Running head: BRINGING VOICES TO THE FOREFRONT 1

Annotated Bibliography

Vanessa Lebrasseur

EEA 534: Technologies for Learning

Master of Education in Leadership

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Introduction

How can we as teachers and leaders motivate our students to apply and practice their oral

language? In elementary schools, teachers work on vocabulary building with their students to

enhance their communication, writing, reading and comprehension skills. However, students

don't seem motivated to properly use the language. Many elements can create this dilemma. I

wanted to learn how to integrate the use of technology to amplify student voices authentically.

Searching for a method to take away the fear of speaking from our students and allowing them to

speak their thinking, express themselves, and practice their oral language. In addition to this

goal, finding ways to motivate students to express themselves in creative ways.

Keywords

They keywords used in this assignment were: oral language development, digital storytelling,

elementary, literacy, authenticity, writing, reading

Resources

The effect of digital storytelling in improving the third-grade writing skills by

Ahmet Yamac and Mustafa Ulusoy

This research article investigated the effects of digital storytelling in improving the

writing skills of third-grade students in rural primary schools. The writing skills were measured

before and after the digital storytelling implementation. Ahmet and Mustafa explored through

observations, field notes, interviews, audio, video records, student diaries, documents and

student products. Ahmet and Mustafa (2016) stated, “The results indicated that digital

storytelling enhanced students’ ideas, organization, word choice, sentences fluency, and

conventions in terms of writing quality” (p. 59). The article also discussed the importance of

writing instruction and talked about what digital storytelling is and the purpose behind the tool.
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They compared digital storytelling to new literacy and writing. The article stated that digital

storytelling integrated both traditional and new literacy. According to Ahmet and Mustafa

(2016) “Digital storytelling develops not only the traditional literacy skills such as reading,

writing, speaking and communication but also new literacy skills that are highly required in

multimedia environments” (p. 61). They went into depth on the research design talking about

clarifying vision and targets, articulating theories, data collection method and process, analysis

and interpretation of data, and then broke down the data.

The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling by Bernard R. Robin

This article talked about where digital storytelling came from, how it could be used to

support instruction and how students who created their own digital stories improved multiple

literacy skills. Bernard (2006) wrote, “Digital storytelling involves the art of telling stories with

a variety of digital multimedia, such as images, audio, and video” (p. 1). Bernard also wrote

about the Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling that was developed at the Center for Digital

Storytelling. Here are the seven elements:

1. Point of view

2. A Dramatic Question

3. Emotional Content

4. The Gift of your Voice

5. The Power of the Soundtrack

6. Economy

7. Pacing

The Seven Elements of Storytelling is a useful starting point when a student begins working with

digital stories. The article talked about the different types of digital stories such as personal
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narratives, historical narratives, and stories designed to inform or instruct the viewer. Bernard

talked about how digital storytelling is not only for students but could be utilized by teachers to

present material. I was not surprised by the following statement that was said, “Students who

participate in the creation of digital stories may develop enhanced communications skills by

learning to organize their ideas, ask questions, express opinions, and construct narratives”

(Robin, 2006, p. 4). He also mentioned that digital storytelling involved all the different

literacies such as digital, global, technology, visual and information literacy. When students

created their own digital stories, they participated in the multiple steps of designing, creating,

and presenting. Implementing these things increased their literacy skills and research, writing,

organizational, technology, presentation, interview, interpersonal, problem-solving, and

assessment skills. Bernard looked at the many benefits of digital storytelling, but he also

mentioned some challenges. A challenge he brought up was the respect for copyright and how

students may be tempted to find materials on the internet to add to the stories. Teachers will

have to go over digital citizenship and set firm expectations of what is appropriate and what is

not.

