International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 9, No. 3 (2013)

Using multimedia technology to build a community of practice: pre-service teachers’ and digital storytelling in South Africa

Agnes Chigona, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Abstract
Employing the theory of Community of Practice (CoP), this paper shows how the use of multimedia led a group of pre-service teachers to build a community of practice in the process of completing their individual digital stories for assessment. The paper is focused on a group of diverse pre-service teachers doing their final year at a teacher education institution in Cape Town. The study used a qualitative research approach to collect and analyse data to answer the question: How can the use of multimedia in a diverse classroom lead to building a community of practice. The data were gathered using focus group interviews with the pre-service teachers and also their written reflections on their experience on using multimedia tools to produce digital stories. Analysis of the data collected shows that the use of the multimedia tools in the diverse classroom to develop digital stories and the stories themselves led to the building of a community. The pre-service teachers were able to understand one another hence building the respect and understanding one another’s culture. The pre-service teachers stated that the exposure to the project skilled them somehow to be able to handle multicultural classrooms which they are most likely to be teaching.

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