Storytelling is the art of telling stories to an audience to convey important messages. The first appearance of this technique dates back to the beginning of humanity and historically is the first attempt to tell a story orally. According to Joseph Campell, the first form of narration is the myths, stories told by our ancestors in order to record and transmit important events and happenings of the time to the younger generations. Usually, the content of the myths was intended to glorify a hero, convey important facts, or highlight patterns of human behaviour. For many cultures of mankind, developed in different periods of time, storytelling has been a form of communication and a means of teaching the younger generations.
However, beyond the transfer of knowledge, cultural values, attitudes, and values, people use narrative in their quest to harmonize with the environment and understand human existence. Mainly, the narration is used as an entertaining means that stimulates the interest, pleases and activates the listener’s audio visually. However, despite its entertaining role, storytelling has been widely applied in education as the primary means of education in the respective educational systems and has been heavily involved in academic research.
The technique of narration in education
Storytelling is an essential tool at all levels of education, as it has been shown to increase the oral and written skills of learners while enhancing critical thinking, analysis and information synthesis skills. More specifically, storytelling (including creating and listening to and understanding a story) leads the learner to practice complex communication skills through content structuring, information processing, and meaning extraction. The pedagogical character of the narratives is further strengthened by their ability to effectively support the transmission of perceptions, knowledge, values and attitudes and to help people make decisions about their lives based on the examples of the heroes of these stories.
The cognitive dimension of the narrative
Through the process of narration, learners improve their oral and written communication skills as well as high-order skills such as collecting and processing information about the meaning and problem-solving. The process of narration enhances the creativity and imagination of both the narrator, who combines real and/or imaginary scenarios within an educational purpose and the listeners who based on the words, words and style of the listener create the images of the story.
Digital Storytelling
Advances in technology in recent years have not left the field of storytelling unaffected. The evolution that has taken place on the internet in recent years has radically changed the way information is structured and organized, a fact that has implications for both the social and the scientific levels. In the age of Web 2.0, users are not just consumers of available information but have the ability to post material on the internet, process information, and participate in commentary and transmission.
Technological advances, when appropriately applied, can significantly enhance the educational effectiveness of the narrative strategy. That is why we see more and more quality content being published and shared using digital storytelling. All modern educational materials use the ways of narration in such a way as to convey the knowledge to the recipients as effectively as possible. Digital storytelling can be used at all levels of education, including adult education and lifelong learning, in all scientific fields and can be combined with many other learning strategies. More and more teachers are creating educational content using digital storytelling techniques. They also turn to professional narrators who can adequately convey their educational message. Usually, they check pro narrators on Voquent, an online platform where they can find a voice actor for their educational content needs.
Finally, in order for this strategy to be implemented effectively, it must begin with the learners’ reaction to a motivational experience and end with the sharing of digital narratives among the learners and their commentary.
