CALL FOR CHAPTERS
We are seeking chapter proposals for a book entitled Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives that will be edited by Dr. Sheila Marie Aird and Dr. Thomas P. Mackey. This new book will be published in fall 2023 for the Innovations in Information Literacy series edited by Trudi E. Jacobson for Rowman & Littlefield. It will provide educators with innovative case studies for teaching digital storytelling to inspire learners as confident and creative producers of digital information. Digital storytelling is exemplified by the development of empowering personal and community-based narratives through openly-available digital media technologies. We would like to include chapters written by experienced practitioners from a variety of disciplines who teach digital storytelling, primarily in higher education. This edited book will appeal to faculty, librarians, school library media specialists, and instructional designers who are interested in teaching with digital narratives to inspire diverse student voices and illuminate the ethical considerations of producing digital content. The value of teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion will be foregrounded in each chapter to inspire authentic student voices. Collectively, the chapters will provide a practical toolkit for applying digital storytelling techniques to a wide range of disciplines and pedagogical settings. The contributors to this book will also emphasize the development of effective teaching strategies and learning objectives to support students as responsible and collaborative producers of digital media.
This edited volume will explore the theory and practice of digital storytelling with effective case studies that are analyzed through the lens of metaliteracy and/or the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework). Metaliteracy is ideal for digital storytelling because this model envisions learners as individual and collaborative producers of information in a connected world (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011, 2022). Similarly, the ACRL Framework was influenced by metaliteracy and provides a shared focus on learners as ethical information producers as well. The chapter authors will identify the synergies between metaliteracy and the ACRL Framework with a specific focus on the reflective production of information in social settings. In addition, the unique aspect of each model will be explored as well. For instance, how do the six frames of the ACRL Framework, and related knowledge practices and dispositions inform the development of well-researched digital narratives? Similarly, how do the core components of metaliteracy, including the learning domains, learner roles, characteristics, and related goals and learning objectives prepare learners to tell their story in original and compelling ways?
The editors are interested in innovative case studies about teaching and learning digital storytelling from multiple disciplinary perspectives and at different academic institutions in the United States and internationally. To learn more about the digital storytelling collaboration that inspired this book project, visit our Global Digital Stories blog at: https://digital-stories.org/. To learn more about metaliteracy visit: https://metaliteracy.org/.
Please send a 1–2-page chapter proposal and a current CV to Tom at Tom.Mackey@esc.edu no later than Friday, July 29, 2022. We will make our decisions by early September. First drafts of the completed chapters (20-25 pages) will be due on Friday, December 2, 2022. Final drafts will be due by Friday, April 28, 2023.
If you have any questions about proposal ideas or about the book, please contact Sheila at Sheila.Aird@esc.edu or Tom at Tom.Mackey@esc.edu.
About the Editors
Dr. Sheila Marie Aird is the Director of International Programs for Empire State College and oversees the American programs at the college’s four international locations. Dr. Aird is also an associate professor at the college. She received her Ph.D. in Latin and Caribbean History and MA in history from Howard University. During her final year of research at Howard University, she was awarded the prestigious Sasakawa Fellowship from the Nippon Foundation in Japan. Dr. Aird also holds a BA in Anthropology and a MA in Anthropology with a focus on Historical Archeology from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Dr. Aird considers herself a cultural historian and is most interested in public scholarship in its many forms. Her passion lies in making historical and cultural moments come alive while educating the public through the medium of documentary and film, photography and museum exhibits. Her areas of interests and focus include Public History, children of colonial enslavement, Critical Race theory and issues of race in the African Diaspora community. Dr. Aird has presented on her work both domestically and internationally. Presently, Dr. Aird is working on two video projects. One focuses on women in California who are changing their lives with the help of a community. The other project co-developed from an Oral History Association Emerging Crisis research grant with a colleague, focuses on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and Irma. The project offers first- hand accounts from the citizens most impacted in Puerto Rico and St. Thomas V.I. and will include the environmental, social and cultural impact on the most vulnerable citizens impacted by one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the islands in 2017.
Dr. Thomas P. Mackey is Professor of Arts and Media in the School of Arts and Humanities at the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College. He is the Dr. Susan H Turben Chair in Mentoring and has an honorary appointment as Extraordinary Professor, Research Unit Self-Directed Learning, Faculty of Education, North-West University, South Africa. His research focuses on metaliteracy, a pedagogical framework he originated with Prof. Trudi E. Jacobson that develops metaliterate learners for participatory information environments. Dr. Mackey is interested in the intersections among metaliteracy, self-directed learning, and multimodality to prepare individuals as collaborative and ethical producers of new knowledge. He has published four books with Prof. Jacobson on metaliteracy, including their latest book Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers (2022) and the first book on this topic titled Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy (2014). Dr. Mackey teaches online courses in Digital Storytelling, Ethics of Digital Art & Design, History & Theory of New Media, and Information Design and has developed international MOOCs about Metaliteracy including Coursera’s Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World.
References
ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2011). Reframing information literacy as a metaliteracy. College & Research Libraries, 72(1), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-76r1
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2022). Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers. ALA Neal-Schuman.
