A Participatory Action Research Study of Taiwanese Undergraduate Students' Digital Stories From Second Life

Mary StokrockiJin Shiow Chen

Digital Storytelling Concept & Literature

A process of constructing an experiential space, in this case on Second Life, in which others can walk through a story. Education thus becomes self-expression and play. Sanchez, J. (2009, Feb/March). Pedagogical applications of second life.

Chung (2007) late wrote on digital storytelling of life action stories.

Christopoulou (2010) reported themes of suspense and sorrow and happy endings (usually ending in marriage), along with lighting, color, camera effects.

Shin (2010) championed iMovie for MACS as easy to use in K-12 classrooms. See motivational examples on the Center for Digital Storytelling website at www.storycenter.org

Participatory Action Research (PAR)

As a science and practice, PAR methods incorporated practical reflections throughout the study (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992), beginning with the initial project design, continuing throughout the data collection (students’ PowerPoint Presentations and self evaluations), and analysis phrases (Tabular analysis and focus group) to final conclusions and social action implications (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000).

To analyze the content, Stokrocki borrowed narrative scale categories from Caldwell & Moore (1991) that included story (setting, character traits, and plot development), and action (expression). Search for frequent expression words formed patterns (Gee, 2005).

Digital Storytelling Project

The project was part of a semester course called Introduction to Visual Culture & Art Education that met once a week for two hours in the computer labor. The first unit was to pose within the 3D painting -installation at Art Box. Students enjoyed this system role-play introduction activity. The second major project was to make a digital story –PowerPoint Presentation (Davis & Weinshenker (in press). Sanchez (200() suggested the following considerations: Conceptions of art are changing and expanding. Recent theoretical and philosophical shifts have emerged in and across various domains of knowledge. Those shifts have been informed by critical theories, such as postmodernism and feminism, and shape analyses of art and culture. New self-conscious trans-disciplinary fields of study have emerged to challenge conceptual dichotomies, such as fine/popular arts. As a result of these changes, it has become necessary to expand the concept and practice of art education to the realm of visual culture. The term visual culture “reflects the recent global explosion of of prolific pervasive visual images and artifacts and their importance to social life (Boughton et al, 2002 ).

Lesson Plan Steps

Introduce your character and its role (hero, seeker, child) at some art place,

Pose a conflict or quest to find secrets-details in artwork, Include the resolution scene at the same place [What you

learned] Include the story talk, name of artwork/artist/location-

URL. Change your viewpoint (aerial/worm/close-up) and add

special effects. Use PowerPoint Presentation. Include Contrasting Colors—Background needs to be

exciting too! Include some character gestures (e.g., running, surprise,

crying). Using art criticism, evaluate your digital story.

Research Questions

What avatar character types for role-play would they choose?

What digital story types/title/themes would they construct?

On what artist/work would they concentrate

How would their stories develop/end?

Participant Avatar Characters

Mostly human warrior (swordsky, wu, aluuuuu) hero (Cheng, peacelai, margret, ping), princess (sandy), cowboy hero (Ping), and even 2 vampire –dead human typeOnly three students tried being a robot (Burning Cheese with swimbuoy, Rita, Jason)

Question later insignificant

 Analysis: Frequent Words: Lonely

Cheng Yang, “I feel very lonely to play this game, except for class time.” Students complained that they found no one at the SL sites, and the dominant word was lonely (9 times). At first, feeling that Second Life is a lonely place with few avatars is quite normal on SL (Sanchez, 2009).

Students noted [4] “Funny” stories

The warrior chose to rescue his “boring city and add art” rather than do nothing.  

Dreams [6] were also Frequent

Shan discovered another special world with hand-drawn illustrations [See Barack Obama].She instructs, “Follow our steps, and get into the unknown mist together.”

What Artworks/Sites were Popular?

Out of 42 students, Asian Sites: such as Great Wall and Hokusai’s 19th c Edo Hokusai Painting People Crossing Arched Bridge.

Four people chose Terracotta Warriors. The best example was Wang Wen’s storyof Lost Treasure. Students discovered the size of the original quest as important and they were surprised to find it represented in Second Life.  

Students Didn’t Realize the Historical Meaning until coaxed to do research

Some Contemporary Works

In his Wandering Life, Burning Cheese wondered what the stone lion in front of the London Museum was guarding. They were similar to the ones outside the temples in Taipei. Later, he discovered an abstract guardian lions with Orange Light and found this blazing light and abstract form intriguing.

Kamilah Hauptmann’s Viceregal Guardian Lion (Lionsgate Palace) [http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Lionsgate/60/96/52

Western Classical Literature Sites

The caterpillar revealed to Swordsky, ”Thinking is not the whole of life. The most important [thing] is action” from ArtBox http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Klaw/7/21/46

Students were overwhelmed with choices and finally started to ask for help from such characters as a vampire, and a wise man, and animals (Peter Rabbit and Poe’s Raven). More specifically, Avatar Swordsky sought the meaning of life from Alice in Wonderland’s wise caterpillar at ArtBox.

Transformation Stories

Wei-ting’s cat visited a surreal place and the witch rejected her quest.

Six TRANFORMATION Stories Verd Reed meets a surreal woman’s Head with Bird Beak. Like a witch, she whispers, “This is not what you seek.” So here the story itself changed.

