RM Winter 2016 FLIP

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Reading Matters
Research Matters
| 06| Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |
Using Digital Storytelling to
Improve Student Attitudes Towards Writing
Monica J. Gatti, Western Carolina University
Kelly N. Tracy, Western Carolina University
ABSTRACT—Frommy previous writing workshop experience, I
noticed that some students were often unengaged and I questioned
why. Were they not interested in the topic? Was the task too
difficult? Were they insecure about their writing? Could technology
be used as a tool for engagement? In an attempt to answer these
questions, I designed a ten-week action research study on the use
of digital storytelling to engage writers. I administered the Writing
Attitude Survey (Kear, Coffman, McKenna, & Ambrosio, 2000) at
the beginning and end of the study, which involved 15 students
in a combined second and third grade class at a rural elementary
school in North Carolina. Results demonstrate that the students’
overall positive attitude toward writing improved from 66.7% being
happy or very happy to 83.4%. Their attitude towards revising
and peer reviewing dramatically increased from an initial 7% to
53% of students reporting being either happy or very happy.
The first time I, Monica, observed students involved in digital
storytelling I was surprised at their engagement with the process.
I was a graduate student working as a volunteer assistant in a
first grade class, helping students one-on-one to write scripts
for their digital stories. The joy that all students appeared to
have when working on their digital story projects contrasted
sharply with my previous student teaching experience with
writing instruction. In that experience, I noticed struggling or
reluctant writers with their heads down, staring at the page, or
just working on their picture during the designated writing time.
As I had additional opportunities to work with other kindergarten
through third grade students, I continued to see the excitement
that digital storytelling generated for students of all skill levels.
To help me more fully understand what I had been casually
observing, I decided to undertake an action research project
examining if and how digital storytelling engaged young writers.
The Power of Digital Stories
Sylvester and Greenidge (2009) explain, “A digital story is a
multimedia text consisting of images complemented by a narrated
soundtrack to tell a story or present a documentary” (p. 284). Such
stories give students the chance to meaningfully meld writing with
technology, and doing so often gives students a real audience,
purpose, and place to publish (Hicks, 2013). Using digital stories
in the classroom can increase student engagement, as well as
improve print and media literacies (Bogard & McMackin, 2012;
Hartley & McWilliam, 2009; Tobin, 2012). Teachers can integrate
digital stories with any subject, offering students an opportunity to
engage with content while designing, planning, and producing a
multimedia product. As such, digital storytelling is a natural fit with
the process approach to teaching writing, a popular method of
writing instruction shown to increase student writing achievement
in general education classes (Graham & Sandmel, 2011). Graham
and Sandmel (2011) explain that while there is not a universal
definition of this approach, there are many shared features
including cycles of planning, transferring, and reviewing. Process
writing also emphasizes writing for real purposes and audiences.
Digital stories can be especially useful as a final authentic product
after participating in the writing process. When students are
able to share these products with family, peers, and/or friends, it
“affords students an intense sense of pride and accomplishment
that rarely accompanies the completion of a term paper or set of
textbook exercises” (Simkins, Cole, Tavalin, & Means, 2002, p. 8).
Even though digital storytelling has been found to be an
engaging way to teach writing, few K-12 schools in the U.S. are
actually using the learning tool. According to a 2009 survey, “Of
the total 123 digital storytelling programs based in educational
institutions, 55 were located in K-12 settings, including associated
after-school and/or vacation-care settings, 41 were located
in America.” (Hartley & McWilliam, 2009, p. 45). This limitation
could be due in part to the difficulties teachers often have
in gaining access to technology on a regular basis, as well as
knowing ways to meaningful incorporate it into the classroom
(Wright &Wilson, 2011). Access to technology can vary greatly
between schools and districts (Purcell, Heaps, Buchanan, &
Friedrich, 2013) with rural teachers often facing distinct barriers
to technological access (Howley, Wood, & Hough, 2011),
Digital Storytelling in Action
To further my understanding of engaging students with digital
storytelling, I began working with a teacher in a combined second
and third grade classroom at Lake View School (pseudonym) in
the rural mountains of western North Carolina. Lake View is a
small school serving 103 students in grades kindergarten through
twelfth. There were 17 students in the class and while all of them
participated in the lessons, two did not give consent to participate
in the study and thus were excluded from data collection. The
school had some technology, but there were no tablets available
for student use in the classroom. I was able to write and receive
a small grant that allowed me to purchase ten iPad minis that we
could share among the students to create our digital stories. I
visited the class once per week for ten weeks and worked with
the students for approximately forty-five minutes each time. I
collaborated with the classroom teacher to design the sequence
of lessons, which would center on both science and writing,
specifically seasons and descriptive writing. Through these lessons,
students would utilize a recursive writing process to develop
their ultimate product, a digital story. Although I will describe
the weekly lesson that the regular classroom teacher and I taught