Digitising the wisdom of our elders: connectedness through digital storytelling

Abstract

Digital storytelling provides older adults with an opportunity to become digital producers, connect with others through story and explore their life history. The authors report on the results of a digital storytelling project for older adults. The study investigated the experiences and perceived benefits of older adults who created digital stories during a ten-week course and explored the reactions of story viewers to the digital stories they viewed during a special sharing event. Eighty-eight older adult participants in Metro Vancouver who attended one of 13 courses offered were included in the study. Most of the participants were female and over half were immigrants. Results from the focus group interviews demonstrated a rich array of reported social and emotional benefits experienced through the process of creating a digital story within the course. Three main themes emerged: social connectedness through shared experience and story, reminiscence and reflecting on life, and creating a legacy. Viewers who attended a ‘Sharing Our Stories’ event reported that the stories were meaningful, well constructed and invoked a range of emotions. The researchers conclude that digital storytelling may help digital storytellers increase connectedness to others and to self. Additionally, this connectedness may extend over time through the process of examining the past to create a digital story that can serve as a legacy to connect to future generations.

Sharing Indigenous Knowledge through intergenerational digital storytelling: Design of a workshop engaging Elders and youth

“…Within the process, traditional aspects of storytelling are integrated with multiple layers. Digital storytelling is increasingly being used for educational purposes (Robin, 2015), leaving legacy (Hausknecht et al, 2019) and as an approach to preserving cultural knowledge (Cunsolo Willox et al, 2013;Iseke & Moore, 2011). Digital storytelling provides new tools to engage with and share Indigenous knowledge and language.…”

Use of a Digital Storytelling Workshop to Foster Development of Intergenerational Relationships and Preserve Culture with the Nak’azdli First Nation: Findings from the Nak’azdli Lha’hutit’en Project

“…The digital stories captured cultural, mythological, and personal stories now held by the Elders for the Nak’azdli community to share in a digital format. Digital storytelling has been known to provide a platform that can support a sense of connection (Cunsolo Willox et al, 2013; Fletcher & Mullett, 2016; Hausknecht et al, 2018). Cunsolo Willox and colleagues (2013) note that this platform supports “people to not only to remember their roots, but also to connect to themselves, their histories, their ancestors, and their culture through stories and video”.…”

“…The original digital storytelling workshop used by Hausknecht et al (2018) required adaptation to meet the needs of the Elders and students. Like Lafontaine and Sawchuk (2018), we too “recognized that working with different groups and in different settings can drastically change learning contexts” (p. 492).…”

Digital storytelling of English advertisement in ESP teaching in Indonesia

“…According to the results of three previous researchers above, it can be seen that digital storytelling is effective to develop English skills especially on writing, reading, and speaking towards EFL young learners. Hausknecht, et al (2018) gave a novelty of the use of digital storytelling. They took older adult as participants who attended one of thirteen courses to investigate the experiences and perceivedbenefits of the older adults who created digital stories.…”