Month: September 2018

Digital Storytelling – My perspective, including social media and learning connections

Marika SimonUncategorizedLeave a comment

This is a direct cross-post of my answer to the Module 4.1 Discussion Forum stimulus:

What questions/answers have formed in your mind in relation to digital storytelling?

For me what has really stood out is the importance of storytelling in education. The New South Wales (NSW) Quality Teaching Framework includes narrative as a component of the element of significance, recognising that narratives engage learners in content in a significant and meaningful way that motivates and consolidates learning (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2008). As Alexander (2011, p.5) and Malita and Martin (2010, p. 3061) indicate, storytelling has been part of the human toolbox for constructing meaning and communicating throughout history and has adapted to evolving communication technologies.

In terms of using digital storytelling in a classroom context, though, I keep coming back to the question one of my course-mates keeps asking – why digital? What added benefit or different dimension is served by choosing digital technology as the medium for this storytelling occasion? Without a satisfactory answer to that question, I am not convinced that it is worth the potential extra hassle that I have often found it to be in the primary government school classrooms where I have worked. This may be as simple a reason as having the opportunity to integrate technology (as required by the General Capability requirements in the curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2016)) and be at the Substitution level of the SAMR framework (Puentadura, 2011). Ideally, though, there would be some integral element of the experience that required a digital interface, according to some of the leading definitions of digital literature (Ciccoricco, 2012, p. 471) and there would be at least Augmentation if not one of the transformational levels of the SAMR framework in play (Puentadura, 2011).

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Thoughts on the ALIA Leadership and Innovation Forum 2018 – NSW

Marika SimonProfessional DevelopmentLeave a comment

Last Thursday, I joined fellow student Liz Parnell at the ALIA Leadership and Innovation Forum 2018 – NSW. On her suggestion, I also took the opportunity to join the ALIA Proficiency Recognition Program PD Scheme. This requires that I reflect on each PD event that I log for the scheme, so here is my reflection on Thursday night:

This panel discussion looked at the theme “Meaningful and respectful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, culture and heritage”, asking the question, “What more do we need to do?” As a non-indigenous person, some key ideas that struck me were that:
* the worldview and philosophical paradigm of Western culture and indigenous culture are very different
* libraries and other institutions need to look at culturally co-designing spaces, programs, processes, policies and so forth for community relevance
* decisions need to be contexualised within the framework of the community of location and service
* non-indigenous people need to take responsibility for their own cultural (and inter-cultural) competence
* we need to flip the narrative from looking from the perspective of a deficit framework to one that values, acknowledges and builds on what already exists.

As I am now studying and not yet working in a library context, the action points I have taken away from this event are to:
* endeavour to seek out, consider honour and incorporate the indigenous perspective into my studies as much as possible and as appropriate.
* take a cultural competency course.
* find out (and at some point, contact) the indigenous community/representative in my community and the community (ies) where I work.

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (n.d.). Event details: ALIA Leadership and Innovation Forum 2018 – NSW. Retrieved from https://membership.alia.org.au/events/event/nsw-leadership-innovation-2018
Parnell, L. (2018). Liz at the library: Reflections. Retrieved from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/lizatthelibrary/

Reflecting on Literature Review for EER500

Marika SimonEER500Leave a comment

For the first assignment in the subject EER500: Introduction to Educational Research Methods, we were required to write a literature review on the topic of our choice. The purpose of the review was to identify gaps in the literature with a view towards developing a research question to be developed into a research proposal for the final assessment.

I was interested in looking more deeply into research topics surrounding digital literature with respect to primary schools as the other subject that I am taking this session is INF533: Literature in Digital Environments.

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Planning a research proposal with expert hubby help

Marika SimonEER500Leave a comment

First assessments have been returned, marked, and discussed in the weekly online meeting. I am happy with my results and impressed with the amount of feedback given by the instructor, Dr James Deehan.

Now it is time to plan a research project and draft a proposal for it. We are continually reminded that we do not have to actually do the research! It may seem slightly silly, but it can get hard to remember as you go through the process of thinking about how to calculate statistics and analyse data that you won’t actually be collecting any data so you won’t really use the calculators and such. So, the reminders are gratefully received.

