Educators must promote digital
literacy and engage students through innovative teaching methods, such as
digital storytelling, in today’s technologically advanced world. Employing a
narrative inquiry design, the purpose of the present study is to delve deeply
into the experiences of four EFL pre-service teachers who developed their
digital literacy by designing digital storytelling. Data were gathered through
a narrative framework, interviews, and artifacts in the form of digital
storytelling products. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three
findings are revealed in this research. The first finding shows that the
digital storytelling project positively impacts participants by enhancing their
critical thinking skills, digital literacy, and ability to communicate and tell
stories creatively in the digital age. It also emphasizes the importance of
strong digital skills for future careers, benefiting both teachers and
students. The second finding highlights that participants experience digital
storytelling through several stages and reflect on their digital literacy by
gathering, analyzing, and evaluating information from various sources. They
also reflect on how they creatively integrate technology into educational
materials, especially through the process of designing digital storytelling.
The third finding reveals that participants face several challenges, such as
difficulties in developing ideas, struggles with editing media components,
technical issues, and time constraints. Fortunately, they overcome these
problems through discussion and by accessing information through several online
platforms. This study implies that, nowadays, future teachers must be digitally
literate and integrate technology into the classroom to enhance students’
ability to evaluate and use technology properly.
