Digital storytelling teaching robotics basics

Abstract

Digital Storytelling (DST) is a powerful tool for teaching complex concepts. DSTs are typically used in the humanities but several papers have shown that they are also a wonderful tool for the sciences because they are more involving, contextualized and can easily lead to deeper understanding. In the classical use of DST the story is thecontent, while the digital medium is the way of telling it. Our approach is slightly different: the story is not the content but a glue for the main contents, while the digital medium remains the way to tell the story. We propose the use of DST as a means to teach surgeons the basics of robotic surgery, by using a story that should be involving forthem, i.e. a surgical operation, within which we will illustrate specific concepts onrobotics in surgery.