Digital Drama—Toolkits, Dilemmas, and Preferences

Abstract

Artists and educators who work with young people are often under pressure to consider ways to embrace the use of digital technologies in their practice and classrooms. Drama educators are faced with a number of opportunities and dilemmas as they move to adopt a greater technology focus. This article will outline some findings from international research about young people and ICT use, and specific considerations for creating drama using digital media and online spaces. It also outlines an example of a school based cyberdrama project entitled The Immortals. The specific toolkits students required for engaging in digital drama are identified, with a number of different ICT skill-sets becoming apparent, as well as drama-specific knowledge, social and relational skills and reflective practice. Student responses are analyzed and different preferences for creative practice reflected upon.

Drama, Music and Media in Heritage Language Learning

“…We had a student, for instance, who was not willing to act out in front of the cameras but was always excited to be the cameraman or direct scenes. Also, to reinforce the problematic assumption that children and young people are 'digital natives' (Davis, 2011), we found that the participants in our project needed time to familiarise themselves with the digital equipment and the process. Teachers embarking on such projects need to know in advance that…”

“…As it was the means to create a complete piece of work to be presented to families, friends and the rest of the school, it was a great way to celebrate Greek language learning with them. As Boyd explains, the framing of the experience and the potential for an audience to receive our work heightens experience and provides a sense of being in the world (as cited in: Davis, 2011). During the festival, students had to go on stage and say a few words regarding their storytelling piece, before its Þ lming, and receive an honorary plaque for their entry to the festival to take back with them to their school.…”

“…The main idea behind bringing our Þ elds of expertise together was to develop a pedagogy for heritage language that would situate the focus on creative practice through which students could learn the heritage language rather than focusing on language learning itself. Furthermore, several authors have written on the anticipated learning outcomes of the interdisciplinary approach which include beyond the development and enhancement of cognitive skills more subtle outcomes like modiÞ ed perspectives and attitudes (Davis, 2011). This was especially important for us as some students showed negative attitudes towards Greek school at the beginning of the academic year; speciÞ cally two boys reported: 'I come to Greek school because my mother forces me to come', 'I come to Greek school because my grandpa pays for this because he wants me to learn Greek' (extracts from group discussions).…”

Teaching during COVID 19 times – The experiences of drama and performing arts teachers and the human dimensions of learning

“…In analysing the data the range of technological tools and platforms that teachers identified using were identified. These were then clustered into the types of tools people used drawing upon previous work by one of the authors that identified that the different kinds of technologies used in the drama classroom and associated 'toolkits' (Davis, 2011). These digital tools are clustered in Table 2 as:…”

Treading softly in the enchanted forest: exploring the integration of iPads in a participatory theatre education programme

“…There is also more to experiment with in the IC format: use of devices could become part of the story as well as a means of recording it, and there may well be room for more explicit reflection on the best ways of using such devices or communicative practices, or to intergrate opportunities to converse at a distance in real time. As S. Davis (2011Davis ( , 2012 highlights, it cannot be assumed that learners will have (or intuitively "pick up") the skills required to use digital technologies, but neither should it be assumed that the teaching of skills necessarily provides powerful opportunities for effective learning. Further research focused on creative pedagogies and the role of digital tools is critical if we are to respond to the needs of children in the 21 st century.…”