Digital Storytelling in the Language Arts Classroom by Glen Bull and Sara Kajder

This article talked about the seven elements of effective digital stories which were:

1. A point of view

2. A dramatic question

3. Emotional content

4. Economy

5. Pacing

6. The gift of your voice

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7. An accompanying soundtrack

Gull and Kajder grouped the seven elements into two phases of writing (1-4) and construction

(5-7). Gull and Kajder (2005) stated “During the writing phase, students draft and revise scripts

and design their storyboard. They decide what their story will say and how the story will look”

(p. 48). Once finished the writing phase, they would go onto constructing. The article provided

information on the seven elements and explained the purpose behind them. They stressed the

importance of proper planning and sequencing the steps for the best outcome of digital

storytelling. Gull and Kajder (2205) offered sequence steps to support with this tool “Write an

initial script, plan an accompanying storyboard, discuss and revise the script, sequence the

images in the video editor, add the narrative track, add special effects and transitions and add a

soundtrack if time permits” (p. 49). Being prepared may enhance your experience with digital

storytelling in the class. Ensuring you are setting yourself, your students and the assignments up

for success is essential. Gull and Kajder (2005) stated “Using digital storytelling provides a

voice to struggling reads and writers who might not otherwise find an authentic means of

expression” (p. 49).

Digital storytelling in an elementary classroom: Going beyond entertainment by

Terry A. Campbell

Terry A. Campbell based his research on the following question: How can digital

storytelling in a junior elementary school classroom enhance engagement in writing as well as

the motivation and ability to create higher quality writing? His research was conducted over two

years in a rural school where students had not been performing well in writing, based on

standardized and school-based assessments. His research was specifically based on digital

storytelling tools to enhance student engagement and writing skills. Campbell collected his data
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by observations, interviews, a writer self-perception scale, print and digital writing samples, and

writing evaluations. In his research, Campbell (2012) found “dramatic improvements involved

in the levels of engagement as indicated by the time spent on task and completion of project” (p.

389). Results started from 17/24 and after some time ended up increasing to 24/24. His further

observations indicated that students writing quality did improve and increased their scores by

producing longer and more sophisticated digital stories. Campbell (2012) also found that

“students and teachers succeeded in going beyond the novelty or entertainment effect by

maintaining the motivation to improve technological skills to produce more sophisticated digital

stories, by continuing to work within a collaborative atmosphere, and by enhancing fundamental

story-writing skills” (p. 393). In addition to digital storytelling Campbell mentioned that

effective teaching also needed to be added to enhance the overall experience.

The resources I found associated digital storytelling tools to the enhancements of

student’s literacy skills. Although they did not specifically focus on oral language development,

they provided me with valuable information regarding student’s overall literacy development.

Two of the articles I read had similar approaches to properly utilizing digital storytelling tools.

Digital Storytelling in the Language Arts Classroom by Glen Bull and Sara Kajder and The

Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling by Bernard R. Robin both referred to The Seven

Elements of Storytelling that was developed at the Center for Digital Storytelling. This resource

supported teachers when it came to sequencing projects for students. All the resources brought

up similar challenges when using digital storytelling which included the importance of digital

citizenship and the implications of proper access to technology.

My resources were relevant to my research topic as they all had valuable information that

helped me build upon my current knowledge of digital storytelling. I wanted to find out what the
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benefits and challenges would be with integrating this tool into classrooms by looking at the

research based evidence. These resources have helped me, as a leader, build a better

understanding of how to effectively present the tool to teachers and students.

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References

Bull, G., & Kajder, S. (2005). Digital storytelling in the language arts classroom.

Learning and Leading with Technology, 32(4), 46-49.

Campbell, A. T. (2012). Digital storytelling in an elementary classroom: Going beyond

entertainment. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 385-393.

Robin, R. B. (2006). The educational uses of digital storytelling. Technology and

Teacher Education, 1, 709.

Yamaç, A., & Ulusoy, M. (2016). The effect of digital storytelling in improving the third

graders'writing skills*. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 9(1),

59-86. Retrieved from http://proxy.cityu.edu/login?url=https://search proquestcom.

proxy.cityu.edu/docview/1967314443?accountid=1230