Digital Storytelling and Students’ Academic Engagement in Civic Education: Implications for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Background: The place of effective instructional delivery using appropriate innovative instructional delivery strategy is so pivotal in the teaching-learning process in this present age. Applying an instructional delivery strategy that is both effective and innovative in teaching a very important subject like Civic Education will no doubt contribute greatly to the attainment of quality education for all.

Objective: This research investigated the influence of digital storytelling on students' academic engagement in Civic Education, including gender as a moderating variable.

Methodology:  The research used a quasi-experimental 2 x 2 factorial design. The research population comprised  2,684 senior secondary two (SSII) students, with 1,259 males and 1,425 females from 38 secondary schools in the Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria. This research used a sample of 183 students, including 85 males and 98 females, selected by purposive and simple random selection methods. The Academic Engagement Inventory (AEI) was used for data collection. The AEI received validation from specialists and exhibited a Cronbach's Alpha reliability value of .82 before administration, marking, scoring, and coding for analysis. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was utilized to evaluate the null hypotheses at a significance level of .05.

Results: Findings revealed a substantial disparity between the average academic engagement scores of secondary school pupils instructed in Civic Education using digital storytelling and those taught using traditional storytelling methods. Gender has no substantial effect on students' academic participation in Civic Education.

Conclusion: From the outcome, the conclusion is that digital storytelling instructional strategy positively influences academic engagement of students more than the traditional storytelling strategy irrespective of their gender.

Unique Contribution: This study enhances the existing knowledge base by demonstrating that the utilization of digital storytelling as a teaching strategy significantly improves students' academic engagement in Civic Education regardless of learner gender.