The effect of digital storytelling on digital literacy, 21st century skills and achievement

Abstract

In recent years, digital storytelling activities have been used in various disciplines. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of digital storytelling on students' digital literacy, 21st century skills, academic success, and retention in the sixth-grade Information Technologies and Software course. In the research, a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-control group, one of the quantitative research methods, was conducted. The study group consists of 78 sixth-grade students studying in a public school. There are 26 students in experimental group 1, 26 students in experimental group 2, and 26 students in the control group. 21st Century Skills Scale for Secondary School Students, Digital Literacy Scale for 10-12 Age Group Students and Academic Achievement Test were used to collect the data of the study. The experimental period lasted for a total of 8 weeks in all groups. At the beginning of the process, pre-tests were applied in all groups. In experimental group 1, the lessons were taught with individual digital storytelling activities. In experimental group 2, the lessons were taught with cooperative digital storytelling activities. In the control group, the lessons were taught with the activities in the textbook of a publishing house approved by the Ministry of National Education. In the eighth week, post-tests were applied in all groups. Six weeks after the post-tests, the retention test was applied to all groups. In the analysis of the data, one-way ANOVA was used for unrelated samples from parametric tests, and two-way ANOVA (mixed ANOVA) was used for mixed measurements. As a result, it was found that collaborative digital storytelling activities had a high effect on increasing the academic achievement of students but did not have a statistically significant effect on 21st century skills and digital literacy skills.