An Action Research Study of Digital Storytelling Project-Based Course

Abstract

This study is an action research study of a digital storytelling project-based course. The purpose of this study is to explore the way of implementing a digital storytelling project-based courses in order to make a local improvement rather than making a generalization. This paper reports the procedure of the Multimedia-Assisted English Education course, which was offered to the English language education majors for fifteen weeks in the spring semester in 2020 and its pedagogical effects in terms of the students’ competence both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative and qualitative data collected included students’ general English proficiency test scores (Quick Placement Test, or QPT), virtual class recordings, group activity notes, mind maps, learning journals, student and instructor reflection notes, lecture evaluations, videos of a digital storytelling project, peer evaluations, self assessments, video critiques (Lacy, 2018), transcripts of students conversations (open channels), and core competency surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the semester. Due to the COVID-19, all the classes were delivered online, which made it possible to explore on-line interaction and collaboration among seventeen students in a non-face-to-face situation. In the course of completing a digital storytelling project in a group of 8-9 students, students were reported to enhance collaborative problem-solving and mutual communication competencies.