The course is intended for Master’s and Doctoral students who are interested in integrating digital technologies in their research and studies and who wish to get a deeper theoretical and practical understanding in the area. It is also open to teachers and other professionals who use digital technologies and storytelling in their work.
The course builds on theories and practices of digital storytelling as an innovative way to teach and do research in the educational sciences with the use of social media and connective technologies. In order to explain what new it brings into teaching and research, we will look into digital storytelling as a 21st century metaphor and analyze the term along the principles of metaphor theory. Also, we will cover theoretical frameworks of metaphor in language, thought and communication. For the practical part, we will focus on how to select and use the social platforms that fit our needs and purposes. To this end, we will practice with building up and sharing online digital stories that are contextualized and meaningful, grounded within a solid background.
The main focus areas of the course include:
- Digital storytelling as a 21st century metaphor
- The narrative element in telling digital stories
- The social and technical agents in digital storytelling
- Social media literacies in the 21st century
- Digital storytelling for empowerment: innovation, voice & ethics