Kelly Schrum works with graduate students in her digital storytelling class. Photo by Evan Cantwell.
By Joseph Esposito
Despite its countless rich stories, history often leaves a foreboding impression on students who get mired in dates and details. But the digital age is presenting new opportunities to change this image. Just ask George Mason University professor of higher education Kelly Schrum, who is teaching a digital storytelling class this fall.
HIST 615, co-offered as CTCH 792, joins compelling research with exciting ways to communicate. According to Schrum, who is also director of educational projects at George Mason’s Center for History and New Media, “Digital storytelling offers a new approach to teaching and learning about history and higher education.
“This class offers students the opportunity to expand and master digital skills, but also to think about the nature of communication and knowledge production. Students become critical consumers as well as producers.”
Students in the class develop 10-minute digital stories based on academic research. Photo by Evan Cantwell.
The bulk of the work will be developing a digital story, including the pitch, the storyboard and a bibliography. History students need to use primary and secondary sources in presenting a history-themed project. Higher education students will focus on their discipline.
“Each student creates a 10-minute digital story based on academic research,” Schrum says. “Assignments in the course are scaffolded to emphasize reflection, feedback and iterative learning. At each stage, students examine their purpose, intended audience, central argument and narrative arc, and receive instructor and peer feedback, pushing them to create stronger projects.”
She adds, “The process challenges students to think in new ways, to question not only the sources they use, but the ways in which they craft and present a scholarly argument.”
Students in the class understand how these tools can be helpful. Curriculum and instruction major R. J. Pell says, “I am interested in digital storytelling to help make lessons more engaging and interactive in my middle-school classroom. I feel as though becoming more fluent in digital storytelling will be a great weapon in the war on boredom.”
Digital storytelling allows students to expand and hone their digital skills, while learning about the nature of communication and knowledge production. Photo by Evan Cantwell.
Kirk Johnson, a history major, adds, “I hope that I will learn to rethink how I talk about history by creating digital narratives.”
Janet Athanasiou, an education major, says, “I’m hoping to learn about ways to share information and ideas across a community of scholars with barrier-free access. As long as someone is able to connect to the Internet, they can share a story.”
The appeal extends even to the university workplace. Jennifer Pollard, a student in the class who works in Mason’s career services office, says, “I’m constantly challenged to innovate the way in which I communicate the message of my office. Visual communication not only enhances the understanding of our stakeholders, but it helps us to build stronger relationships and work together with a common understanding and goal.”
This course aligns with Schrum’s research. She points out, “My primary focus is on teaching and learning in the digital age, including the scholarship of teaching and learning, online learning, digital humanities and history education.”
Schrum, who holds a PhD in history from Johns Hopkins University, is the author of U.S. History Matters: A Student Guide to History Online, World History Matters: A Student Guide to History Online and Some Wore Bobby Sox: The Emergence of Teenage Girls’ Culture, 1920-1950.