Digital storytelling as OER-enabledpedagogy: sustainable teaching in a digital world

Digital Storytelling (DS) is increasingly recognised as a pedagogical approach at all levels of education. As a combination of the ancient tradition of storytelling and the use of digital media, DS renders a compelling teaching practice to acquire 21st-century skills such as global, digital, technology, and information literacy. A review of the literature documents that DS is a powerful tool for teaching, also in the broader context of sustainable development. However, this chapter argues that DS is even more powerful as well as sustainable if implemented in conjunction with concepts related to Open Education such as Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogy. While OER is understood as openly licenced educational material and thus primarily content, the concept of OER-enabled pedagogy strengthens the students' role in and beyond the DS process by ensuring their autonomy, interdependence, responsibility and active participation in the process. The benefits of OER-enabled pedagogy are demonstrated by a case study that used DS in an international university teaching project about climate change. A re-examination of the case study through the lens of OER-enabled pedagogy reveals that it secures the students' recognition as the creators of their stories and that their products are made publicly available. Thereby their stories can be further used and carry value beyond the creator's own learning.