The effect of digital storying activities integrated with creative writing on creative writing, digital storywriting and digital literacy skills

Stories are literary texts that human beings have used from the past to the present in order to ensure effective and permanent learning in education. With the rapid development of technology in the last century, stories have gained a new place for themselves and have become digital stories. It is important to investigate the qualities of digital stories, which are expected to help students learn effectively and permanently, and their roles in the process. The aim of the study is to determine the effect of digital storytelling activities integrated with creative writing on creative writing, digital story writing and digital literacy skills. Within the scope of the research, convergent parallel design has been utilized in the mixed method. In the quantitative dimension of the study, a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was used, while in the qualitative dimension, students were interviewed. In order to collect the quantitative data of the study, the Digital Literacy Scale for Primary School Students (DLS) prepared by Şahin, Özkan, and Turan (2022); the Scale for the Evaluation of Creative Writing Products (CEWP) prepared by Kasap and Kırmızı (2019) and the Digital Storytelling Rubric (DIÖR) within the scope of the thesis has been used. In order to collect qualitative data, semi-conducted interviews consisting of open-scope questions within the scope of the thesis has been used. The study has been conducted with 66 students (36 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group) attending the fourth grade in a primary school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Denizli province. Experimental studies have been carried out for 10 weeks in the second semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. Writing activities have been carried out with the students in the control group in accordance with the 2019 Turkish Curriculum. With the students in the experimental group, digital storytelling activities integrated with creative writing have been carried out in the Turkish lesson. In line with the findings obtained from the creative writing activities carried out by the experimental and control groups before and at the end of the process, it has been seen that the perceptions of the 4th grade primary school students participating in the study group regarding their creative writing skills at the end of the process increased. When the development of digital literacy skills of the experimental group and the control group were evaluated, it has been revealed that there was a permanent positive and significant difference in the digital literacy levels of those in the experimental group who received digital storytelling training integrated with creative writing. It was determined that the qualitative findings of the study have been compatible with the quantitative findings and confirmed the quantitative results. Primary school 4th grade students who participated in the study stated that they enjoyed the digital storytelling activities integrated with creative writing and that the activities had positive effects on their lessons. In addition, the students stated that the training increased their ability to use technology and improved their imagination. Some students stated that they had difficulties in using programs and creating animations in the process of creating digital stories.