Showcasing Digital Storytelling as a Tool for Active and Deep Learning
After almost a decade of hands-on workshops and ongoing research, educators share the power of digital storytelling as an approach that makes learning more personal, emotional, and impactful
Since 2018, Dr. Antonia Liguori of Teesside University in Middlesbrough, England, and Dr. Philippa Rappoport of the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology in Washington, D.C., have collaborated to explore the use of Digital Storytelling (DS) in various learning environments, prompted by digital museum content from the Smithsonian Learning Lab. DS is a facilitated, participatory process in which individuals create short, first-person videos that combine personal narratives (recorded as voiceovers) with still or moving images.
What is Digital Storytelling?
DS creation in learning environments typically follows a structured sequence of steps—such as story-circle discussions, script writing, audio recording, video editing, and group screenings—that help participants craft meaningful and emotionally resonant stories. Beyond the production of a digital output, the DS process emphasizes social interaction, personal reflection, and skill development in areas like writing, media editing, and self-expression. It is widely used in both academic and community development settings and has been adapted to suit various contexts and constraints. While some contexts may prioritize the final 2-3 minute video product, DS fundamentally values the process as a form of empowerment, self-discovery, and shared learning. When applied in the classroom, students make the learning experience more personal and meaningful by sharing their own perspectives and reflections through a variety of creative techniques.
The crucial starting point for Digital Storytelling is looking closely at museum objects to spark conversation. This simple concept can inspire a wide range of observations and feelings in students as they move from being a receiver of information (from the teacher or museum curatorial label) to one who generates information. Inspired by the model from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero Thinking Routines, students and workshop participants are asked to respond to an object based on the educator’s prompts. They might list what they see while looking at an object, what they think it might mean, what questions they have, and how it relates to their studies or their work or any prompt the workshop facilitators pitch. The process of creating and sharing the final digital stories, in turn, feeds back into this communicative environment of engaged and expressed learners.
From a museum perspective, this process serves the Smithsonian’s goal to engage and inspire people, catalyze critical conversations, and amplify voices less often heard in order to tell a fuller story of the human experience. The Learning Lab is designed so that each digitized object shows the curatorial label for the object while also allowing an individual to comment within their own collection. Educators have a range of options to share this information. They can create a collection to house the objects under consideration. They can add historical context by bringing in non-Smithsonian, perhaps local, links. They can collect students’ comments to create a class exhibition space—perhaps unpublished so that only the students can access the classroom collection. They might also create and publish a collection to share the learning process with other educators. With this foundational activity, students begin to see themselves and their classmates represented in classroom resources, and educators and students have a sense of co-curation, with metadata and historical context from the museum curator visible alongside diverse perspectives from digital visitors.
Responses from Teachers and Students
Teachers highlighted the transformative potential of DS when paired with the Smithsonian Learning Lab, noting its ability to make learning more personal, emotional, and impactful. The Lab’s rich digital resources sparked meaningful discussions and enabled participants to connect deeply with objects, enhancing object-based learning. DS was praised for activating participants' natural communicative instincts, fostering both emotional engagement and cognitive depth. Teachers saw it not just as a method, but as a powerful pedagogical strategy—one that encourages students to become creators of knowledge, rather than passive recipients. As a teaching assignment, it was seen as a creative, flexible, and reflective tool, ideal for sharing research, starting conversations, and reaching wider audiences. The approach was viewed as highly inclusive and motivating, particularly effective in encouraging curiosity and active participation: “We need people interested in learning,” one teacher affirmed. In essence, the integration of DS and the Smithsonian Learning Lab was seen as a smart, inspiring way to bring cultural heritage to life and empower both educators and learners.
Students found the digital storytelling process to be both challenging and rewarding, pushing them beyond traditional academic formats like essays and term papers. Many discovered a newfound sense of creativity and expressed pride in producing something tangible and meaningful. While some initially felt unsure about using unfamiliar digital tools, they reported gaining valuable skills—not just in technology, but also in clarifying ideas, selecting key information, and communicating concisely. The dual structure of writing a paper and creating a digital story was appreciated for balancing rigorous research with creative expression. Students also valued the opportunity to personalize their academic interests and explore topics in a more engaging way, often feeling a deeper connection to the material. The use of digital storytelling as a tool for learning and assessment helped them better understand their own voice and style, and many noted that it made learning more enjoyable.
