Tag: storytelling

International Voices in Digital Storytelling Education

Empire State University, USA, and North-West University, South Africa, facilitated an international conversation Inspiring Global Voices Through Digital Storytelling. This virtual event highlighted several authors who contributed to the book Teaching Digital Storytelling Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives by Drs. Sheila Aird and Tom Mackey for Rowman & Littlefield.

This engaging conversation brought together thought leaders from South Africa and the United States. They explored how digital storytelling empowers learners. It also fosters intercultural connections. Each author discussed their chapter with a particular focus on metaliteracy. They then engaged in an interactive conversation about the transformative role of digital storytelling in education.

Opening remarks were provided by Empire State University President Lisa Vollendorf, Ph.D. In addition, Prof Dorothy Laubscher also contributed. She is the UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and OER and Associate Professor: Self-Directed Learning, Research Unit Self-Directed Learning, Potchefstroom Campus. 

Inspiring Global Voices Through Digital Storytelling

The panel participants for this event included:

  • Sheila Marie Aird, Ph.D. and Tom Mackey, Ph.D., from Empire State University will introduce their chapter Metaliteracy and Global Digital Storytelling: Building Shared Learning Communities.
  • Dr. Brenda van Wyk, Ph.D., from the University of Pretoria, South Africa will discuss her chapter Digital Storytelling and Cognitive Justice in Academic Information Services in Southern Africa – A Story Waiting to be Discovered.
  • Beth Carpenter, MLIS, from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo will explore her chapter The Metaliteracy of Memes: Having Students Track the Flow of Information.
  • Muchativugwa Liberty Hove, Ph.D., from North-West University, South Africa will discuss his chapter Voicing and Agency Through Autoethnography.
  • Logan Rath, Ph.D. and Kathleen Olmstead, Ed.D., from SUNY Brockport will introduce their chapter “It Was Awesome. No One was Telling Us What We Had to Write!”: Empowering Young Writers Through Digital Book Making.
  • Thandiwe Matyobeni, MA, from Rhodes University, South Africa will discuss his chapter Reflections on Digital Storytelling as a Learner-centred Approach to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Classrooms.

Register for Digital Storytelling Panel Discussion on Nov 18!

Register today for an engaging conversation with a panel of experts on Monday, November 18, 2024, at 10 AM ET, celebrating the publication of Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives by Drs. Sheila Marie Aird and Tom Mackey.

This event, co-hosted by North-West University, South Africa, and Empire State University, USA, will spotlight several authors who contributed to the book recently published by Rowman & Littlefield. They will share their insights and discuss the impact of digital storytelling in global education.

As part of International Education Week (November 18-22), this event will bring together thought leaders from South Africa and the United States to explore how digital storytelling empowers learners and fosters intercultural connections. With a focus on metaliteracy, each author will introduce their chapter, followed by an interactive conversation about the transformative role of digital storytelling in education.

SUNY Empire State University President Lisa Vollendorf, Ph.D. will share a welcome and Prof Dorothy Laubscher, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and OER, Associate Professor: Self-Directed Learning, Research Unit Self-Directed Learning, Potchefstroom Campus will provide opening remarks. 

Panel Participants:

  • Sheila Marie Aird, Ph.D. and Tom Mackey, Ph.D., from Empire State University will introduce their chapter Metaliteracy and Global Digital Storytelling: Building Shared Learning Communities.
  • Dr. Brenda van Wyk, Ph.D., from the University of Pretoria, South Africa will discuss her chapter Digital Storytelling and Cognitive Justice in Academic Information Services in Southern Africa – A Story Waiting to be Discovered.
  • Beth Carpenter, MLIS, from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo will explore her chapter The Metaliteracy of Memes: Having Students Track the Flow of Information.
  • Muchativugwa Liberty Hove, Ph.D., from North-West University, South Africa will discuss his chapter Voicing and Agency Through Autoethnography.
  • Logan Rath, Ph.D. and Kathleen Olmstead, Ed.D., from SUNY Brockport will introduce their chapter “It Was Awesome. No One was Telling Us What We Had to Write!”: Empowering Young Writers Through Digital Book Making.
  • Thandiwe Matyobeni, MA, from Rhodes University, South Africa will discuss his chapter Reflections on Digital Storytelling as a Learner-centred Approach to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Classrooms.

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to join the conversation and discover how digital storytelling can inspire and connect voices around the world! 
Register here

DigitalStorytellingPanelGraphic_IEW24Download

Featured Chapter: Reflections on Digital Storytelling as a Learner-centred Approach to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Classrooms

By Thandiwe Matyobeni

Thanks to Thandiwe Matyobeni, program coordinator in the community engagement division of Rhodes University, South Africa for writing this summary of his excellent chapter from our new book Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives.

