The Lasso of Learning: Chronicles of a School-Based OT

A Tale of Digital Storytelling

Hello all…it’s me, Sheron, back again to weave together a marvelous tale of how my digital storytelling experience went. What is digital storytelling, you ask? Well let me explain, as I too, had to learn about this new age way of using technology to narrate. Basically, digital storytelling allows one to recreate, or tell a story to present information. It’s actually pretty cool, if you know what you’re doing. It’s very “not cool” if you are clueless…;) Either way, it is a learning experience, and educators, or anyone for that matter, can learn how to be creative with an engaging way to showcase information to an audience.

It all started with a classroom assignment on BYOD, or “bring your own device.” Now this can be a great thing, and is actually implemented in so many different learning experiences that I have been part of. I have attended continuing education events and professional development courses where it was expected that we bring a laptop or tablet. I have taught lessons in which I expected my students to use their own devices in some way. For example, I am a Kahoot girlie, and love posing questions to my students on this platform. It engages them and provides a layer of fun to start with. I also use this platform for icebreakers when I lead an education platform for my adult learners. Now while I love the concept of BYOD, I always have to be mindful of the audience, to ensure accessibility, as everyone may not have a compatible device. This is why I love the district where I work, because we provide Google Chromebooks for all students, and a district-appointed laptop for all student teachers and clinical students. This definitely makes life easier for me, and it keeps things safe, secure, and confidential.

While I am not opposed to students using their personal phones or tablets, whether they are our K-8 students or the graduate level students whom I precept, I do try to emphasize discretion and making sure that they are not inputting confidential information (i.e., full names or ID numbers). This is not always feasible for me to monitor, so I definitely prefer for the approved devices to be used. But I digress, because I quickly learned that sometimes a smartphone is needed for specific tasks. So, alas, I delve into how this relates to digital storytelling.

So when I precept my graduate students, I assign various assignments and projects throughout their time with me. I don’t like to give busy work, so each task they are assigned has a purpose, and all can or will be used to provide instruction to our K-8 kiddos throughout their 12-week/1-semester term with me. One of my assignments involves grad students using technology apps to create a lesson instruction using digital storytelling. So they actually have to “teach” or “introduce” a skill that will be used as an intervention or teaching strategy. Honestly, I learn more from my grad students than anything I could’ve ever found online. They are way more tech-savvy than I am and often have the coolest, most creative ideas. These lovely, young Gen Z students, with their technology-enhanced thinking, informed me that some things are just easier to do using their smartphones, especially when it came to creating videos for digital storytelling. All I can do is soak in their knowledge on a topic that is new to me, and somehow so much easier for them to learn. And while I was skeptical about this as an assignment, dare I say that I learned something new, and my grad students thought it was fun to do.

The moral of the story is that if you want to try something new and innovative, try adding digital storytelling to your instruction plan. My personal favorite platform to use is Canva. First, Canva is free for educators, but if you’re feeling fancy, you can upgrade to the premium package to access more content. Second, it is very beginner-friendly…trust me…I knew absolutely nothing, but was able to navigate through the digital storytelling templates to create something simple. And lastly, Canva creations can be easily downloaded and shared in Google Classroom, which comes in handy for me because I use my Google Classroom all of the time. I hope that this has shed a little light on digital storytelling…it’s not so bad. What type of platforms do you all use for digital storytelling? I can’t wait to hear from you!