Abstract:

The aim of this case study is to examine participants' reflections and experiences of an online digital storytelling workshop that addresses their life in the Covid-19 pandemic. The online digital storytelling workshop was carried out as an out-of-class activity in higher education between April 21 and May 3, 2020. The participants were three volunteer third-year undergraduate students in the department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology in a state university. The researcher acted as both a participant and a facilitator during the workshop. The digital storytelling process is based on the workshop methodologies developed by the Story Center. The online digital storytelling workshop comprised the following stages: sharing personal narratives in a story circle; writing stories, making voice recordings, collecting visuals, creating the digital story in video format by combining the voice recordings, visuals, and background music, in-group screening of digital stories, and circulating digital stories. This process was not linear; some stages were carried out simultaneously intertwined with each other. At the end of the digital storytelling process, each participant created their own digital story about the reflections of the Covid-19 pandemic on their life. The digital storytelling process functioned as a source of data as well as the research context. Digital storytelling sessions were carried out via Zoom online meetings. A total of three Zoom meetings were held on different days, each lasting an average of two hours. These meetings were recorded. Apart from the zoom meetings, a WhatsApp group was created for the exchange of opinions deemed necessary and the process continued from here. The WhatsApp correspondences were also recorded and examined. The semi-structured focus-group interview was conducted at end of the in-group screening. Created digital stories were examined as the outputs of the digital storytelling workshop. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The prominent findings as a result of the analysis of the data are as follows: The participants were flexible about the working period and place, they could get feedback faster, and thus, they had more opportunities in the online digital storytelling process triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic compared to a face-to-face workshop. They felt better by expressing their experiences, thoughts, and feelings easily through the online digital storytelling workshop. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was revealed that the participants started to have a productive period by acting for their personal and professional development over time, they served the community, focused on their interests, and discovered their talents. It was determined that the Covid-19 pandemic played an instructive role both for the participants and for the society. An important result of this study is that for one of the participants, this workshop was one of the milestones in his life. That is to say, with this workshop, the participant acted to improve himself personally and professionally instead of reproaching his life due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the participants gained self-awareness by questioning themselves and facing themselves through the online digital storytelling workshop triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords:

digital storytelling, workshop, online learning, Covid-19 pandemic, life, experience, reflection