The chapter “Reflections on Digital Storytelling as a Learner-centred Approach to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Classrooms” emerged from four years of using digital storytelling in classrooms at Rhodes University. The course is uniquely positioned, having been developed from a Community Engagement division of a university and integrated into credit-bearing curricula across various faculties. In this chapter, I reflect on the successes and challenges experienced in the implementation of this integration, as well as the nuances of the model of storytelling used.

At Rhodes University, social innovation is a form of community engagement, alongside engaged citizenry (volunteerism), engaged research and engaged learning. The digital storytelling course discussed was developed as part of a programme called the Social Innovation Hub. This programme seeks to nurture social cohesion in its environment by supporting social innovation and digital capabilities, and integrating the three pillars of a university.

At first, the course was predominantly used with community members to explore their sense of being and relationship with the city and the university. Gradually, the course gained traction in research spaces, being used as a tool for data collection that places research participants at the helm of the process. Its potential as a tool for teaching and learning soon became evident.

In this chapter, I discuss three cases  to provide an overview of how the method can be adapted to meet various learning objectives.

As noted in the chapter:

“This process supports the development of critical thinking and encourages learners to consider multiple perspectives, reinforcing diversity, equity and inclusion and leading to a deeper understanding of complex issues. By fostering metaliteracy and cognitive reflection, digital storytelling promotes lifelong learning and enables individuals to become active and informed members of society” (Matyobeni, 2024, p. 202).

The stories produced in one of these courses can be viewed here.

“Fresh Off the Boat”

Thandiwe Matyobeni is a program coordinator in the community engagement division of Rhodes University, South Africa. Thandiwe coordinates the social innovation hub program at Rhodes University, which facilitates access to digital tools and competencies, and further aims to refine the social innovation eco-system in Makhanda, where the university is anchored. Thandiwe holds a MA in journalism and media studies and has extensive experience facilitating digital storytelling workshops for community development, teaching and learning, and engaged research. Her research interests include social innovation ecosystems, indigenous knowledges, and environmental justice.

Matyobeni , T.. (2024). Reflections on Digital Storytelling as a Learner-centred Approach to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Classrooms. In Aird and Mackey (Eds.), Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives. (pp. 189-208). Rowman & Littlefield.

Featured Chapter: Digital Storytelling and Cognitive Justice in Academic Information Services in South Africa – A Story Waiting to be Discovered

By Brenda van Wyk

We welcome the latest featured chapter from our book Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives by Dr. Brenda van Wyk, research fellow and senior lecturer in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Storytelling in the African context has a rich history. I rediscovered the joys of storytelling whilst doing research on metaliteracy. I started my career, many moons ago, as a children’s librarian, where storytelling played a huge role. Life’s winding roads came full circle for me when I continued researching literacies and literacy frameworks. This was when I was introduced to the invaluable research on metaliteracy, and its subset of digital storytelling. It did not take much to rekindle my passion, this time in digital format. In this chapter, I report on a study looking at information support services to further the development of self-determined students through a narrative platform capable of crossing many cognitive and metacognitive boundaries and hurdles. The essence of digital storytelling is captured in this quote from my chapter:

“Digital Storytelling is not merely making use of one-directional predesigned videos for online tutorials. It is deeply ethnographical, autoethnographic and participatory… The educational value and strengths of Digital Storytelling manifest in developing cognitive fluency. Cognitive abilities such as critical thinking, reflection, creative problem-solving, and reasoning in an academic learning environment allow for new knowledge creation through immersive experiences for the recipient. Designed correctly, it has the potential to motivate, create interest and increase user engagement for deeper learning. It is a tool that potentially could address the literacy challenges of the South African undergraduate student” (2024, p.56).

Although there is still much work ahead to revive the various affordances of storytelling in South African cases, the study shares the potential value digital storytelling could have in academic information support. In my own teaching experience, I found that students engage easily and remember better when case studies and real-life examples of their theoretical content are shared as digital stories. And this is even more amplified when they are collaboratively creating digital stories.

Brenda van Wyk is currently a research fellow and senior lecturer in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She holds two master’s degrees, one in education (educational technology) and one in information science and knowledge management. She has a PhD in information science. She has industry experience in managing information services and systems in both public and academic libraries and information services. She is the editor in chief for an academic journal: The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning.

van Wyk, Brenda (2024). Digital Storytelling and Cognitive Justice in Academic Information Services in South Africa – A Story Waiting to be Discovered. In Aird and Mackey (Eds.), Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives. (pp. 37-63). Rowman & Littlefield.

