Breaking the digital story assignment into smaller scaffolds will suppports learners in gaining the skills needed to produce a DSA.
Unless you are part of a commications, film studies, or electronic media program, most students will not come to your course with either the writing skills or the media skills required to produce a high-quality digital media asset (or digital story assignment). Learners are set up for success when you use scaffolding exercises to teach them the new skill set needed for effective digital storytelling.
Scaffolding exercises have several benefits when implementing a digital story assignment (DSA):
- They help students begin to plan what may be a capstone assignment for the course, not leaving everything to the last minute (reducing stress)
- They reduce the cognitive load of learning new techniques needed to create the DSA, such as storytelling and media production tools
- They allow the instructor to construct the DSA around learning outcomes for the course
To learn more about scaffolding exercises and even see some examples, refer to chapter 3 in The Changing Story by Linda Buturian.
Activity:
You should plan scaffolding exercises for your DSA based on your learning outcomes, digital story type, and students’ experiences with storytelling and media production. As you review the scaffolding exercises in the eBook, consider the learning outcomes, including the development of storytelling and media production skills, for your DSA.
Rate the statements in the following table by adding one bold X in each row as you consider your learning outcomes and how important it is for your students to develop media skills in your course.
|
After completing my DSA, students will be able to: |
1 = Not important |
2 = a Little important |
3 = Somewhat important | 4 = Important |
5 = Very important |
| Write a compelling, personal story with a dramatic question and arc | |||||
| Use different kinds of images and sounds to effectively show and tell a story | |||||
|
Develop a robust, detailed storyboard |
|||||
| Record an audio narration of high quality | |||||
| Independently produce a complete digital story |
Once you have identified these learning outcomes, plan out the scaffolding exercises your students will need to produce their final DSA and incorporate them into your class schedule. Begin with the simplest exercise first and assign it early in your class timeline, giving them the opportunity to take small steps toward completing their DSA, evenly spread out throughout the timeline of your course. This will reduce the stress of learning new techniques that may not even be associated with your class content (such as storytelling and media production in a social sciences course), allowing your students to stay focused on the core content of the course while learning new skills at the same time.
Again, for more about implementing scaffolding exercises and even see some examples, refer to chapter 3 in The Changing Story by Linda Buturian.