The effectiveness of digital storytelling in teaching medical information searching

BACKGROUND: Novel technologies development has created a new path for education. Digital storytelling (DST) is one of the educational approaches used in universities and scientific centers. We aimed to investigate the effect of DST on Scientific Information Search (SIS) and Information Seeking Anxiety (ISA) in students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This mixed-method study utilized the pre-test-post-test method containing test and control groups. We used the simple random sampling method (available) and used the formula to determine the sample size. Forty-two people participated in the study. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect SIS data and standard questionnaire for ISA data. The teaching approaches were accomplished using DST and the conventional methods in test and control groups, respectively. Using SPSS v. 22, we did paired-sample T-test and independent sample T-test to compare the mean score in before and after intervention in each group. Also Analysis of Covariancetest was used for considering post-test result as dependent variable, groups as independent variables and pre-test score as covariate. RESULTS: The results showed significant changes in mean score between the post-test and pre-test of both questionnaire in both groups. Also, in the post-test, compared to the control group, the experimental group obtained higher scores for SIS, which was statistically significant, and obtained lower scores for ISA, but it was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that the DST method has a positive impact on learning and reducing ISA compared to the conventional ones, and students’ interest and participation in learning have increased using DST method.