Abstract:

Background:
In digitized age, the use of Digital Storytelling (DS) in higher education may fosters the connection between technology and education, helping students make sense of knowledge within a creative experience. More specifically, the creation of digital stories framed in the course content, can lead to a complementary and innovative way to engage students in the learning process. In this sense, previous research has shown DS may play a role as a facilitator to connect students, knowledge and learning within an audio-visual media.

Aims:
1. To promote the construction by students of a digital story, contextualizing the theoretical content of the subject in it.
2. To evaluate the usefulness of this methodology in subjects related to social psychology.

Method:
The project presented here was carried out at the Universities of Santiago de Compostela and Zaragoza (Spain). The sample of a total of 335 participants was made up of students of Social Work, Labour Relations, Physiotherapy and Criminology, with an average age of 21.97 years. In groups of between 2 and 5 people, they had to develop a script in which some of the concepts of the syllabus, related to social psychology, could be seen in practice. After the teachers' approval, the story was recorded and edited on video, adding the explanatory video of the concepts used (e.g.: https://youtu.be/HlOSKpy3djs). Finally, these videos were played in class, generating collaborative learning dynamics. For the evaluation of this teaching dynamic, the score of the theoretical test was analyzed, as well as its relationship with the score of the digital stories exercise. The students evaluated the dynamics quantitatively and qualitatively, by means of a brief Likert-type questionnaire and an open response item. The analysis of the quantitative data was carried out by means of a descriptive quantitative analysis of the teaching dynamics assessment questionnaire, using the SPSS-20 statistical package and JAMOVI 1.2. The text mining platform Voyant-Tools was used for the analysis of the qualitative data.

Results:
Three types of results were obtained. First, those of the activity itself, the videos produced, its explanation and discussion in class. An example of these can be seen at this link: https://xurl.es/ds-unizar. Second, the activity notes and the final theory test, where a moderate positive correlation was found. Third and last, the data obtained from the activity evaluation questionnaire carried out by the participants. These data exhibited a positive quantitative assessment of activity. In addition, comments were obtained about the positive aspects of applying this methodology with more students in the future, its usefulness for understanding the concepts, and that it was an interesting, different, creative, practical, fun and enjoyable activity.

Discussion:
The study contributes to fostering meaningful learning in students by applying theoretical concepts through digital stories, promoting elaborative strategies that can play a role in such learning. Thus adapting to the new demands of the digital society and the young population.

Keywords:

Digital storytelling, social psychology, meaningful learning, digital society.