Digital Storytelling Reflection
1.Collaboration and teamwork
It was my first time working in pairs. I worked with Howard to create our storybook. We wrote down the assignment and discussed the homework by using Line. We used Line to divide the homework and discussed the problems. Howard and I brainstormed the story plot and added details together. We would ask each other’s opinions before writing the story and making changes. After creating the first draft, we divided the story into two parts. Howard was responsible for the first half and I was responsible for the second half. In the pictures part, we had clear teamwork. Howard generated the pictures since he had ChatGPT 4o. I designed lines and voices.
I learned a lot from the activity. It is important to set deadlines to track partner’s progress. I also think that it’s better to finish the assignment as soon as possible so that there’s time to make adjustment. Besides, not everyone is available when you contact them.
The challenge I faced is that I cannot receive Howard’s responses immediately. I understand that not everyone has time to reply immediately. In order to solve this problem, I would finish my part as soon as possible so that I would have time to make adjustment.
2.Use of Digital Tools and Storytelling Techniques
I used ChatGPT to brainstorm our story plot. First, I would prompt my ideas and added details inspired by ChatGPT’s suggestions. After creating the first draft, I used ChatGPT to divide each part of the story. I also asked ChatGPT to add more details or lines when I have no ideas what to write to make the story more engaging and emotional to the audiences. We used Book Creator to design our story. Since our pictures were rectangular, we decided to place the pictures and lines on different pages so that the readers would not have trouble reading.
I was satisfied with the pictures Howard generated. It showed the magical themes and captured characters’ emotions vividly. The character voices made the story livelier and more engaging. By choosing the old man’s voice and adding emotions, it sounds like the real person was talking to us.
I have difficulties to generate the pictures I wanted when using ChatGPT. In the beginning, I tried to generate pictures for second half of the story, but I could not produce the same style. I did not have ChatGPT 4o, so I asked Howard to generate those pictures while I helped him to design lines and voices. As for Book Creator, it took time to get familiar to the functions, but it was easy to use.
3.Personal Growth and Takeaways
To me, I think collaboration, presentation and peer feedbacks are meaningful part for me. The story represents me and Howard’s hard work. I felt proud when I showed our story to the classmates, telling them our ideas of this story. I also appreciated feedbacks from classmates. They pointed out the problems and suggestions in our storybook.
In the future, I think I will adopt this storytelling approach as a way to inspire my students to think critically about story and improve their English abilities. This innovative method will motivate students to discover new knowledge and encourage them to create their own work.