Authors in the City Event Features Digital Storytelling Book

The new book Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives by Drs. Sheila Aird and Tom Mackey will be featured at a special Authors in the City event hosted by Empire State University. If you are in the city or online Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 4:30pm check out this event! Tom Mackey will join his SUNY Empire colleagues Sabrina Fuchs Abrams and Margaret (Peggy) Tally who will discuss their new books as well. Here are the details from SUNY Empire:

One evening. Three authors. Three great books.

Please join us for an in-person event celebrating and discussing the latest books by members of the Empire State University community.

Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Time: 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. 

Location: 4 Park Avenue (Mezzanine) in Manhattan

Participating authors are Professor Sabrina Fuchs Abrams, Professor Tom Mackey, and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Margaret (Peggy) Tally. 

The event is being sponsored by SUNY Empire’s School of Graduate Studies and School of Arts and Humanities. Light refreshments will be served. For those who cannot attend in person, the event will be live-streamed (Join the Event Virtually).

We look forward to having you attend the event!

Authors

Sabrina Fuchs Abrams, Professor of English in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program in the School for Graduate Studies at SUNY Empire, will present on her latest book, “New York Women of Wit in the Twentieth Century” (Penn State U Press, 2023). This book looks at the foremothers of women’s humor, who use satire, irony, and wit as an indirect form of social protest in challenging traditional gender roles and social hierarchies. It situates these writers in the context of New York City in the interwar period, which enabled these pioneering women of wit to set the stage for future generations of smart, sassy, sultry feminist humorists of today.

Thomas P. Mackey, Professor in the Department of Arts and Media, School of Arts and Humanities will present on his latest book with European Director of International Programs and Associate Professor Sheila Aird, “Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). This edited volume emerged from their international exchange to teach digital storytelling and includes chapters by educators from around the world and a foreword by futurist and digital storytelling pioneer Bryan Alexander. The book presents innovative case studies from educators in South Africa, Czech Republic and the United States about the theory and practice of teaching digital storytelling while applying literacy frameworks such as metaliteracy, information literacy, visual literacy and multiliteracies.

Margaret (Peggy) Tally, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor at the School for Graduate Studies, will present on her book, “The Limits of #MeToo in Hollywood: Gender and Power in the Entertainment Industry” (McFarland & Company). In October 2017, actress Alyssa Milano sparked the #MeToo movement. The ensuing protests quickly encompassed far more than Harvey Weinstein and the entertainment industry. They expressed women’s outrage at male workplace behavior in every sector and social class and even helped elect a new generation of women leaders in 2018. But what has been the effect of #MeToo in the entertainment industry itself? This book traces the movement’s influence on the stories being told, changing representations of women’s lives and bodies, and the slow changes among the producers who shape the stories.

Teaching with Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives

Dr. Sheila Marie Aird and Dr. Thomas P. Mackey just published a new book Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives for Rowman & Littlefield. This book is featured as part of Trudi Jacobson’s Innovations in Information Literacy Series. Drs. Aird and Mackey worked with an outstanding team of authors from other SUNY schools, Temple University, and universities in South Africa. All of the chapters present innovative case studies about teaching with digital storytelling by applying information literacy, metaliteracy, and visual literacy. The new book features a Foreword written by futurist and digital storytelling pioneer Dr. Bryan Alexander.

This book project emerged from the collaboration initiated by Drs. Aird and Mackey to design and teach a fully online course in Digital Storytelling that brings together Empire State University students studying in Prague, Czech Republic and the United States. This course embeds key aspects of the metaliteracy framework and integrates resources and learning objects published at the metaliteracy.org blog. The editors wrote the framing chapter about this case study Metaliteracy and Global Digital Storytelling: Building Shared Learning Communities. This new chapter builds on their previous publication for Open Praxis Integrating Metaliteracy into the Design of a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Course in Digital Storytelling.

According to the book description:

This book presents the stories of educators who through digital storytelling inspire students from diverse communities to construct their empowering digital narratives. Educators from a wide range of disciplines present innovative case studies of teaching digital storytelling through the lens of personal narratives, metaliteracy, and information literacy. They describe how teaching students to tell their personal digital stories prepares them as learners who are reflective while playing active learner roles such as producer, publisher, and collaborator. 

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538172919/Teaching-Digital-Storytelling-Inspiring-Voices-through-Online-Narratives

We congratulate all of our chapter authors and welcome you to read the book and let us know about your own digital storytelling journey!

Sheila and Tom