In the AI era: A project-based digital storytelling framework for art and design education

The ascent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) challenges art and design education to reaffirm the value of human creativity. This study proposes and examines a pedagogical response: a project-based learning (PBL) model with digital storytelling (DS) at its core, designed to cultivate the emotional, cultural, and narrative capacities that AI lacks. Conducted through an embedded case study of the 15-week “Creative Shanzhou” project with 426 Chinese undergraduate students, the research implemented a theoretically-grounded PBL-DS framework. Digital storytelling served as the primary methodology for students to translate local cultural heritage into emotionally resonant, multimodal narratives. A mixed-methods analysis of 92 digital storytelling works, assessed via a validated rubric (Novelty, Effectiveness, Wholeness), demonstrated significant development in creative thinking. Quantitative results revealed strong performance, particularly in novelty (M = 4.21), while effectiveness (M = 3.96) and wholeness (M = 3.68) pointed to areas requiring more extended scaffolding, while qualitative analysis of exemplars illustrated how the DS process, from narrative construction to contextual immersion, facilitated original expression and critical problem-solving. The findings affirm that embedding digital storytelling within an authentic PBL context effectively bridges theory and practice, creating a learning ecology where technology amplifies rather than automates human creativity. This study offers a transferable model for leveraging digital storytelling to develop AI-resistant competencies, with implications for creative education and beyond.