Developing Digital Literacies Through Digital Storytelling in Pre-Service Teacher Students
Daniela Gachago,Cape Peninsula University of Technology
2010 Faculty of Education Digital Storytelling project
1. What is digital literacy?Three components of digital literacy emerge from the literature
Social awareness(understand your identity, collaborate, adapt
communication to context/audience)
Knowledge of digital tools(hard/software awareness/competence – ICT
literacy?)
Critical thinking(evaluating, contextualising – information
literacy?)
Newman, 2009
Research questions
RQ1
•How diverse are our students?
•How do they perceive access to ICTs and their ICT skills for teaching and learning?
RQ2
•What is the potential of digital storytelling in enhancing students’ digital literacies?
RQ3
•What are possible contradictions when integrating digital storytelling in the classroom?
Quantitative study: surveys and student scores
Images
RQ1: students perception of ICT access and skills
“In South Africa, for students who grew up during apartheid years, issues of language and race tended to cohere with educational and economic privilege, where white students speaking English or Afrikaans
as a home language tended to be the most privileged...” (Alexander, 1997)
Table 1: Crosstab access to ICTs on campus and home language
Home language TotalAfrikaans English isiXhosa
Access to ICTs on campus
difficult Count 2 7 6 15% 66.7% 29.2% 75.0% 42.9%
easy Count 1 17 2 20
% 33.3% 70.8% 25.0% 57.1%
Total Count 3 24 8 35
% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
ValueExact Sig. (2-sided)
Fisher's Exact Test 5.769 .038
N of valid cases 35
Table 2: Adequacy of ICT skills for T&L and home language
Home language
TotalAfrikaans English isiXhosaMy ICT skills are appropriate for my learning requirements
disagree Count 1 4 4 9
% 25.0% 16.7% 66.7% 26.5%
agree Count 3 20 2 25
% 75.0% 83.3% 33.3% 73.5%
Total Count 4 24 6 34
% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
ValueExact Sig. (2-sided)
Fisher's Exact Test 5.588 .059N of Valid Cases 34
RQ2: Improvement of digital literacy skills
Image from Flickr by Leif (CC)
Table 3: Paired-sample T-test, testing for significant differences in mean
improvement of digital skills as perceived by students
Paired Differences
t-value df
p-value (2-
tailed)
Mean differenc
e
Std. Error Mean
95% Confidence Interval of the
Difference
Lower UpperWriting before – after 1.143 0.190 0.752 1.534 6.000 27 <0.001Integration of 7 roles before – after
1.393 0.214 0.953 1.832 6.503 27 <0.001
Editing before – after 0.793 0.229 0.323 1.263 3.456 28 0.002Reading before – after 1.036 0.284 0.453 1.618 3.647 27 0.001Recording story before – after 1.724 0.306 1.098 2.350 5.643 28 <0.001Recording song before – after 1.862 0.226 1.399 2.325 8.242 28 <0.001Downloading images before – after
0.655 0.229 0.186 1.124 2.862 28 0.008
CC before – after 1.214 0.343 0.511 1.917 3.545 27 0.001Editing images before – after 0.862 0.203 0.446 1.278 4.247 28 <0.001Scanning before – after 0.714 0.229 0.244 1.185 3.116 27 0.004MovieMaker before – after 1.517 0.241 1.023 2.011 6.290 28 <0.001Fit story/images/sound before – after
1.310 0.258 0.781 1.840 5.071 28 <0.001
Publishing story before – after 1.333 0.256 0.807 1.860 5.209 26 <0.001
RQ3: Contradictions
Table 4: Cross tabulation final grade in process and
presentation (p&p) categories and race
race
Totalblack white colouredtotal p & p
meets 50+
Count 4 2 7 13
% 66.7% 18.2% 58.3% 44.8%
exceeds 75+
Count 2 9 5 16
% 33.3% 81.8% 41.7% 55.2%
Total Count 6 11 12 29
% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
ValueExact Sig. (2-
sided)Fisher's Exact Test
5.097 .090
N of Valid Cases
29
1. What is digital literacy?Three components of digital literacy emerge from the literature
Social awareness(understand your identity, collaborate, adapt
communication to context/audience)
Knowledge of digital tools(hard/software awareness/competence – ICT
literacy?)
Critical thinking(evaluating, contextualising – information
literacy?)
Newman, 2009
What are students’ existing social practices?
What tools are they already using?
In which language do they want to tell their stories?
How should we assess our students’ improvement in digital literacies?
I would like to acknowledge and thank the 2010 Digital Stories students who
have made this project such a success!
Further contact: Daniela Gachago, CPUT [email protected] or
References• Engestroem, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to
developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit.• Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Rohleder, P., Carolissen, R., & Swartz, L. (2010). Ah, but the witheys
love to talk about themselves: discomfort as a pedagogy for change. Race Ethnicity and Education, 13(1), 83-100. (source of citation Alexander 1997)
• Mills, K. A. (2010). A Review of the Digital Turnʼ' in the New Literacy Studies. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 246-271. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http://rer.sagepub.com/content/80/2/246.full.pdf+html.
• Newman, T. (2009). Consequences of a digital literacy review: moving from terminology to action. Retrieved May 2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/TabethaNewman/digital-literacy-literature-review-from-terminology-to-action
• Street, B. (2003). Whatʼs “new” in the new literacy studies? Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5(2), 77-91.
• Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Retrieved November 20, 2010, from http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SUSE/projects/ireport/articles/self-regulation/self-regulated learning-motivation.pdf.
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