The Hellenistic World is the second-year core module for most students in the Department of Classics and Ancient History. Digital Storytelling provides students with an opportunity to utilise their research experience, to develop their skills with digital technologies, and offers them an innovative assessment option.

Digital stories are 3min+/- films aimed at an interested museum audience, which are composed of a combination of still images and voiceover, with music and sound effects. Students on our Hellenistic World module are given two two-hour training sessions during the Autumn Term. In these sessions, they pick topics, condense information and craft digital stories in groups of 2-4. These stories are then entered into an awards ceremony/social evening that we call, The Hellies which takes place on an evening in Spring Term. Over 80% of students complete these voluntary projects and submit them for awards consideration.

Students who are particularly interested in digital storytelling have the option of composing an assessed digital story in lieu of a traditional essay. The popularity of this assessment option has grown across each of the three years that we have run it, with well over half of the class having taken up the option in 2020. This approach promotes the academic skills of synthesis, engagement, and impact, and enables all of our students (being a core module) to develop transferable skills in technology, presentation, and multimedia communication. On the whole, these stories are engaging, very well done, and a lot of fun!