This chapter reveals the overview of digital technologies; the overview of digital storytelling in education; and the overview of digital literacy in education. Digital storytelling and digital literacy are very important in modern education. Digital storytelling is used to improve student's learning through multimedia in the modern classrooms. Digital storytelling is the expressive medium that can explain even the most intricate topics in depth, integrating it with the rest of the curriculum. Digital literacy is the ability to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. Digital literacy leads to the great increases in information that can be conveniently accessed. The chapter argues that developing digital storytelling and digital literacy skills has the potential to improve both teaching and learning performance in modern education.
TopIntroduction
The impact of technology is one of the most critical issues in education (Sincar, 2013). Digital technologies become the essential parts of students’ learning experiences in the classrooms (Kissel, 2014). The advent of digital technologies brings substantial shifts both at the material levels and at the global literacy levels in this digital world (Limbu, 2014). Storytelling on electronic platforms can become powerful if adopted and delivered with appeals known as digital storytelling (Hassan, 2016). With digital storytelling, technologies allow individuals to organize their educational messages through sophisticated multimedia and to participate in the cross-cultural communication (Kozdras, Joseph, & Kozdras, 2015). Digital storytelling brings the time-honored teaching and learning achievements of storytelling with the modern student’s affinity for technology (Bhattacharyya, 2012).
Digital storytelling represents an interesting method to establish a methodology that takes advantage of multimedia technologies to develop learning mechanisms (Carrozzino, Evangelista, Neri, & Bergamasco, 2012). The inherent interactivity of the Internet and the emotional engagement of digital story can lead to transformative learning experiences in the media-rich environments (Kalogeras, 2013). Educational leaders (e.g., school district managers and administrators who are implementing mobile learning devices) need deeper comprehension of the value of such technology initiatives and the types of technological support needed to bring about the meaningful learning projects toward effective digital programs (Ostashewski & Reid, 2013).
The growing digital experiences have radically transformed the traditional approach, and have traced the route for a new communication paradigm in education (Ganzerla, Colapinto, & Rocco, 2015). The 21st century literacy skills increasingly reflect the ability to use technology (Pilgrim & Bledsoe, 2013). Digital literacy for students and learners has developed into an important dimension of information and communication technology (ICT)-related educational policies worldwide (Karagiorgi & Gravani, 2012). The balanced literacy approach to teaching, reading, and writing derives from the philosophy that students learn best through opportunities for authentic reading and writing experiences (McGinnis, 2013). It becomes imperative for technology to be embedded in the digital literacy methods courses to prepare the future teachers of writing (Werderich & Manderino, 2014).
In the educational process, teaching with technology is as challenging as it is necessary as the 21st century has facilitated learners ever more vigorously into the digital age, offering multimedia for interpreting the world (Chen, 2016). Regarding digital literacy, the utilization of computers and video games, combined with more traditional storytelling, serves as the useful tools for motivating and engaging students as well as promoting learning in education (Jin, DaCosta, & Seok, 2016). Thus, teachers should consider how best to teach and apply their digital literacy skills in their classrooms so as to support the students’ digital literacy development toward gaining better educational performance (Wake, 2013).
This chapter aims to bridge the gap in the literature on the thorough literature consolidation of digital storytelling and digital literacy. The extensive literature of digital storytelling and digital literacy provides a contribution to practitioners and researchers by revealing the advanced issues and prospects of digital storytelling and digital literacy in order to maximize the impact of digital storytelling and digital literacy in modern education.