Project Goals

The project is based on Zisoula Gkoutsioukosta’s doctoral thesis, conducted under the supervision of Professor Venetia Apostolidou, in the School of Primary Education of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, on the pedagogical usefulness of Digital Storytelling in the teaching of Literature and, in general, with regards to the cultivation of traditional literacies and modern multi-literacies (critical, digital, audio-visual, etc.).

In particular, the project revolves around the development of three hubs aiming at the dissemination of digital storytelling in Compulsory Education: a digital hub (online platform) and two physical ones, located in Thessaloniki and in the wider area of Larissa, respectively.

The project also aims to promote the transfer of research -based best practices from Higher Education to Compulsory Education and the encouragement of action research in schools, through the implementation of organized teaching interventions with regards to the use of digital storytelling in various subjects in an ambitious action research project, involving a total of 60 primary and secondary education teachers.

Digital storytelling will be used as a means of promoting students’ abilities related to reading, writing, comprehension and research. Equally important, digital storytelling will be used as a way of engaging young people in contemporary media culture, with the emphasis on cultivating a creative and at the same time critical attitude towards new digital media.

The research project is intended to function not only as a dissemination channel of research results from the University to other levels of education, but as a field of convergence and expansion of empirical research, through the action research undertaken, whereas it is hoped that participating teachers will eventually form a community of learning and practice.

The action research carried out during the aforementioned doctoral thesis over a period of three years at senior high school offers the know-how regarding the pedagogical value of digital storytelling as a tool. However, the magnitude of the research conducted under this project will allow the team to enrich relevant scientific knowledge and promote pedagogical innovation in the educational community.