Digital Storytelling As A Reflective Exercise for Medical Professionals
Kenneth Warren, Ed.D., Assistant Professor and Instructional Technologist for Medical Education, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Katherine Tucker, M.Ed., Education Coordinator, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Abstract Teaching reflec/on to medical learners includes ac/vi/es such as cri/cal incident repor/ng, journaling and oral storytelling. Medical educators seeking innova/ve methods to engage learners in reflec/on may find that digital storytelling (DST) promotes deep learning and creates rich narra/ves that represent meaningful experiences. This poster describes a framework for DST and how it was implemented as an assignment for medical educators in a graduate cer/ficate program. The exercise resulted in 15 three minute faculty-­‐produced videos and the development of a reflec/ve pilot project for internal medicine residents. Sharing is essen/al to the DST process and this exercise is especially appropriate for interprofessional learning contexts. Background The process of reflec/on allows learners to make sense of their experiences and engage in deep learning (Moon, 2004). Designing reflec/ve exercises requires medical educators to consider where, when and how the reflec/on will occur, and to think about what type of media (text, audio, images, video) document and make it visible. Methods for teaching reflec/on to medical learners include a variety of wriSen and oral ac/vi/es (Branch & Paranjape, 2002; DasGupta & Charon, 2004; McDrury & Alterio, 2003; Wald, 2009), but as a technologically-­‐savvy genera/on of learners (Prensky, 2001) begin their educa/on, faculty teaching reflec/ve prac/ce should be aware of new tools and strategies that facilitate the process. Method This exercise started with a presenta/on of the digital storytelling framework and a group analysis of exemplary digital stories from The Pa/ent Voices (2015) online archive. Faculty then par/cipated in a brief wri/ng ac/vity to generate story ideas. A`er iden/fying and discussing photos that represented aspects of their narra/ves, faculty engaged in a focused three hour hands-­‐on training session in audio recording, image discovery, and video produc/on. So`ware tutorials were made available online and several faculty used these resources to reinforce their learning. Project Context In Summer 2014, 15 faculty enrolled in a technology course as part of a graduate cer/ficate program for medical educators at Virginia Commonwealth University. The goal of the course is to develop faculty fluency of digital media and instruc/onal technologies. To this aim, medical faculty learned to create podcasts, blogs, and videos for flipped, online, and blended learning contexts. They also developed an electronic por]olio, evaluated mobile apps in medicine, and presented on emerging trends in medical educa/on. One of the course projects required faculty to create a digital story. Digital storytelling is an innova/ve exercise that combines personal reflec/on and narra/ve wri/ng with images, audio and video. Typically, these narra/ves describe a personal and meaningful moment of change. They enable the authors (as storytellers) to revisit and saturate themselves in this moment, while rediscovering the impact it had on their life. These stories are usually told from the author’s perspec/ve, are three minutes in length, contain 10 or more photographs, and can include music and sound effects to enhance the story’s tone and mood. Engage in Story Circle Process & Tools Share, Discuss, and Reflect 1 1
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Write Narra/ve Results Faculty indicated it took them 4-­‐8 hours to complete the project. Story topics ranged from historical narra/ves about physician family members to reflec/ons about what death and dying means to pa/ents. A`er reviewing the videos, it was apparent that a community of trust was established. Faculty revealed their personal vulnerabili/es and concerns about the medical profession. They also shared notable pa/ent encounters and described how these experiences made them more empathe/c and authen/c as physicians. In addi/on to s/mula/ng deep learning, faculty indicated they improved their technology skills for crea/ng online presenta/ons. A`er the course, several faculty collaborated and developed a digital storytelling pilot project for PGY1s in the ambulatory rota/on. An evalua/on of the pilot is in progress, but ini/al results are posi/ve and residents seem to strongly value this novel approach to reflec/on. Digital Storytelling Framework (Lambert, 2003) Point of View What is the purpose of the narra/ve? Is it about you or the pa/ent? Drama/c What problem or challenge did you confront? How did you resolve it? Ques/on Emo/onal How will you convey feelings of empathy, joy, sadness, and compassion Content through the use of images and audio? 3
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Publish Video Record Audio The Gi: of What will your voice reveal about who you are and what might you learn Your Voice by listening to yourself? Economy Can you condense this meaningful experience into 300 words or 4 min.? Pacing How will you persuade your listener with vocal pauses, rapid speech and adjus/ng the tempo of images that appear? Sequence Media 5
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Gather Images Soundtrack Do you need music and sound effects to influence the tone and mood? References Branch Jr, W. T., & Paranjape, A. (2002). Feedback and reflec/on: teaching methods for clinical sefngs. Academic Medicine, 77(12, Part 1), 1185-­‐1188. DasGupta, S., & Charon, R. (2004). Personal illness narra/ves: using reflec/ve wri/ng to teach empathy. Academic Medicine, 79(4), 351-­‐356. Lambert, J. (2003). Digital storytelling cookbook and traveling companion. Berkeley, CA: Digital Diner. McDrury, J. & Alterio, M. (2003). Learning through storytelling in higher educa7on: Using reflec7on and experience to improve learning. Routledge. Moon, J. A. (2004). A handbook of reflec7ve and experien7al learning: Theory and prac7ce. Psychology Press. Pa/ent Voices: Welcome to the Pa/ent Voices programme. (2015). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from hSp://www.pa/entvoices.org.uk/ Prensky, M. (2001). Digital na/ves, digital immigrants part 1. On the horizon, 9(5), 1-­‐6. Wald, H. S., Davis, S. W., Reis, S. P., Monroe, A. D., & Borkan, J. M. (2009). Reflec/ng on reflec/ons: Enhancement of medical educa/on curriculum with structured field notes and guided feedback. Academic Medicine, 84(7), 830-­‐837.