Productive Dissonance: Using Digital Narratives in the Australian Literature Classroom

Abstract

Discussions of the nature and fate of Australian literary studies-at least in the Australian university context-more often than not focus on what is taught and the institutional challenges that confront academics in the field.2 these are certainly valid concerns, and ones that are voiced in relation to other humanities disciplines in the contemporary university. Yet, as important as these matters are, the attention paid to them tends to occlude a number of perhaps equally significant considerations, namely how we teach the subject, to whom, and how our students learn. this essay considers the utility of novel approaches to the teaching of Australian literature using media technology: namely, narratives. it ref lects on the experience of using essays in an advanced undergraduate course on Australian literature; considers the benefits and challenges of doing so; and offers some advice to teachers considering similar strategies.At the risk of alienating some, one could contend that from the outside, the university teaching of Australian literature looks fairly conservative. this is certainly the case in Australia, and we suspect it applies elsewhere. First of all, the field relies on pedagogical methods inherited from early twentieth-century english literary studies: in the manner of teaching and learning employed, there is not much that superficially distinguishes Australian literature from other topics in literary studies. Moreover, the residuum of cultural nationalism as an organizing principle and raison d'etre of the field-despite the best efforts of scholars to critique and oppose it-incites the ambivalence of many contemporary students toward Australian literary studies (on this point, see penn-edwards). perhaps the most pressing challenge for teachers of Australian literature-and for literary studies academics generally-is to develop ways of teaching our subject that are responsive to contemporary trends in pedagogical practices. And this also entails being cognizant of the environments-specifically the virtual and online environments-within which many of our students will work when they graduate.In this respect, it is becoming more urgent to consider how we take advantage of progress in technologies. Advocates of Web 2.0 technologies in education, and those who espouse the realities of transliteracy and digital nativism,3 challenge all instructors within the humanities-and not least those in literary studies-to consider how to teach in ways that are responsive to developments in computing technologies and visual cultures; that are consistent with trends in contemporary high school english studies curricula that promote the teaching of multi-modal critical skills and the development of transliteracy;4 and that are responsive to the increasing emphasis on active, hybrid, problem-based, and collaborative pedagogies in tertiary environments. A growing number of university teachers advocate the benefits of multimedia and practices in their classrooms in achieving these aims, extol them as a means to ensure the relevance of subject disciplines, and promote them as tools of engagement to facilitate student learning. storytelling/narrative making is one such practice.In their broadest sense digital narratives-or, as they are more commonly termed, digital stories-are multimedia narratives produced using audio-visual recording software programs that are frequently packaged on pC and Apple computers, tablets, and personal mobile devices. Relatively simple to make, stories/ narratives come in a range of forms, but generally include photomontage and/or moving images, a voiceover and soundtrack. this essay examines the findings of a three-year project to integrate a narrative teaching and learning activity into an advanced undergraduate course on contemporary Australian literature. it outlines the steps taken to introduce the activity; the nature of the task and the kind of work students produced; and the reception of the task by students. …