The Advantage and Disadvantage of Giving Students a Choice of Expression:
Digital Storytelling or PowerPoint Presentation
Naoko Kasami
J. F. Oberlin University
Japan
naoko.kasami@gmail.com
Abstract: This study reviews how the student-selectable assignment was introduced in computer
literacy education of a university in Tokyo, and focuses on advantages and disadvantages in giving
students a choice of expression styles: digital storytelling and PowerPoint presentation. The goal of
the course was to acquire skills and knowledge in spreadsheet and data analysis with Microsoft
Excel. As a final project, each student was required to express (1) the findings from analyzing
questionnaire data objectively and (2) self-PR subjectively. Each student was supposed to choose
expression styles from digital storytelling or PowerPoint presentation individually. The findings
showed that all students unanimously agreed that giving students a choice of expression styles was
good for students though there were some disadvantages in dealing with both expression styles.
Introduction
This study focuses on the practices of the courses of ‘Computer Literacy 2’ for nontechnical university
students in Tokyo, Japan. The study goal of the courses was to acquire basic skills and knowledge in spreadsheet
and data analysis with the use of Microsoft Excel. Students were expected not only to acquire how to use Excel, but
also to solve problems using ICT. As a final project, each student was required to express (1) the results of analysis
questionnaire data objectively and (2) what they did in the university life as a self-PR subjectively. In previous
years, students were supposed to express with either Microsoft PowerPoint or Movie Maker according to the
decision by a majority in each class. In limited course hours, it had been thought that acquiring both expression
styles were difficult, therefore, the expression style for the final project was decided by a majority in each class.
However, some students in a minority group could not choose according to personal preference. Also, all students
had learned how to make a presentation with the use of Microsoft PowerPoint in the ‘Computer Literacy 1’ course,
which was a prerequisite subject for taking ‘Computer Literacy 2’ course.
Therefore, in the courses of academic year of 2011, each student was allowed to choose his or her
expression style from digital storytelling or PowerPoint presentation individually. This study reviews how the
student-selectable assignment was introduced in computer literacy education of a university in Tokyo, and focuses
on the advantages and disadvantages in giving the students a choice of expression styles: digital storytelling and
PowerPoint presentation.
The definition of digital storytelling was introduced as follows according to Robin, B. (2006).
“There are many different definitions of “Digital Storytelling,” but in general, they all revolve
around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia, such as
images, audio, and video. Just about all digital stories bring together some mixture of digital
graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video and music to present information on a specific topic.
As is the case of traditional storytelling, digital stories revolve around a chosen theme, and often
contain a particular viewpoint. The stories are typically just a few minutes long and have a variety
of uses, including the telling of personal tales, the recounting of historical events, or as a means to
inform or instruct on a particular topic.” (p.709)
Numerous researchers have discussed the process of digital storytelling and how to introduce digital
storytelling technology into classes (Frazel, M., 2010; Jakes, D.S., 2005; Lambert, J., 2007; Susono, H., Kagami, A.,
Ikawa, T. & Shimomura, T., 2010, Kasami, N., 2011).
Plankis, B. & Hwang, S. (2010) reported digital storytelling projects enhanced students’ creativity and
enthusiasm in high school science classrooms in the USA, and more students enjoyed creating a digital story with
Microsoft Photostory compared to the standard laboratory written report with Microsoft Word. According to the
study, 68.6% of the student comments focused on the digital storytelling process being more enjoyable because it
was fun or entertaining, visual or audio oriented, and were based on creativity and freedom of choice.
Method
This section reviews how the student-selectable assignment was introduced in the computer literacy
education.
How to Give Students a Choice of Expression Styles
As the final project, students were required to express the following two aspects. First, they were supposed
to analyze the questionnaires data regarding student attitudes toward university life, which was based on objective
analysis. Secondly, they were supposed to include self-PR which was based on subjective tone. Students devised
ways of presenting effectively, considering the audience’s concerns. In order to get general image of final output of
this project, sample digital story and PowerPoint files were introduced to all students. Then, the project was
conducted step by step as follows. (Before this project, basic skills and knowledge of in spreadsheet had been
learned in the earlier period of the term.)
First, in the 8th week lesson, each student was required to think what he or she would like to ask the
classmates in the questionnaire and submit the question to the teacher. For example, one student asked “Would you
like to study abroad in the future?” and another student asked “Do you think about your future job after graduating
from the university?”
Second, the teacher edited the questionnaire format page with the use of the function of feedback of eLearning Course Management System, Moodle during the preparation time before the next lesson.
Third, in the 9th week lesson, students were required to answer all questions by all students using Moodle.
Forth, after the 9th week lesson, the answer data was downloaded as a csv format file, and the teacher
edited the csv file roughly in order to distribute the file to all students as an Excel format file.
