The international section of Digital Storytelling co-taught by Drs. Sheila Aird and Tom Mackey unites Empire State University students studying in Prague, Czech Republic and the United States. This innovative virtual exchange is for students studying in the Digital Media Arts who are especially interested in gaining international perspectives as part of the program.

As noted in the press release for the two new degrees in the Digital Media Arts:

The program is designed to be flexible, accommodating both full-time and part-time students, as well as transfer students. Employing the “learner as producer” model, students will learn by doing while receiving personalized support and guidance from mentors and faculty with expertise in the field. The duration of the degree program will vary depending on individual course load and prior credits.

https://www.sunyempire.edu/news/releases/2023/empire-state-university-announces-launch-of-new-digital-media-arts-program.php

Drs. Mackey and Aird wrote about the “learner as producer” model that is informed by metaliteracy and central to the new Digital Media Arts Program and the Digital Storytelling course:

This collaborative course creates dialogue among international learners who support each other when providing feedback on individual projects and by working together on a team narrative. The effectiveness of this approach in a fully online COIL course demonstrates that educators need to prepare global learners as both individual and collaborative producers of digital narratives. Metaliteracy is central to this process because it encourages not only the ability to apply digital technologies but to also learn about oneself in connected environments.

https://openpraxis.org/articles/10.55982/openpraxis.13.4.442

The launch of the new Digital Media Arts Program at Empire State University is an exciting development that offers considerable potential to support learners in telling their digital stories with multiple modalities. As a fully online course, Digital Storytelling reinforces these goals while providing opportunities for students to produce and share original narratives with learners from around the world. They develop selfie videos, mobile stories, empowerment stories, and a final collaborative narrative about a social cause.

In addition to Digital Storytelling, the upper-level core requirements also include: Ethics of Digital Art and Design, Information Design, Digital Art & Design: Advanced, History & Theory of New Media, Digital Media Arts, Advanced Drawing, Illustration and Capstone in Digital Media Arts.

Mackey, T. P., & Aird, S. M. (2022). Integrating Metaliteracy into the Design of a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Course in Digital Storytelling. Open Praxis, 13(4), 397–403. DOI: http://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.13.4.442