Folktales as a creative lab : a participatory design-based digital storytelling model to develop creative potential

Abstract

Creativity is our ability to look at a problem and come up with an ideal solution. It has nothing to do with the subject, the job or what we learn. In the Sri Lankan education systems creativity is nurtured but not at a suitable level. It is more suitable to mention in that way rather than mentioning creativity is not fully nurtured. Creativity should be accessible to all, since everyone is creative. It is full of optimism, hope and the joy of changing things by making the truth come true. With the arrival of digital technology, children have ever-increasing opportunities for knowledge gathering and study. It encourages students to open up their creative abilities to share and build continuous relationships through their creativity. Therefore, students actively partici-pate in the process by taking responsibilities, working with the organisation, and experimenting and developing unique proposals for solutions. This project adopts the participatory design approach which is a design methodology in which the potential users of a design participate as co-creators in the design process, as a framework to develop a digital storytelling model and reflect how students express their creativity. In this process, students’ thoughts are interpreted using active participatory approaches such as illustration, photography, audio recording, writing, and drawing. This process involves creating a story based on students’ creative abilities and forcing students to act and make decisions to solve their creative problems. Participants use participatory approaches to analyse and synthesise stories through creative abilities.