a systematic review of educational digital storytelling

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Digital Storytelling in Education: A Systematic Review of the Literature

2021, Review of European Studies

Digital Storytelling is one of the most recurrent art media used today to give a voice to invisible, silenced or marginalised groups. In this way, this methodology is framed within the cultural and educational sphere, and through a narrative approach it is capable of integrating multi-format resources that project information and stories of great richness from a hypermedia language. In fact, digital storytelling is occupying a priority role in identity studies in education. In this paper, we present a systematic review of the literature on digital storytelling in education. The methodological process was based on the PRISMA protocol. The results offer a qualitative and bibliographical synthesis of educational studies focused on digital storytelling. Firstly, there is a growing interest in the development of lines of research that focus on digital storytelling as a privileged vehicle for exploring digital stories. This is based on the premise of giving voice to the voiceless, a prior...

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Storytelling and Education in the Digital Age While the importance of the role of storytelling can hardly be overestimated, the impact of digitalization on this role is more ambivalent. In this second book-length publication of the programme Media and Education in the Digital Age-MEDA, the authors take a critical stance towards the alleged emancipative affordances of digital storytelling in education. The collection is inspired by the effort of making professional educators aware of the risks of the digital turn in educational storytelling but also of the opportunities and the conditions for critical engagements. Based on their research and field experience, fifteen scholars discuss in nine chapters these risks and opportunities, providing ideas, evidence, references and inspiration to educators and researchers. Notes on the Contributors Cristina Aliagas-Marín (PhD) is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Faculty of Education at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her interests in research encompass Ethnography and Digital Literacies. She researches on matters of literacy, youth culture, identity and digital reading/writing practices. Within this broad area, her publications cover a variety of topics: digital literacies in children's and youth life, the interface between digital literacies and the curriculum, and the role of digital literacies in curriculum innovation and change. Among her publications, she has recently published, with her colleague Ana María Margallo, the study "iPads, Emergent Readers and Families" in M. Manresa and N. Real (Eds.), Digital Literature for Children (2015, Peter Lang).

This article provides a critical review of some of the most relevant studies on digital storytelling and proposes a genre typology that allows an initial classification of digital storytelling into two main types: educational and social.

Este documento ofrece una vision general del potencial educativo del uso de la tecnica narrativa digital y se basa en los objetivos y primeros resultados de dos proyectos: READ IT “Formacion de profesores para leer divertiendose a traves de la narracion digital” y RIGHTS “Promover la educacion a la ciudadania global a traves la narracion de cuentos “, ambos financiados con el apoyo de la Comision Europea por el Programa de Aprendizaje Permanente Comenius. El documento quiere describir los beneficios educativos, pedagogicos, culturales y motivacionales derivados de la utilizacion de la tecnica de DS en un entorno educativo aplicado a dos sectores diferentes. Permitir que los estudiantes tengan una voz y participen activamente en el proceso de aprendizaje es un instrumento muy eficaz para empenarlos y para hacierlos reflexionar sobre lo que estan construyendo y, por fin, aprendiendo.

A. Tatnall & J. Multisilta (Eds.),Encyclopedia of Education & Information Technologies, Springer, 2018

This extended entry will draw from Contemporary Metaphor Theory in order to explicate the meaning of the term, based on applications in education that use digital storytelling to frame teaching and research. To this end, I will discuss digital storytelling as a phrase where the noun (storytelling) is used metaphorically and is modified by the adjective (digital) that designates the target domain of the utterance. According to metaphor theorists, a metaphor occurs when we talk about something by means of something else and, therefore, a stretch or twist is required for sense making. This metaphorical twist involves a movement to a target domain (in this case: telling stories) to explain what, for instance, technologically-enhanced practices in the field actually mean nowadays.In this sense, ‘digital storytelling’ is a 21st century metaphor that signifies mapping of two domain areas in the meaning making process. In this mapping, ‘digital’ signals the comparison between the domain of technology and that of telling stories. Digital storytelling involves multiple modes of expression through language and other symbols and media. However, contrary to traditional visual and cinematic storytelling, digital technologies have offered the possibility for interactive ways of telling stories online through the use of web-based platforms and internet services. A contemporary definition of digital storytelling should take into account these dimensions. If, for example, we consider storytelling to be an essential feature of education, the perspective on education changes. In this way, digital storytelling can possibly be a novel metaphor, given that it attributes novel meanings to the field. In this paper, dimensions of these possibilities will be discussed.

