8
  • Lanszki, A. (2022). Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education. Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan. URL: https://openaccess.hu/node/25021/
  • Ohler, J. (2013). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning and creativity. CA: Thousand Oaks.
  • Ohler, J. (n.d.). Digital Storytelling – DAOW of storytelling. (n.d.). http://www.jasonohler.com/storytelling/assessmentWIX.cfm

Viewings

IDN Artifacts

IDE and IDN Authoring Tools

Major Assignments (being assignments whose value is of 25% or more)

Mindmaps on the Use of Digital Storytelling in Education

  • Platform: Mindmeister
  • Purpose: to allow students to reflect on the creative use of Digital Storytelling in education focusing on (1) authoring tools; (2) different ages; (3) different subjects; (4) assessment criteria.
  • Requirements:
    • Project Length: 45 minutes
    • Project Size: 1 mindmap
    • Project Aesthetics: Visualize the facts and reflections with CC-licenced tables, images, and videos. 
    • Coding Proficiency: (1) search CC-licenced content; (2) creating a mindmap inserting multimedia content; (3) sharing the mindmap.
  • Evaluation: 
    • Interactivity: The mindmap induces further professional discourses and collaboration.
    • Story and narrative: There is no causality in this assignment; therefore only the logical structure of the mindmap can be assessed.
    • Production values: (1) reliability of information; (2) aesthetics; (3) logical structure.

Creating an Interactive Digital Narrative

  • Platform: Genially, Prezi, Twine
  • Purpose: to let students create an interactive digital narrative with authoring tools 
  • Requirements:
    • Project Length: 4 hours
    • Project Size: 1 interactive digital story with five branching alternatives in the narrative (co-creation – homework)
    • Project Aesthetics: (1) the storyline must be clear; (2) the links between the story elements are logical; (3) the linear or non-linear nature of the narrative is visualized clearly; (4) the main narrative and the characters must be clearly visualized.
    • Coding Proficiency: using authoring tools professionally
  • Evaluation: 
    • Interactivity: (1) the studens must create a dynamically malleable system at the design stage; (2) the audience can have an impact on the course of the narrative by interacting.
    • Story and narrative: there are additional elements that allow for an alternative, branching storytelling structure.
    • Production values: (1) creativity; (2) aesthetics; (3) logical structure.

Creating a Digital Story

  • Platform: Audacity, Canva, Genially, Prezi, Twine, Wooclap, YouTube (optional)
  • Purpose: to let students create an autobiographical narrative through editing software.
  • Requirements:
    • Project Length: 8 hours
    • Project Size: one digital story (homework)
    • Project Aesthetics: (1) Coherence of narration and images; (2) high-quality images.
    • Coding Proficiency: using editing tools professionally (recording voice-over narration; upload and edit own images; searching and inserting CC-licenced content; audio and video editing).
  • Evaluation: 
    • Interactivity:  Az önéletrajzi digitális történetek tartalmát és az alkotási folyamatot az osztályban lehet megvitatni.
    • Story and narrative: (1) Causality; (2); Timeline; (3) Personal voice.
    • Production values: (1) Creativity; (2) Economy; (3) Using of CC-contents.

Creating a Teaching and Learning Plan on Digital Storytelling

  • Platform: Canva, Google Docs
  • Purpose: (1) to develop a lesson plan on the integration of digital storytelling in the classroom; (2) to create an assessment tool (an evaluation rubric) for future students.
  • Requirements:
    • Project Length: 4 hours
    • Project Size: one pdf-file (homework)
    • Project Aesthetics: using a coherent and well-structured lesson plan template
    • Coding Proficiency: using visualizing, text and table editing tools
  • Evaluation: 
    • Interactivity: The lesson plan induces further professional discourses and collaboration.
    • Story and narrative: There is no causality in this assignment; therefore only the logical structure of the lesson plan is assessed.
    • Production values: (1) reliability of information; (2) aesthetics; (3) logical structure.

Course Best Practices

  • This online course was divided in 13 modules structured around individual topics in both synchronous and asynchronous formats,
  • During the asynchronous section, students progressed week by week through the materials on Canvas Learning Management System in 
  • Synchronously classes were held in Zoom. One session lasted 90 minutes, and were used for discussion and co-creation.
  • Students had access to three asynchronous modules in Canvas which contained several reading and generative assignments. 
  • Students had four compulsory assignments during the course. Artifacts created by students were peer-reviewed reviews through Canvas.