Abstract
The dissertation comprises three scholarly work that examine use of digital storytelling (DST) in social work education. The first scholarly work is a conceptual paper that integrates the constructivist framework in presenting DST as a foundational tool for enhancing critical consciousness among social work students. The second scholarly contribution is an exploratory mix-methods study of 10 seniors, who were derived from a convenience sampling method from students enrolled in a field seminar course in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the degree Bachelor of Arts. The participant’s ages ranged from 21 to 40 years (Mage = 23.4, SDage = 5.82), representing different races — Hispanic or Latino (44.1%), White (33%), Asian (7.8%), two or more races (5.5%), Black or African American (4.7%), Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders (0.39%), and American Indian or Alaska Native (0.34%). The social work students and participants of this study reflected the overall college campus demographics. The quantitative aspect of the study consisted of one-group pre-and posttest design. Findings showed that students’ ratings moved significantly on certain measures at follow-up, compared to the baseline. The qualitative aspect is an analysis of students’ final DST reflection essays within a field seminar course. Data was analyzed using the content analysis methodology. An overall theme emerged demonstrating that DST assignment serves as a mechanism that enhanced the participants’ capacity to empathize with the storyteller’s personal feelings and beliefs as they became motivated to act. The third product is an annotated overview of a peer-reviewed presentation at the European Association of Schools of Social Work Conference Madrid 2019, which took place at the Complutense University of Madrid. The poster presentation highlighted findings from the mix method study (described above) that examined use of digital storytelling using a constructivist framework in field education.