History education done different: A collaborative interactive digital storytelling approach for remote learners
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
Akrivi Katifori
,
Dimitra Petousi
,
Katerina Servi1 Maria Roussou & Yannis Ioannidis
Year: 2022
Language(s): English
Abstract:
Social interaction has been recognized as positively affecting learning, with
dialogue–as a common form of social interaction–comprising an integral
part of collaborative learning. Interactive storytelling is defined as a branching
narrative in which users can experience different story lines with alternative
endings, depending on the choices they make at various decision points of the
story plot. In this research, we aim to harness the power of dialogic practices
by incorporating dialogic activities in the decision points of interactive digital
storytelling experiences set in a history education context. Our objective is
to explore interactive storytelling as a collaborative learning experience for
remote learners, as well as its effect on promoting historical empathy. As
a preliminary validation of this concept, we recorded the perspective of 14
educators, who supported the value of the specific conceptual design. Then,
we recruited 15 adolescents who participated in our main study in 6 groups.
They were called to experience collaboratively an interactive storytelling
experience set in the Athens Ancient Agora (Market) wherein we used the story
decision/branching points as incentives for dialogue. Our results suggest that
this experience design can indeed support small groups of remote users, in-line
with special circumstances like those of the COVID-19 pandemic, and confirm
the efficacy of the approach to establish engagement and promote affect and
reflection on historical content. Our contribution thus lies in proposing and
validating the application of interactive digital storytelling as a dialogue-based
collaborative learning experience for the education of history.
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.942834
Post created by: Virginia Signorini