Barriers and facilitators for integrating digital narratives in secondary school science instruction: A media specialist's action research study

Media specialists are increasingly assuming professional development roles as they collaborate with teachers to design instruction that combines content with technology. I am a media specialist in an independent school, and collaborated with two science teachers over a three-year period to integrate technology with their instruction.;This action study explored integration of a digital narrative project in three eighth-grade earth science units and one ninth-grade physics unit with each unit serving as a cycle of research. Students produced short digital documentaries that combined still images with an accompanying narration. Students participating in the project wrote scripts based on selected science topics. The completed scripts served as the basis for the narratives. These projects were compared with a more traditional science writing project.;Barriers and facilitators for implementation of this type of media project in a science classroom were identified. Lack of adequate access to computers proved to be a significant mechanical barrier. Acquisition of a laptop cart reduced but did not eliminate the technology access issues. The complexity of the project increased implementation time in comparison with traditional alternatives.;Evaluation of the completed media projects presented problems. Scores by outside evaluators reflected evaluator unfamiliarity with assessing multimedia projects rather than student performance. Despite several revisions of the assessment rubric, low inter-rater reliability remained a concern even in the last cycle. This suggests that evaluation of media could present issues for teachers who attempt projects of this kind.;A writing frame was developed to facilitate production of scripts. This reduced the time required to produce the scripts, but produced writing that was formulaic in the teacher's estimate. A graphic organizer was adopted in the final cycle to address this concern.;New insights emerged as the study progressed through the four cycles of the study. At the conclusion of the study, the two teachers and I had a better understanding of barriers that can prevent smooth integration of a technology-based project.