In recent years the use of new technologies in educational systems has increased worldwide as digital cameras, personal computers, scanners, and easy-to-use software have become available to educators to harness the digital world. The impact of new technologies in educational contexts has been mostly positive as new technologies have given educators the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills, and therefore enhance the standard of education. Researchers have found that student engagement, achievement and motivation are enhanced through integration of such technologies. However, education systems still face many challenges: one of these challenges is how to enhance student engagement to provide better educational outcomes. It has become increasingly important to use innovative pedagogical models to engage learners. Digital storytelling is one of the innovative pedagogical approaches that can engage students in deep and meaningful learning. This research project aimed to create a constructivist learning environment with digital storytelling. The research investigated the pedagogical aspects of digital storytelling and the impact of digital storytelling on student learning when teachers and students use digital stories. A multi-site case study was conducted in one Australian school at primary and secondary levels. In selected classrooms, students and teachers had the opportunity to engage in innovative learning experiences based on digital storytelling. In order to enhance the reliability and validity of the research, multiple methods of data collection and analysis were used. Data was collected with qualitative and quantitative methods. An evaluation rubric was used to collect quantitative data, while interviews and observation were used to collect qualitative data. Data collection was guided by a mixed methods research design in order to evaluate if and how digital storytelling enhances teaching and learning outcomes. The findings from this study suggest that digital storytelling is a powerful tool to integrate instructional messages with learning activities to create more engaging and exciting learning environments. It is a meaningful approach for creating a constructivist learning environment based on novel principles of teaching and learning. Thus, this approach has the potential to enhance student engagement and provide better educational outcomes for learners. Keywords: Digital storytelling; e-Learning; Multimedia; Student engagement; Student-centered learning; Constructivist learning. Authors: Smeda, Dakich and Sharda https://slejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40561-014-0006-3 This paper has been cited 242 times: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Ia2gFEwAAAAJ&citation_for_view=Ia2gFEwAAAAJ:M3ejUd6NZC8C

Much has been written during the first decade of the new millennium about the potential of digital technologies to produce a transformation of education. Digital technologies are portrayed as tools that will enhance learner collaboration and motivation and develop new multimodal literacy skills. Accompanying this has been the move from understanding literacy on the cognitive level to an appreciation of the sociocultural forces shaping learner development. Responding to these claims, the Digital Education and Learning Series explores the pedagogical potential and realities of digital technologies in a wide range of disciplinary contexts across the educational spectrum both in and outside of class. Focusing on local and global perspectives, the series responds to the shifting landscape of education, the way digital technologies are being used in different educational and cultural contexts, and examines the differences that lie behind the generalizations of the digital age. Incorporating cutting edge volumes with theoretical perspectives and case studies (single authored and edited collections), the series provides an accessible and valuable resource for academic researchers, teacher trainers, administrators and students interested in interdisciplinary studies of education and new and emerging technologies.

Seminar.net, 2010

This article contributes to academic discussions on how digital storytelling in an educational setting may have potential to build and develop learning identities, agency and digital competences. With a socio-cultural framework on learning and identity as a point of departure, the article sets out to study these issues approached as boundary crossing between the intersecting contexts of leisure time and school. The analysis draws on three examples of digital storytelling among 5th - 7th graders in three Norwegian primary school classes. My findings suggest that digital storytelling might represent a boundary crossing enabling pupils to adopt new roles as producers of creative content, as mentors or guides, to explore new technology and software in a context different from that of outside school and to learn and develop competences related to production processes and multimodal resources. I argue that digital storytelling has a potential to contribute to learning, learning identity a...