Fifth, in the 10th week lesson, the Excel format file of the answer data was distributed to every student and
each student was required to analyze the questionnaire data using Excel as a homework assignment. In the Excel
file, there was a sheet of explanation of procedure, and an example of analysis to help students to analyze the data
with a pivot table objectively [Figure 1 & 2].
Figure1: The Image of the10th week assignment of analyzing the questionnaire data with the use of Excel
Figure2: The Image of the10th week assignment of analyzing the questionnaire data with the use of Excel (2)
Sixth, the analyzed Excel files including graphs with comments were peer-reviewed in the class.
Seventh, the features of digital storytelling and the importance of structure and visual effect were explained
by the teacher, and all students were supposed to write a scenario sheet with the use of Microsoft Word. In this step,
each student was required to express the results of analysis of questionnaire data objectively in the first half of the
sheet. In addition, each student was required to express what they did in the university life as a self-PR subjectively
in the latter half of the sheet. Therefore, in the first half of the sheet, each student was supposed to express clearly
what he/she found by analyzing data, while in the latter half of the sheet, each student was supposed to express
personal views and to present himself/herself appealingly. In other words, in the first half of the sheet, objective
analysis should be included, while in the latter half of the sheet, it was allowed to make a story with his or her
imaginations by attracting the audiences creatively.
Eighth, students watched the demonstration of how to make a digital story by the teacher. After that, each
student was supposed to get hands-on practice to make a digital story with sample photos and image data by
reference to a procedure manual. The manual was a documentation of 4 pages which provided guidance on steps
with snapshots of the screen and important reminders for digital storytelling such as copyright rules. Here, in the
class of week 11 and 12, both expression styles of PowerPoint and Movie Maker were instructed and all students
know the basic skills to express in both expression styles.
Ninth, each student made a decision to choose digital storytelling or PowerPoint presentation styles. Based
on each student’s choice, he/she was supposed to make his or her assignment file during 12th, 13th, and 14th week.
(One lesson was 90 minutes long.)
Tenth, each final assignment file was uploaded to the forum in the Moodle as an attached file. PowerPointbased presentation files were supposed to the forum for the PowerPoint group, while digital storytelling style, wmv
(Windows Media Audio/Video) files were uploaded to the forum for the digital storytelling group. Then, in the final
15th lesson, peer-reviews were conducted in a small group. Students who expressed in the PowerPoint style were
supposed to make a short presentation (about 5 minutes) in a small group consisted from 4 to 6 members of students.
On the other hand, students who express in the digital storytelling styles were supposed to do peer-review by
viewing each wmv files on the forum of the Moodle.
Analysis
The research object of this study was two classes of the academic year of 2011 in which the students were
allowed to choose the expression style from digital storytelling or PowerPoint presentation. The maximum number
of students in each class was 30 per class. The post questionnaire was conducted in the final class, and students
who answered post questionnaires were chosen for the subject of this research. (The number of the research object
became 53.) The period of the courses was from September 2011 to January 2012, and there were 15 lessons
during the period. In the classroom, Windows XP, and Office 2007 were installed in each student’s computer.)
The data source was post questionnaire data answered by the students.
Results and Findings
As a result, eight students chose digital storytelling(DS) style, while forty five students chose PowerPoint
presenation (PPT) style. The followings are advantages and disadvantages which were found from the results of
post questionnairs.
Advantages
The results and findings are presented based on questionnaires as follows. For the survey, Moodle was
used to administer the questionnaires. First, to know students’ general reaction towards the selectable styles for
final project, the students were asked to rate two question items. First question was “Was it good for you to be able
to choose the expression style?”, and second question was “Was it good to instruct how to express in both styles?”
A 4-point Likert scale was applied: “1. Not at all”, “2. No”, “3. Yes”, “4. Yes, very much”. As a result, all students
unanimously agreed that selectable styles were good for students, answering “3. Yes” or “4. Yes very much”.
Nobody answered negatively to these two questions.
Table 1: The student’s general attitude toward the selectable styles
Questions
1-Not at
Group
all.
Was it good for you to be able to choose
the expression style?
PPT
Was it good to instruct how to express in
both styles?
PPT
DS
DS
Total
0
0
0
0
0
2-No.
3-Yes.
0
0
0
0
0
12
3
8
3
26
4-Yes
very
much.
33
5
37
5
80
Total
45
8
45
8
When students were asked with the question, “Please write down why you chose that expression style”.
There were some comments which indicated that giving students choices for expression style led to benefits. For
example, one student who chose digital storytelling pointed out that digital storytelling allowed to utilize one's
unique capacity and experiences, and it was unique to create original story freely. Another student pointed out that
digital storytelling enabled to make another try easily while there was only one presentation chance in front of
people.
