Oldal 135 [135]
134] Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education
(Karakoyun & Yapici, 2016) and physics (Kotluk & Kocakaya, 2017) classes.
The method can also be used for knowledge acquisition, as students using
DST scored higher points on knowledge tests in biology and physics (Kotluk
& Kocakaya, 2017; Karakoyun & Yapici, 2016).
Several studies, also in the context of public education, have reported
positive effects of DST on student attention due to its rigid timetable, creative
activities with multimedia, and high student engagement (Reyes Torres et al,
2012; Karakoyun and Yapıcı, 2016; Karakoyun and Kuzu, 2016). Emotional
involvement and the opportunity for visual communication also had a positive
effect on the attention of students with special educational needs (Yussof et al,
2012; Matos, et al., 2015; Ying et al., 2016), but mathematical problem-solving
with DST also improved the attention of preschool children (Preradovic et
al., 2016). High school students presented mathematical problems in real¬
world contexts in their digital stories and remained focused and consistent
throughout the process (Gould & Schmidt, 2010).
Using a narrative schema supports deeper storage and easier retrieval of
content. DST is an activity-oriented, narrative content organizing technique
that facilitates deep learning (Sadik, 2008; Xu et al, 2011). The image processing
stage of DST and the visualization of the product have a positive effect on
visual memory, while the text writing stage serves to store the product in
long-term memory (Sarica & Usluel, 2016). At the same time, the creation
and reception of digital stories also support a deeper embedding of content
due to the multisensory nature of the process (Matos et al., 2015).
DST is an excellent tool for content organization because it helps to fuse
knowledge elements into a logical unit (Robin, 2008; Hung et al, 2012).
Contextualized learning allows information to be anchored to categories,
which not only aids in deep learning but also facilitates retrieval (Bandi-Rao
& Sepp, 2014). Deep learning also occurs due to the fact that content (re)
construction is a creative process in which the creator articulates theoretical
knowledge in his or her own language. According to Ohler (2013), storytelling
is also useful in the educational process because it is facilitated by the emotional
effects that the story evokes.
In an examination of primary school students (n = 2900), Di Blas and
Paolini (2013) found that DST helps students to sustain their attention
and deepen their understanding of content through the systematic storage
of information. In the Italian local knowledge initiative PoliCultura, the
students interviewed at least one professional, and one family member and
visited at least one local cultural institution during the collection of material.
A further condition for participation was that the whole project had to be
created collaboratively at the class level by groups of students in both formal
and informal learning environments. The students were given free access to a
self-developed online framework (1001 Stories), which included a template
for the structure of the text and allowed them to upload the videos they had
produced. Their teachers found that the topics they had worked on through