Creating with Twine in Uncertain Times

This paper explores how critical and multimodal digital making can support pre-service teachers in developing essential digital literacies while also offering space for creative expression and pedagogical reflection in uncertain technological and social times. Drawing from frameworks in multiliteracies, design thinking, production pedagogies, and critical media literacy, we examine the use of Twine—an open-source, nonlinear storytelling tool—within a digital literacies course in an Ontario teacher education program in fall 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Through analysis of post-course interviews and reflection papers from five teacher candidates, we highlight how participants navigated multimodal composition, iterative design, and purpose-driven storytelling to engage deeply with both technological tools and curricular content. Findings underscore Twine’s potential to foster creative confidence, ethical reflection, and critical engagement with media technologies. As generative AI continues to transform digital creation, we argue that hands-on, reflective digital making experiences remain crucial for helping future educators understand, critique, and thoughtfully integrate technology in their own classrooms.