When students’ digital stories were reviewed, it can be noticed that there were some attractive and unique
expression which were not shown in the traditional PowerPoint presentation. For example, some students appealed
their abilities using original music and pictures created by themselves. Moreover, they expressed more messages to
the audience in a limited time with a unique gift from the heart such as narration, pictures, and sounds which were
created based on deep consideration, humor, and personal features.
Disadvantages
Though learning both styles were accepted positively by students, there were still some disadvantages
which had rooms for future improvement.
First, in the limited time, it created a tight schedule for students who chose digital storytelling, as it was
expected. Figure 3 shows the result of students’ answers to the question of “What do you think was the length of
time for the final project in the course?” A 5-point Likert scale was applied: “1. Too short”, “2. Quiet short”, “3.
Suitable”, “4. Quite long”, and “5. Too long”. More than half (64%) students who chose digital story style answered
“2. Too short”, while only 13% of students who chose PowerPoint answered so. Since it was necessary to recap and
explain how to express with the use of PowerPoint by linking to the excel data file, it took time before explaining
how to make digital storytelling. When it came to using Movie Maker, students needed to edit multimedia files
being timed adequately, and students were supposed to create stories through a trial and error process. However, the
version of Windows Movie Maker in the classroom was different from that of many students’ personal computers,
which made some students feel difficulties in challenging for digital storytelling as a retreat to safe ground.
Figure3: The length of time for the final project
Secondly, there might be room for improvement in the assessment criteria for the final project. The
assessment criteria for each expression project were listed on the instruction sheet of the final project. Therefore,
students were allowed to choose the expression style after checking the criteria for both projects. There were 5
evaluation items as to contents and there were 10 evaluation items as to contents. Since the skills and devices
required for the project depend on the type of expression styles, it was not easy to decide adequate criteria. All
students have learned how to utilize PowerPoint presentation in the prerequisite courses before taking this computer
literacy course, the technical requirement level was not high for all students compared to the technical requirement
level of digital storytelling.
Thirdly, the student-selectable assignment made some students wondering which to choose for a long time.
There were several comments from students after the final project that if they were supposed to make digital
storytelling without any choice, they would be happy to do that. The number of students who chose digital
storytelling was small in this course. Some of students who chose PowerPoint style commented that they gave up
choosing digital storytelling because they did not have confidence to completing the final project in the class, though
they were eager to challenge it.
Conclusions
This study reviews how the student-selectable assignment was introduced in computer literacy education of
a university in Tokyo, and focuses on the advantages and disadvantages in giving students a choice of expression
styles: digital storytelling and PowerPoint presentation. Though it had been thought that dealing both digital
storytelling and PowerPoint presentation in the same class had a heavy workload, in the course of academic year of
2011, each student was allowed to choose expression formats from digital storytelling format or PowerPoint
presentation style individually. The findings showed that all students unanimously agreed that selectable styles were
good for students, which was the advantage for this selectable project. On the other hand, there were disadvantages
that some of students who were eager to challenge for the digital storytelling style did not choose it. If there were
some scaffolding to decrease anxiety or more consideration for the assessment criteria, more students might be able
to choose styles as they would like to do.
It should be pointed out that the limitation of this study that might have influenced the results. The major
limitation was that the sample size was small and that might not be easily generalized. This research does not
analyze the effectiveness of achieving the learning outcomes, and it will be important to consider the method and
measures to compare and contrast the methods of evaluations of two expression styles. The assessment criteria have
not been clarified in this study, and future study should focus on the criteria for better project. For the future
classes, it might reduce students’ burden if students are supposed to create digital storytelling with the use of
PowerPoint 2010 version which will allow students to edit and save movie files more easily.
References
Frazel, M. (2010). Digital storytelling guide for educators. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.
Jakes, D.S. (2005). Capturing stories, capturing lives: An introduction to digital storytelling. Retrieved January 16, 2011, from
http://www.jakesonline.org/dstory_ice.pdf
Kasami, N. (2011). The Impacts of a Digital Storytelling-Based Project on Student Motivation in Computer Literacy Education.
In M. Koehler & P. Mishra (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International
Conference 2011 (pp. 1135-1142). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Lambert, J. (2007). Digital storytelling cookbook. Digital Diner Press. Retrieved January 16, 2011, from
http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf
Plankis, B. & Hwang, S. (2010). Tapping student creativity and enthusiasm with digital storytelling in the K-12 science
classroom: Guiding success stories and avoiding Hollywood. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for
Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 2347-2354). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Robin, B. (2006). The educational uses of digital storytelling. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information
Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (pp. 709-716). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Susono, H., Kagami, A., Ikawa, T. & Shimomura, T. (2010). Online videos that teach digital storytelling to Japanese students and
teachers. Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2010 (pp. 39293931). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.