Didactic strategy mediated by Canva for digital narrative production in high school students

Abstract

Introduction: The incorporation of digital technologies in education has gained relevance post-pandemic, but its effectiveness depends on pedagogical intentionality. In the Fiscomisional Educational Unit "10 de Agosto" (Ecuador), third-year high school students present difficulties in the narrative production of the story, evidenced by problems of textual coherence, limited creativity and poor academic use of digital tools. Materials and methods: A mixed study was developed with a descriptive-propositive scope and a case study modality. The sample included 27 students selected through non-probabilistic convenience sampling. A structured questionnaire (12 items), a written narrative performance test (10 open questions), a digital story evaluation rubric and an 8-class observation guide were applied. The validation of the proposal was carried out through the judgment of 6 experts, with a competence coefficient K=0.85. Results: 60% of the students had low knowledge and academic use of Canva; 50% showed low user experience. In narrative production, 60% showed difficulties in text-image integration and 55% in narrative structure. A didactic strategy was designed structured in 9 activities articulated in 6 phases (diagnosis, digital narrative workshop, creative discrepancy, preparation of digital stories, formative evaluation and strengthening of narrative learning), based on PBL, visual, multimodal learning and formative evaluation. The validation by experts achieved high ratings in internal coherence (100%) and innovative potential (100%). Discussion: The findings coincide with previous studies that indicate that technological integration requires teaching mediation and structured didactic planning, not just access to tools. Conclusions: The didactic strategy mediated by Canva constitutes a relevant pedagogical alternative to strengthen the digital narrative production of the story, provided that its implementation is articulated with teaching mediation, didactic planning and formative evaluation.