Use of Transmedia Storytelling for Teaching Teenagers

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International Journal of Contemporary Education, 2018

The present paper analyzes an innovative teaching experience, Transmedia Narrative, in the field of Higher Education. This experience based on the Project-Based Learning (PBL) method and collaborative processes, that has a solid constructivist framework, is proposed as a fertile ground for creative experimentation and the production of interesting pieces and exemplary transmediation strategies. The innovative teaching project was conducted between 2013 and 2017 at the Faculty of Communication, Catholic University of Murcia (Spain). Part of the results at this project were presented at the 'International Conference on Communication in the profession and the university of today: contents, research, innovation and teaching' (CUICIID) in 2014, in order to make the premier disclosure of preliminary data and test the design of the project. So far, the project created works in progress of immense professional and academic value. Results of this project are not only relevant, but also provide a significant and original contribution to the international literature related to contemporary education.

This paper proposes the use of transmedia storytelling in an educational context. Transmedia stories are perceived as opportunities to create a new learning scenario that allows for the development of innovative student-centred educational practices, and the implementation of collaborative strategies that ultimately meet the 21st-century students' needs. Through the discussion of a transmedia learning project targeted to English as Second Language students, this paper attempts to provide insight on how learning activities and strategies can be embedded in the digital narrative and experience layers of a storyworld.

In the era of media convergence, transmedia (cross-media/cross-platform/multi-platform) narratives are catering to users who are willing to immerse themselves in their favorite entertainment content. The inherent interactivity of the Internet and the emotional engagement of story can lead to innovative pedagogies in media rich environments. In the digital age, the textbook is being replaced by new forms of learning technologies such as a story-based screentext. This paper focuses on web-based Transmedia Storytelling Edutainment as a pedagogical practice in higher education.

EDULEARN Proceedings, 2019

In this research it will be analyzed if the transmedia storytelling resources used in the audiovisual developments, have a higher incidence on the perception and empathy that the observers have with respect to fictional characters; that is, if the transmedia design encourages the empathy for the audiovisual fictional characters. This is very important in the Audiovisual Communication Degree in order to programme effectively professional and academic activities using the available transmedia technologies. For the experimental development the short film "Expediente 64" has been used. This Final Project was produced, realized and edited by fourth-year students of the Audiovisual Communication Degree in University of Valencia. For the identification of the fictional characters the scale EDI has been used formed by 17 items. The statistical development will be carried out by correlating hypothesis, bivarieted analysis and contingency tables. SPSS IBM, v21 has been used as Software. Audiovisual Communication students as well as Multimedia Engineering students, who had not participated in this short film, took part in the experimental research. After the correlation of variables against the two natures of the audiovisual constructs-transmedia discourse and traditional lineal discourse-it has been proven that the dissolved and implemented narrations in a transmedia stage correlates positively with a higher empathy for the characters. Finally, it will be discussed if the transmedia design in the academic proposals in Audiovisual Communication are optimal to achieve a greater cognitive penetration.

Transmedia Learning: Interactivity & Involvement in Educational Processes, 2022

Transmedia storytelling is a rising phenomenon, demand for which is caused by media convergence and participatory culture, along with technological progress. Its interactive and engaging features landed it in numerous fields, including the educational sector. Although transmedia storytelling is commonly used in the entertainment industry, it can also have social benefits and a rise of transmedia learning can be noted. Transmedia learning experiences include a narrative and a storyworld that place a certain educational theme in the centre. These types of transmedia narratives allow students to engage with educational topics, keeping their attention and promoting creativity. Thus, a question arises: What is transmedia learning, and how can it benefit the educational process? In this paper, I aim to investigate what aspects of transmedia learning can positively influence the educational process for students. Moreover, I seek to analyse how a particular structural and audience-centric approach impacts learning practices. Based on the literature investigation of media scholars such as Henry Jenkins, Robert Pratten, Pamela Rutledge, Harry Pence and others, I will outline how transmedia learning can contribute to shaping an interactive learning environment and what values it promotes. Moreover, I will examine multi-platform narrative psychology of transmedia storytelling and elucidate what it means for transmedia learning. The paper also examines the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on media literacy and its implications for transmedia learning.

Education Sciences

The present paper focuses on digital storytelling in education, emphasizing the teachers’ needs for familiarization with the new technological conditions. A transmedia integration approach is deployed to make productive, blended learning values while utilizing the availability of tools and reusable media assets in a component-based software engineering kind of framework. The topic is inspired by social studies and humanities, which seem to be marginalized, usually failing to make effective technological facilities, benefits, and contemporary findings. It is, therefore, necessary to modernize the approach to literary things and integrate digital means into the educational process, even in cases where a sole educator on humanities and social studies lacks multidisciplinary support in multimedia authoring and software engineering. This modernization can be made possible by introducing user-friendly tools into the process, representing not just a fashion of the time but mostly a renewal...

This paper includes theories and practices of scholars and producers, explaining about transmedia storytelling and provides guidance on how to make a successful one. Because Transmedia is new and not yet fully sculptured, it involves many elements of other types of digital media that creates much confusion about what is to consider when creating a transmedia storytelling and how to director a transmedia project. The subject is wide and cannot be covered in one research. Therefore, this research is concerning the challenges of making a transmedia project today. The method used was creating a guided transmedia project of producers’ theories and evaluate the creation process. Practically I was challenged by technology, time and budget, resulting to improvise. It was found that creating a transmedia storytelling project is not only the creation process itself but the after launching commitment, while creating a good transmedia project is only a good start. Transmedia storytelling is not the making process directly but the co-creation with participants of the transmitted story.

2014

The idea that different media can work in conjunction to transmit a story, understood as a distributed narrative, is a new one and has partly been developed as a result of the technological evolution of media. On a basic level, it has been applied in education in a similar way for a long time. However, transmedia storytelling based on digital media is a very new concept for education, particularly for formal education. An ad hoc educational application entitled The Ancestral Letter was designed and subsequently tested in a secondary school to verify the interest of this concept. The results, which must be qualified by the specific circumstances of a single experience, show significant improvements in core aspects such as motivation, engagement and the improvement of some competencies.

Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2018

Transmedia storytelling is a concept emerging in the field of communication and media. The concept was first popularized by Jenkins. He defined it as a representation of a process in which integral elements of given fiction are disseminated systematically through multiple media platforms. Even though many researchers have studied the concept, not enough studies have been done with respect to its limitations, especially in the context of the entertainment and education sectors. Therefore, this research study was meant to explore the limitations of transmedia storytelling as it relates to entertainment and education. Hence, the researcher sought to achieve two objectives: to explore the limitations of transmedia storytelling in the entertainment industry and to explore the limitations of transmedia storytelling in the education system. Qualitative research methods were preferred for this study. An exploratory research design was employed, with interpretivism adopted as the research paradigm. A purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 13 people to participate in this study. The methods of data collection included semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). The data that were collected were analyzed using a thematic approach. With regard to the entertainment industry, this study showed that the limitations included difficulties in collaboration between different media platforms, failure to take into account consumers who were not interested in more than one media platform as a source of various story elements, and inconsistencies regarding cocreation. In relation to education, the limitations included the fact that transmedia storytelling ignored the issue of cognitive maturity, ignored the credibility issues regarding various media platforms being sources of accurate academic knowledge, the slow pace at which transmedia projects are developed, and the disadvantages to learners who are neither able to access appropriate technologies nor able to use them.