An Evolving Partnership
The integration of DS within the Smithsonian Learning Lab demonstrated its use as a dynamic tool for education, community engagement, and cultural heritage exploration. The partnership began when Liguori came to OET as a Fellow in Museum Practice in 2018 with the project “Storying the Cultural Heritage: Digital Storytelling as a Tool to Enhance the 4Cs in Formal and Informal Learning,” supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. This initiative aimed to investigate how to enhance critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication—the 4Cs—through DS methodologies. By leveraging the SLL’s vast digital collections, Ligouri and Rappoport facilitated workshops that encouraged participants to create personal narratives inspired by museum artifacts, fostering deeper engagement with cultural content. They worked with community education partners to explore a wide range of uses of Digital Storytelling—from middle, high school, and community college classrooms, to after-school programs and advocacy classes for adult English Language Learners supporting their families.
Interactive workshops combined storytelling techniques with digital tools, alongside activity icebreakers using museum objects, story circles, and collaborative digital story creation. These sessions not only introduced participants to the Smithsonian Learning Lab’s resources, but also empowered them to share their own stories, thereby connecting personal experiences with broader cultural narratives.
Over the past 8 years, Liguori and Rappoport facilitated a series of workshops at Montgomery College that introduced faculty, staff, and administrators to DS as both a pedagogical method and a creative assessment tool. These sessions—focused on interdisciplinary teaching, assignment design, and student learning outcomes—offered hands-on experience with video editing and effectively bridged the use of DS with the Smithsonian Learning Lab’s digital collections.
The workshops catalyzed the formation of Montgomery College’s Community of Practice in Digital Storytelling, which now supports nearly 100 members. This thriving network continues to share best practices, develop teaching strategies, and promote inclusive, creative learning environments. Many faculty members who now integrate DS into their courses were either directly trained by Liguori and Rappoport or indirectly influenced by the community they helped establish.
Their work also inspired the creation of the Digital Storytelling Internship, a first-of-its-kind program led by Professors Jamie Gillan and Matthew Decker. Originally launched to support the growing Community of Practice, the internship has evolved into a two-tier program that now sustains ten students per term. Interns are encouraged to lead workshops, design digital stories for public presentations, and support both classrooms and institutional projects. This initiative promotes student agency, leadership, and professional development, while also contributing to college-wide events like Humanities Days.
Using Digital Storytelling in Preparation for the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
The collaboration has resulted in a suite of educational resources and collections within the Smithsonian Learning Lab. As we approach the nation’s semi-quincentennial, the Smithsonian wants to provide tools to help students understand their place in the national narrative. DS can be an especially powerful learning technique to capture and evoke stories at this milestone moment in American history. These materials serve as models for educators and facilitators aiming to incorporate digital storytelling into their curricula, promoting active learning and cultural understanding. Through the innovative integration of digital storytelling with museum education, new pathways have emerged for learners to connect personally with cultural heritage, fostering a more inclusive and participatory educational environment.
Forthcoming publications about this work include a book chapter, “Classroom Engagement across Disciplines through Digital Storytelling: Exploring Personal Connections to Museum Objects in the Smithsonian Learning Lab to Strengthen Learning Communities,” in the book Storytelling Research Methods, published by Routledge (est December 2026), and a book, Story Work for a Just Future: Co-creating Diverse Knowledges and Methods within an International Community of Practice, co-edited also by Daniela Gachago, published by Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press (est November 2025).
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Editor's Note: To learn more about Digital Storytelling, please visit this collection of resources (also co-created with Matthew Decker and Sara Ducey of Montgomery College) via the Smithsonian Learning Lab at: https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/story-work-to-increase-engagement-and-empathy-companion-collection-for-a-smithsonian-national-education-summit-workshop/HrYIwCKtm3dXhlUR. Plus, join the co-authors of this article for the Smithsonian National Education Summit on July 15-17. Liguori and Rappoport will present an online session on Tuesday, July 15 at 12:00 p.m., Eastern. More information about the session line-up and free registration is available here: https://s.si.edu/EducationSummit2025.
