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Part V. Digital Media and Storytelling in University Courses ] 169
exploration of narratives. Narratives reveal the essences of standard reality
that include rule-breaking episodes and changes that lead students to critically
relate to stories and ask relevant guestions (Bruner, J., 1996).
The integration of DST into teacher education can provide multi-level
development among pre-service teachers. An integral part of the process is
the search for and selection of resources, which are filtered and organized
into a narrative through the students individual reflections. In the process
of narrative construction, the student contextualizes the message and seeks a
logical connection, and the narrative reveals its own internal logic (i.e., how
the student uses narrative structure to weave the fragments of content he or
she has discovered into a causal chain). Ihe method thus allows for an effective
form of cognition. Listeners are not forced to accept ready-made explanations
but can interpret existing explanations and add their own perspectives, in so
far as they formulate the conclusion of the story for themselves.
The co-creative method of DST is an excellent way to develop reflective and
critical thinking as well as social skills. DST also provides an opportunity for
intercultural communication by representing the cultural and social diversity
of group members, as it promotes acceptance and positive attitudinal change
between members of heterogeneous groups.
A change in students’ attitudes and the development of empathic skills was
achieved in a Spanish experiment in which students were confronted with
the life stories of Syrian refugees through processing press narratives using
DST (Diaz, 2016). Another intercultural experiment involved the creation
of digital stories centered around the topic of “otherness” by students who
lived far apart from each other. In the process, students moved away from
mainstream, stereotypical approaches to their chosen topic and developed
an increased tolerance among community members (Grant & Bolin, 2016).
Developing empathy is another important educational goal in teacher
education. DST challenges the audience to place themselves in the situation
of others and look at the world from another perspective. In an experiment
by Reyes and Brinegar (2016), students (n = 6) created digital stories about
their own learning difficulties. Identifying each other’s narratives, the students
engaged in a constructive dialogue, a process that sparked empathy among
members of the community. Students discussed the development of their own
education in their digital stories, which were autobiographical analyses that
revealed who had access to cultural goods. Elements of otherness and equality
could also be identified in the content analysis of the completed stories. One
student had more difficulty accessing literary content due to his dyslexia, while
another experienced issues due to his dysgraphia and apraxia; a third student
encountered issues as a result of his hearing impairment. Their films also drew
attention to how isolated they were due to their learning difficulties. DST
provided the learners with an opportunity for reflection and self-reflection,
with students evaluating their lives and discovering their own agency.