Ipads in schools: Is technology changing the art of story-telling?

http://www.ipadsforeducation.vic.edu.au/ipad-education-case-studies/5-ringwood-north-primary-school

Summary:

This article describes one way in which Ringwood North Primary School, in Melbourne Australia, used ipads as an educational tool. The school participated in “The Epic Citadel Challenge”, a global challenge for students to use the Citadel app to create a story based in the Citadel fictional world. Students would also give reflections and feedback to other students around the world participating in the challenge. The challenge guidelines are:

• create a digital story utilizing photos from the app Epic Citadel
• the digital story may include text, or it may not. It may be a collage, a poem. It is entirely up to you, as long as it tells some sort of story
• use any apps you like to create your story
• your story must be no more than 3 minutes
• all finished stories must include a short reflection by the student before being uploaded

In addition, students created tutorials for how to use their favorite apps. In summary, by using technological resources students practiced technological literacy, creativity, story construction, reflection, collaboration, and leadership.

Response:

Traditionally, we are taught that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end, and we tend to read and process stories in a linear fashion.  But when one moves from reader to writer, they often fall into the trap of thinking that writing is also linear, when in fact it is a recursive act. We brainstorm at all stages of the process, revise as we write, and when we finish the story we go back and make changes to the plot. But I think that the way we use technology is changing the way we process information. We used to look at a page in a book, start at the top, and work our way down reading left to right. But not we take a glance at a website and deconstruct it, we scan it, compartmentalize, and prioritize. I think this newer way of processing information can change the way we take in and tell stories. 

One thing that I liked in particular about the challenge is that the challenge itself re-imagines story telling. The story can contain text, pictures, be a collage, a poem, and can use any apps to make the story as linear or interactive as they want. As a future writing teacher, I love the idea that there is no one way to tell a story. It seems that the seemingly infinite applications make story telling a more creative and individualized process than ever.