“Digital storytelling for academic literacy: Culturally responsive multimodal composition course design”

​Lecturer Viet Vu (Ph.D., '17), fifth-year doctoral student Yenda Prado, alumna Soobin Yim (Ph.D., '17), and alumna Phuong Le (B.S., '19) contributed a chapter to the new publication Learning critical thinking skills beyond 21st century for multidisciplinary courses: A human right perspective in education. The title of the chapter is “Digital storytelling for academic literacy: Culturally responsive multimodal composition course design.”
 
Vu conducts research on digital storytelling in education, examining the relationship of digital storytelling to teaching and learning processes, academic outcomes, and social-emotional learning outcomes. Prior to earning his doctorate, Vu was an English language teacher for 10 years and a filmmaker for six years, producing short documentaries that aired on NHK Japan Broadcasting. During seven years in Tokyo developing curriculum and conducting teacher-training courses, he published five English language textbooks for Japanese elementary school students. Vu holds three graduate degrees: a M.A. in education with an emphasis in TESOL; a M.F.A. in film and television; and a Ph.D. in Education, specialized in language, literacy, and technology.

Prado researches language and literacy development in neuro-diverse populations, language teacher professional development, and technology applications in language and literacy teaching. She has more than 10 years of education management and teaching experience in the realm of literacy in non-profit, private, and public organizations, including UC Irvine's School of Education, Pepperdine University, First 5 California, Scholastic, and AmeriCorps. Prado earned an Ed.M. degree in Language and Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. degree in Psychology from Stanford University.

​​Chapter Summary
 
Successfully teaching writing to learners with diverse profiles in US schools is one of our nation’s greatest educational challenges (Murphey, 2014). The increasing role of digital media in schools and society adds to this challenge. On one hand, differences in access to and use of technology threaten to amplify existing social and educational gaps (Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010). On the other hand, if used well, technology can potentially ameliorate achievement gaps (Zheng, Warschauer, & Farkas, 2013). Current approaches to use of technology with underserved students, which typically focus on remediation, have not delivered on their promise to address these gaps (Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010). To overcome these challenges, we introduce a course design that uses multimodal composition and digital storytelling (DST) in a college writing course [EDUC 179W: Advanced Writing for Education Sciences, taught by Dr. Vu]. We discuss how the integration of DST into a multimodal composition course functions as a culturally responsive pedagogical strategy servicing the academic literacy needs of diverse 21st century learners.