Stories rock

I'm really enjoying the discussion between Maish and Amy, particularly now the topic has shifted towards storytelling. Maish gives an example of how a story can provide a rich e-Learning experience and Amy responds with a quote that encompasses my belief:

Effective e-learning can—and should—tell stories. Or at least be part of a narrative flow within the overall learning experience.

When Amy writes that to give learners narrative is to treat them as humans she acknowledges story as a means of establishing richer meaning—not simply cognitive meaning, but affective meaning. A recognition that takes on added significance with news from the neurosciences that for students to successfully learn, content must be emotionally meaningful.

Coincidently I'm reading Kieran Egan's Teaching as Storytelling in which he critiques the assembly line model of education and offers an alternative:

…that encourages us to see lessons or units as good stories to be told rather than sets of objectives to be attained. It is an organic approach that puts meaning centerstage.

Egan's model does not begin by stating objectives; like Maish, Egan sees objectives as resulting from "attempts to technologize teaching in inappropriate ways." Instead Egan argues that story offers a powerful form in which to engage learners more meaningfully:

…teaching is centrally concerned with efficiently organising and communicating meaning, and so we will sensibly use a planning model derived from one of the world's most powerful and pervasive ways of doing this.

What causes stories to stick?

BJ Fogg blogs in the Captology Notebook about the importance of causality:

I believe we humans are hardwired to absorb narratives, because through narrative we learn about causal relationships; we learn how things work in the world.

Daniel Willingham would agree, he argues that stories are "psychologically privileged" because of their structure and reliance on causality. Stories, Willingham writes, are more interesting, and are easier to comprehend and remember.

Stories are easier to understand because we know to expect a causal relationship between present and past narrative events. Causal connections make stories easier to remember by providing an effective web of associations. If however, those connections are made too explicit listeners lose interest; readers are engaged by stories that require them to make reasonable inferences.

Interestingly, our expectation is so strong that we will make causal connections in an attempt to remember a story, even if they are not present.

Persuading with story

In researching what makes video games motivating, Stanford University's Persuasive Technology Lab found:

…many popular games include segments of narrative, periods of time where the player doesn't interact; she simply watches and absorbs part of a story.

The group proposed that these "cut scenes" play an important part in the engagement and motivation of video games.

They are currently investigating how computers can weave together sequences of interactivity and narrative to create an experience capable of influencing people's attitudes and behaviours.

While the project continues, they have released a 14-page PDF report called Persuading People via Computer-based Narrative which documents their progress so far.

iPod inspirations

First Duke University, now The Brearley School. The New York Times, via MacNN, reports that students attending the private Manhatten girls' school are using iPods in language classes.

Not surprisingly the use of iPods as learning tools hasn't escaped the attention of the helpful folks at Apple who "…have put together some real-world classroom examples that demonstrate how iPod and iTunes can motivate, engage and inspire pupils of all ages."