Digital storytelling as a strategy to prepare students for 21st century learning: A systematic review of qualitative evidence

Digital storytelling (DST) has emerged as a pedagogical strategy that promotes the engagement of the student in their own processes of learning as they involve personal stories with the curricular content. The wide range of actions involved in the construction of these videos promote the development of a range of skills (Robin, 2008), such as creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, citizenship and ICT literacy; all of these considered 21st Century Skills for the framework proposed by Voogt and Roblin (2012). The implementation of 21st Century Skills in educational practice is a complex curriculum innovation since these skills need to be learned in an integrated manner and at all age levels (Voogt & Roblin, 2012). DST could respond to that need because it promotes a potential learning experience that encompasses much of society’s hopes for students to know and be able to perform in the 21st century (Jakes & Brennan, 2005). Nonetheless, little is known about what types of practices are those that promote more directly the relationship between DST strategies and the development of these skills. Therefore, the main objective of the current study is to understand the relationship between digital storytelling and the development of 21st Century Skills. A systematic review method was used to locate, critically appraise, and synthesise studies about the use of DST as a strategy in a school context. The studies included in this meta-synthesis were located through an extensive search of the Web of Science. Keywords used in the literature search included “Digital storytelling”, “21st Century Skills,” as well as specific 21st Century Skills, e.g., “problem-solving” or “collaboration” in combination with search filters identifying only qualitative empirical studies, implemented in the school context, and papers published in English between 2010 and 2019. A critical appraisal was conducted to the selected articles based on the Joanna Briggs Institute model (Lockwood, Munn, & Porritt, 2015), to ensure methodological quality on the evidence. The analysis of the current review will result in a better understanding of the relationship between 21st CS and digital storytelling. During the presentation, the authors will elaborate on the development approach of the review study, the key findings and the implications for practice and future research are discussed.