Digital storytelling in writing : a case study of student teacher attitudes toward teaching with technology

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 26, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. Roy F. FoxIncludes bibliographical references.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."July 2012"This case study investigated how preservice teachers taught digital storytelling to students who often possessed more technology skills than the teachers. During the spring semester of 2011, two secondary-level language arts teaching interns and their cooperating teachers taught a digital storytelling project. The participants and their students were observed in a constructivist atmosphere, while data was gathered from classroom observations, interviews, surveys, and daily email correspondences with interns and their cooperating teachers. Many lenses were used to view data, while crystallization offered an additional perspective to the coding process. A key finding was that interns discovered that student-centered learning, like that which takes place during project-based digital activities, allowed for facilitation, differentiation, and created a learning environment that fostered expertise to come from anyone in the classroom. Additionally, interns (digital immigrants) experienced uncertainty when teaching technology to digital natives who were more digitally experienced. Interns observed that technology options motivated students to engage, and stay engaged, but it was not a universal cure for apathy. Pedagogical recommendations include motivating teachers to embrace the digital literacies students are using, encouraging teacher preparation programs to better prepare future teachers for the technologies K-12 students interact with on a regular basis, and viewing digital storytelling and digital literacy as more than a project but a way of thinking.Includes bibliographical reference