Beyond AI Assisted Creativity: Digital Storytelling for Orchestrating Human AI Co-Creation in Higher Education

Generative Artificial Intelligence is increasingly used to support creativity in higher education, yet its educational value may depend on how human and AI contributions are pedagogically coordinated. This study examined whether digital storytelling can orchestrate human–AI co-creation while preserving students’ creative agency. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control-group design involved 180 higher education students assigned by intact cohorts to orchestrated human–AI digital storytelling or conventional AI-assisted digital storytelling. After controlling for baseline performance, the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher creative competency, F(1,177) = 10.95, p = .001, partial η² = .058, alongside stronger human–AI co-creation quality, creative agency, critical evaluation, and creative ownership. Regression pathways further linked co-creation quality and creative agency to creative competency. These findings position digital storytelling as a pedagogical orchestration environment that shifts AI-supported creativity from output generation toward intentional, evaluative, and human-directed co-creation.