Digital storytelling as student-centred pedagogy: empowering high school students to frame their futures

Digital storytelling was used in a high school classroom in the Midwestern USA as a part of the curriculum for “non-university-bound” rural youth. Though described as “unengaged”, in this paper we illustrate the way this digital storytelling project redefined the teacher-student power relationship, and students responded by producing work that was opinionated, forceful and demonstrated a thorough engagement with academic practices via technologies. Research demonstrates that teacher expectations impact student outcomes, and for marginalised students, it is essential to provide pedagogical opportunities that affirm the student’s culture and identity. In this paper, we describe the project and the ways students talked about their education and their future through their digital stories. We use Smyth’s (International Journal of Leadership in Education 9(4):285–298, 2006) learner-centred policy constellation to consider the findings, and reframe the way we view these students and their work. By utilising technologies in a meaningful way in the classroom, we anticipate educators can potentially deliver more effective, powerful and engaging pedagogies to all students, including those on nonmainstream educational pathways.