It has been interesting to me because this part of the subject is really giving me an opportunity to have a real academic dialogue with my husband about my course. Mostly he is on the receiving end of my tirades about subject materials or is giving me helpful, but discipline-uninformed, feedback when proofreading my papers. This time, though, he is able to pass on his experience and understanding. He is an economist and currently the Head of the Economic Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia. So, he knows about research methods and statistical analysis and sound study design. He has been very helpful in suggesting design ideas for my study and explaining why some choices are better than others. He has even run dummy data through STATA at work to reassure himself and show to me that the planned method should yield reliable results!

Now to move on from thinking and planning to actually writing this thing!

Testing access

Marika SimonTechnology2 Comments

https://poly.google.com/view/4DzU5g701mj

Updated 15 September, 2018:
This was my post to test three different platforms I was considering for my final digital storytelling project. In the end, I didn’t use any of them, for the following reasons:

Adobe Spark (n.d.) – I was concerned that the requirement for reasonably up-to-date equipment and modern browsers could limit implementation in some public schools – especially as the video would not run on the Department of Education-networked computer in the Year Two classroom where I tested these three platforms.

Google VR Tour Creator (Google, n.d.) – The need to create 360 degree photos was a sticking point for this platform. Also, the limitation on the types of annotations you could include in the tour was frustrating.

Thinglink (n.d.) – I could not access this from the test computer under a student login. Since one way I hope to incorporate this project into the curriculum is to use my piece as an exemplar for student creation possibilities, this was an issue. I did learn how to request that a website be unblocked, but the process takes time and would be a major roadblock, especially for my context as a casual teacher – I cannot postpone a lesson for a week or two while waiting for EdConnect to solve my technical difficulties.

Note: As these were quick test objects, they have not had images fully referenced and cited, but all photos are in the public domain so there is no copyright infringement. I will take down the test projects after this session is completed.

References

Adobe Spark. (n.d.). Free creativity for everyone on the web and mobile, powered by Adobe. Retrieved September 15, 2018 from https://spark.adobe.com/home/
Google. (n.d.) Tour Creator. Retrieved from https://vr.google.com/tourcreator/
Simon, M. (2018a). Stories from quarantine [Video file]. Retrieved from https://spark.adobe.com/video/9FpaZtvsGh22M
Simon, M. (2018b, September 1). Stories from quarantine [Annotated image file]. Retrieved from https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1092231183271460865
Simon, M. (2018, September 7). Stories of quarantine [Virtual tour file]. Retrieved from https://poly.google.com/view/4DzU5g701mj
Thinglink. (n.d.) Ignite student creativity. Retrieved September 15, 2018 from https://www.thinglink.com/edu

Exploring innovative digital literature and using socially networked reading sites in classroom settings

Marika SimonUncategorized2 Comments
This is a direct crosspost from the INF533 discussion forum.
Innovative Digital Literature
          As I have mentioned before (Simon, 2018), I really enjoyed Device 6 (Simogo AB, 2014). It is one of the few (perhaps the only) longer form pieces of digital literature that I have found over the past 6 weeks that I have actually completed. I think one reason for that is the whole immersion vs engagement argument (Skaines, 2010). While I do appreciate immersion and have been known to get thoroughly “lost in a book”, I am also a fan of puzzles and interactive engagement in narrative games (though I do have an irritatingly low frustration threshold).  The blending of puzzle interaction and narrative using iPad affordances, such as gyroscopic sensors to navigate through the text, was the perfect combination for me.
          I am still exploring the hypertext puzzle narrative event Planetarium. Unlike transmedia narratives like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which once they have been released as an event are not able to be experienced in the same gradual release, serial, episodic format again, Planetarium has been around for over twenty years and is still released to each new reader in the same gradual format – with access to a new episode on a weekly basis over twelve weeks. I am enjoying it and am intrigued by it, but I am finding it easy to forget about it and lose track of releases. Time will tell whether it holds my attention until the finish.
           I have had more difficulty in identifying digital literature sites that are innovative, appropriate for use in a primary classroom, and affordable for me to access and use as a casual teacher. I have viewed the first two episodes of Inanimate Alice (The Bradfield Company Ltd., 2005-2018) and briefly glanced at the webcomic that bridges the time between those episodes. While I do believe that Inanimate Alice continues to innovate, the older episodes are more appropriately classified as “innovative for their time”. Being dependent on Flash, they face the possibility of becoming obsolete if not updated. I have not yet paid the price to investigate the more recent offerings, but can see that lack of access to earlier episodes might well have negative consequences for later episodes in the series.

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