My Digital Stories Portfolio
How and why is it important for you to tell stories?
Throughout my experience in our Learning with Digital Stories course I have come to understand that we all tell stories every day without our knowledge of doing so. Our daily activities embody stories and define who we are. Every decision we make communicates some kind of meaning to others even if that is not our intent. Our actions are how we represent ourselves and stories are used as a way to compile everything that we do. Stories help us organize and understand our messages in a coherent manner that can be passed on to others. With my focal theme being games and as a gamer I can connect storytelling to how players build personal relationships through the games they play and how they pass on their passion to others. Gamers not only play games but also connect with other players to share in the experience either by sharing tips, having conversations, or simply just playing together. In my experience with Learning with Digital Stories, stories were important in the sharing of our creations. When we shared as a class we were able to better ourselves in our work. Our passions were shared with each other in forms of self-expressed assignments and we were able to take in critique for improvement. It is important to recognize the power of sharing as we can only grow through the opinions of others. Without critique we would take in our work as is.
Throughout this course we were asked to create assignments that matched our focal theme. With my focal theme being games I enjoyed the process of creating more as it was a theme I was familiar with. Learning with Digital stories promoted the concept of producing and creating instead of consuming. Often individuals find themselves taking a back seat only to observe instead of participating, I believe the push to create was for us to understand that for individuals to grow they can not only observe but must also produce.
The four assignments I was most proud of throughout the semester are:
(clicking on each image will take you to the assignment!)
To guide us on our journey throughout Learning with Digital Storytelling Lankshear and Nobel gave us insight on social learning. The three weekly reading responses that I connected with the most are below:
These reading responses resonated with me as they gave me better insight on new literacies, discourse, and remixing. The idea behind how there will always be new literacies and how the development of new literacies can be determined by technology. Understanding that literacy is not singular but plural and that being "literate" can have many different definitions. By taking what we consume and remixing it into our own lives gives us power and control to decide the meaning in what we do. Remixing gives individuals the opportunity to express what they believe something means.
Throughout the course we were asked to connect with our peers to share our work and give critique. In doing so we were able to build connections with others. Our connection throughout the course also gave us a chance to share some of our own passions to better build relationships with others.
Storytelling is important for a community to pass on knowledge from one generation to another, however now with the digital age how we tell a story is different. Stories can now reach a wider audience and more people can tell their own stories. Before the technologies that were available to us, stories were often told by certain people and could only reach a few. However, technology now has given us the opportunity to share our own stories it is an opportunity for anyone to be heard.
