This month I began a PhD at the University of Sheffield. At last! I have wanted to start a PhD for a long time and have waited for the right opportunity to arrive. Working alongside the exciting team at the School of Education in the area of digital literacy was too good an opportunity to miss.
The focus is children’s identities as authors through digital technology. In teaching children about creative writing, I have had ample opportunity to reflect on how they might experience authoring texts in school, at home and at play. Digital texts - such as videogames and films - are hugely important components in how children experience storytelling and yet these experiences are largely neglected by schools. As a keep computer game player myself, I am curious about the way playing sandbox (e.g., Minecraft) and openworld games and creating naratives within them might mirror storytelling in print. And, of course, I am interested in what schools might learn from it. As my fieldwork will be carried out in and around Leeds, this will likely involve exploring the experience of EAL learners in digital literacy and authoring. Having started my teaching career in a diverse area of Birmingham, this is something close to my heart.
I am going to use this blog as a place to digest and deposit my weekly reading. Writing here is primarily a way of making me accountable to myself (keep reading, keep writing!). If it also proves interesting for you, reader, that is a happy outcome for both of us. 😊