Angela Summarized…

In real life, I feel lonely or boring (sic) and lots of thing to do, busy, heavy, and nervous. In Second Life-this virtual game-I found the design won my heart . . . When I search this artwork (Empyreal Dreams), I found its inspiration also came from art (Literature—Poe’s poem--The Raven). I really feel art is important, when you feel lonely or heavy, you can relax.

Post questionnaire Results

Results from post questionnaires revealed that one third of students (15/42) preferred the ArtBox site for their story. Students wrote: learn about more artists and many [different kinds of] artworks (Jessie), go inside artwork, and roleplay. Chin-Yen praised, “Virtual world is a textbook to explore.” Again, another third of the students (12/42) valued the Digital Story project.. They reported: “I can make new story myself; learn about what Taiwanese student think; “Tell others what I think” (Elaine); “You [become] a master of this world” (Chen]; “it’s fun” (Swordsky); “like a picture book” (Puchu).

Preference Table

SitesArtBoxAsian

156

42

ArtWorks Terracotta Warriors

442

CharactersHumanAnimal, (cat) robot

43643

42

Stories LonelyFunnyDreamsTransform

9466

42

Conclusions

Counting frequent words resulted in categories of lonely, funny, dreamy, beautiful, and transforming, which seemed somewhat simplistic. In the future, we will plan a session for students to explain in depth why the artwork that they claimed was “beautiful.” For example Sandy’s TMS Design furniture featured a bed. Upon further coaching, she explained that everything was white--indicating clean and pure, the sheets looked smooth and soft, and the netting had texture netting to keep mosquitoes away (practical reason).

 

No Resolution

Stories really didn’t end with a resolution from conflict, but in a question about pursuit of life purpose as metaphysical concerns. In comparison to Christopoulou (2010) reported themes of suspense and sorrow and happy endings, Taiwanese student stories were full of existential “angst” or worry. Further investigation with key informants also revealed the nature of their real world not as simplistic fantasy but as an existential struggle.

Students to explain in depth how the artwork that they claimed was “beautiful.”

Deeper Meanings: Evolving Existential theme

Digital Stories or narratives are revelatory tales that communicate the deepest forms of receptivity in our experience, known as the sacred (Grimes, 1995). Narrative or stories help people to relate to—to make sense or to straighten out “their real world.” This text-analogue in ways is “confused, incomplete, cloudy, seemingly contradictory-in one way of another. The interpretation aims to bring to light an underlying coherence or sense (Taylor, 1976, p.153). Hermeneutics and politics. In P. Connerton (Ed). Critical sociology: Selective readings )pp/ 153-1930. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin.

Existential Angst

Taoist Meaning of “Play”

In Chinese Taoism aesthetics, the term of “play” might have a higher level of meaning. “Free and joyful play” implies spiritual freedom, and is regarded as the highest artistic state of mind, transcending all the levels of mind. Only the “true man [women]” can achieve the state of Tao, to lead the life of the Way (Liu, 2011). In the views of Zen Buddhism, art involves the experience and expression of the higher state of mind or enlightenment. Art represents the living experience of the true self or real mind, original nature or mind, the ultimate or Reality, realizes Nature and Tao, and the unity of the self and other, Heaven and man. Through proper learning in art or aesthetic attitudes, the student can experience the state of being, beauty, harmony, joy, peace, and freedom, according to our key informant (Liu, 2011). Liu, F. J. (2011). The perspectives and collegial art instructional

frame work of spiritual intelligence and holistic development in art (in Chinese). Journal of Arts Research, 7, 1-26.

Future Implications: Unusual Story: Art for a Social Cause

Angela’s Empyreal Dreams, a 3D illustration of Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven that was used to sell Fashions for Cancer. See http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ctrl%20Shift%20H/28/169/22

Although many student quests seemed simplistic at first, investigation into Taiwanese cultural concerns revealed deeper meanings.

Future Concerns

Some of these interpretive stories are eclectic, interpretive, contradictory, and context-bound (Stokrocki, 2010), but it does signify the intensity of the cultural life of Taiwanese students in an era of paucity—few jobs and declining resources.

In a digital world like Second Life, many participants will only dabble, some will express deeper ideas, and still others explore social concerns most valued within the community. Such courses are not meant to train future artists, but to liberate students thinking about themselves and adjusts how they regard other peoples’ work. The next step is Collaborative Problem-solving — working together in teams, formal and informal, to complete tasks and develop new knowledge (Sanchez, 2007, p. 8).

Sanchez, J. (2007). Second Life: An Interactive Qualitative Analysis. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2007.

Stokrocki, M. (2010). An experiment in digital storytelling with preservice art education teachers on Second Life. Unpublished manuscript.

Stokrocki, M. (2012). Preservice teachers digital storytelling on Second Life. Unpublished manuscript.

Future Concerns

By and large, young people are not defined by society as political subjects, let alone as political agents. Even in the areas of social life that affect and concern them to a much greater extent than adults—most notably education—political debate is conducted almost entirely ‘over their heads’ (Jenkins 2009, 218-219).

Teachers thus need to help students become critical and adopt skills in negotiating multiple perspectives, respecting and even embracing diverse or contrary opinions.