Digital storytelling in cultural and heritage education: Reflecting on storytelling practices applied with the Smithsonian Learning Lab to enhance 21st-century learning

This practice-led research paper explores how the Digital Storytelling (DS) process, inspired by museum objects, can make information come emotionally alive and engage participants in active and deep learning in both formal and informal settings. A researcher from Loughborough University’s School of the Arts, English, and Drama and an educator from the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access collaborated to engage community groups in DS workshops using a digital platform, Smithsonian Learning Lab, which offers access to museum resources and enables the creation and adaptation of learning materials with those resources. Results of a series of DS programmes conducted in spring 2018 indicate how the DS five-step method as adapted and integrated into the platform supports 21st-century skills (the 4 C’s of Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration, Communication), and the effect of this approach on both individual participants and their communities.