seminar.net, 2012

It is undisputed that storytelling is one of the oldest practices of humankind and has been ever-present in social life. This traditional role of narrating has gained new and unexpected topicality in the last decades in various fields and in many respects. Today, 'digital storytelling' is widely established as an umbrella term. Related phenomena are being discussed in terms of mediation, mediatization, multimodal forms of narration and others. As to educational issues, the situation seems to be rather ambivalent. On the one hand, digital storytelling offers enhancements of learning experiences, chances for meaningful learning and democratization, and also for bridging formal and informal contexts. On the other hand, we can observe a persistent adherence of educational institutions to "writing" as the dominant medium in many countries, thus negating media ecologies and the multimedia environment. Especially regular schools are widely conceptualized as "monomedial provinces" (J. Böhme), thus being justified as "literal countercultures" in which it is imperative to defend literality as the foremost achievement in the process of civilization, whereas otherwise calls for "new literacies" cannot go unnoticed. The contribution reflects on various understandings of 'digital storytelling' and underestimated dimensions in this regard. It aims at pointing out conceptual problems, and it sounds out limitations of the utilization of digital storytelling in educational contexts.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the existing situation about digital storytelling in the educational context by examining research articles to describe current situation and develop proposals for the following studies. For these purposes, systematic descriptive review was employed. Research articles were searched in Web of Science database using “digital storytelling” as keyword and within the scope of “education & educational research” areas without year limitation. As a result of the descriptive review, 57 articles that meet the criterion stated above were identified. Later on, content analysis was done based on their key words, contexts, years, countries, research groups, and variables in the problem statement, methods and analyses. Following the content analysis, it was found out that studies as regards DST within the context of education started in 2005, the number of studies increased by years and that maximum studies were performed in USA and Australia. It was determined that the studies were mainly performed as part of language teaching and multimodalmultiliteracy learning and teacher education followed such studies. It was regarded that study groups on the whole consisted of teacher together with secondary school and university students; and that the population of study groups ranged from 1 to 995. It was specified that qualitative research method was more concentrated as against other research methods, which resulted in use of more negotiations, observations and focus group discussions as regards data gathering As a consequence, it became evident that that there is a need for empirical studies to observe the impact in the studies with respect to DST and the information related to pre-school groups as regards DST.

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• Vol. 13, No. 2 (2021)

Digital Storytelling in Education: A Systematic Review of the Literature

•   Carmen Lucena Rodríguez    
•   Marta García-Jiménez    
•   Belén Massó-Guijarro    
•   Cristina Cruz-González    

Digital Storytelling is one of the most recurrent art media used today to give a voice to invisible, silenced or marginalised groups. In this way, this methodology is framed within the cultural and educational sphere, and through a narrative approach it is capable of integrating multi-format resources that project information and stories of great richness from a hypermedia language. In fact, digital storytelling is occupying a priority role in identity studies in education. In this paper, we present a systematic review of the literature on digital storytelling in education. The methodological process was based on the PRISMA protocol. The results offer a qualitative and bibliographical synthesis of educational studies focused on digital storytelling. Firstly, there is a growing interest in the development of lines of research that focus on digital storytelling as a privileged vehicle for exploring digital stories. This is based on the premise of giving voice to the voiceless, a priority aspect in cultural, educational and social research. For this reason, throughout the systematic review we explored different research that decided to study these discourses from a democratic and participatory approach. Finally, we encourage future research to explore this new resource further.

• DOI: 10.5539/res.v13n2p13

• ISSN(Print): 1918-7173
• ISSN(Online): 1918-7181
• Started: 2009
• Frequency: semiannual

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A Systematic Review of Digital Storytelling as Educational Tool for Teaching and Learning in Southern Africa

• First Online: 24 September 2022

Cite this chapter

• Cecilia Temilola Olugbara 6 ,
• Moeketsi Letseka 6 &
• Oludayo O. Olugbara 7  

Part of the book series: Digital Education and Learning ((DEAL))

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2 Citations

Digital storytelling (DST) has become a significant technological tool and multimodal genre in recent years to capture the life experiences of students in the process of teaching and learning. It improves the acquisition of knowledge and skills in lessons, enhances student engagement, and elucidates highly convoluted instructions in a simple visual language. The dialects of the visual language for supporting a storyline in a more gripping way include props, motions, scratch, accessories, digital images, picture clues, audio narration, and video clips. Several studies have been reported in the literature on the development and utilization of DST over the past few decades. However, there is a paucity of research on a systematic review of DST studies to communicate its advances across Southern Africa, which is a literature chasm to be filled. This study reports a systematic review of research articles published from 1993 to 2021 in scholastic databases of Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The systematic review is based on the protocol of preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis. Data extracted from the included studies were analyzed using the method of thematic analysis to discover the impacts of DST on teaching and learning. This study provides a useful insight for educators who are considering the incorporation of DST methods into the curriculum to promote collaborative learning, transformative education, acquisition of relevant skills, student engagement, and reflective practices for professional development.

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Olugbara, C.T., Letseka, M., Olugbara, O.O. (2022). A Systematic Review of Digital Storytelling as Educational Tool for Teaching and Learning in Southern Africa. In: Olivier, J., Oojorah, A., Udhin, W. (eds) Multimodal Learning Environments in Southern Africa. Digital Education and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97656-9_9

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97656-9_9

Published : 24 September 2022

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-97655-2

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-97656-9

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