Representing Understanding. - After students have explored historical materials and work together to construct an understanding of the events (one technique might be through the use of a
Webquest), the next step is to represent those events in an interesting and personal manner. There are a number of approaches to doing so, one such approach is the use of digital learning stories. These are imaginative interviews with a person from history that is written, taped and edited by the student historian. This approach provides a unique opportunity for students to operate at the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy and to analyze and evaluate an individual's life, synthesizing this research into the creation of an interview. Once they have studied an historical figure until they know him or her very well, then they can proceed to record information about the person's life organized in the form of a question and answer session. While many of the questions should have researched and verified answers based on the source materials, one of the unique and powerful elements of this approach and something I encourage for every project, is the asking of questions that it was never possible for the interviewee to have been asked. For example, "Mozart what is you favorite form of modern music", or "Babe Ruth, what do you think of the proliferation of steroids in baseball". When students have studied an historical figure carefully, they can get inside the head of this figure well enough to begin to postulate how he or she may have answered this question. Finally, the ability to take these questions and answers they have developed and put them together in an interactive interview fosters creativity, and in my experience is highly motivating. A final element of these videos is a student reflection on the process of the creation and the insights that it provided not only on the figure, but on their process of learning. These interviews are videotaped, edited and are finally completed as traditional quicktime videos that are displayed on the web, or they can be manifest as podcasts that include RSS information. In the sections that follow I will detail the process of constructing these stories.
Digital Learning Stories - Digital Learning Stories (DLS) are digitally supported and documented, self-reflective narratives of the process of constructing and representing understanding. Student-documented DLS tend to be more effective with children who are elementary age and older and therefore more capable of both documenting their learning, as well as reflecting on the process. Teachers of younger students can support the construction of these stories by assisting in the documentation of the work that is being done, and by providing useful scaffolding at each step in the process. It is thoughtful support by teachers and sometimes parents that allows this approach to serve the needs of younger learners.
The development of learning stories contains three major elements. This is an iterative process for students that includes documentation as an essential aspect of each element.
1. Interacting with learning materials
- Exploring
- Describing |
2. Developing an understanding
- Reflecting
- Discussing
|
3. Constructing representations of understanding
- Creating
- Presenting
- Evaluating |
The process takes place in the following general manner.
1. Interacting with learning materials
Students are presented with a learning opportunity either through their own interest or by an assignment from the teacher. As they explore materials relevant to the topic (such as books, videos, web pages, etc.) they keep track of the process of their investigations (with age-appropriate scaffolding from the teacher). This documentation can take the form of notes, photos, bookmarks, journal entries and other records. Part of the process of exploring is then to begin to describe the topic and the emerging understanding. The narrative that students begin to generate should serve both as a means for tracking progress, as well as a vehicle for self-scaffolding understanding.
2. Developing an understanding
Throughout this process of exploring materials, students should be encouraged to reflect on the ideas that they are generating. This reflection may be concurrent with the construction of their narratives, at times it may also emerge through discussions with peers regarding insights, conclusions and questions that arise from their work. Ideally a result of the reflection and discussion will be the pursuit of further resources to explore. Again documenting this step in the process is critical as students work to construct understanding.
3. Constructing representations of understanding
The final element is developing a representation of understanding. This can take the form of a report, slide show, paper, multimedia presentation such a s video, dance or other construction. As part of the presentation, students should be prepared to describe not only their final understanding, but also the process they went through to reach this understanding. When students share select elements of their narrative and reflections on the process, it can provide teachers and peers with insights about the students' understanding that are far greater than a typical project submission might contain. This presentation provides teachers with the ability to authentically assess student understanding.
Those moments most important to document for the elucidation of emergent understanding, are those times when students are faced with a choice point. This may involve options regarding how to continue to explore a topic, it may involve competing theories or explanations for the topic that is being explored, or it may be manifest as a decision between different forms for displaying understanding. These conceptual or procedural forks can provide insight into students' developing schema and can be an instrument for understanding students' conceptions or misconceptions regarding the topic.
The use of digital learning stories is a pedagogical approach that can have a number of significant benefits. The use of narratives, whether textual or graphical, provides students with material that can foster reflection, support collaboration, and assist in the construction of meaningful understanding. This is an approach that incorporates a universal design for learning in that it allows self-differentation as it supports a range of student abilities, styles of learning and various constellations of intellectual orientations. Giving students the ability to authentically represent their understanding, and providing teachers with a medium for authentic assessments makes this approach particularly powerful for all participants in the process.
