Harding, Lindsey
MWF 9:10 AM
Park Hall 136
This course will investigate theories and practices, media and modes, trends and challenges of storytelling in the digital age. In addition, the class will explore the historical perspective by reading print publications that anticipate the changing landscape of communication technologies. In this course, students will encounter a variety of narrative devices, multimedia platforms, and digital tools to help them develop the rhetorical flexibility they need to author engaging stories in digital environments. By the end of the semester, students will understand the art, craft, tools, and historical precedents of digital storytelling; develop digital literacies and writing skills; and, create digital stories independently and collaboratively. Finally, students will participate in a Digital Showcase, which will enable them to share their work with a larger audience online.
Students will
What’s more:
“Najat Smeda, Eva Dakich, and Nalin Sharda conclude that digital storytelling is a meaningful approach for creating a constructivist learning environment based on novel principles of teaching and learning and has the potential to enhance student engagement and provide better educational outcomes for learners. Simply put, constructionsim provides opportunities for people to learn by making personally meaningful artifacts and sharing them with others (Smeda, Dakich, & Sharda, 2004)” (Barber, 2016, pg. 10)
This class consists of 3 modules: 1) Social Stories and Storytelling on Social Media, 2) Module 2: Longform Nonfiction and How Stories Spread, and 3) Module 3: Podcasts and the Shape of Stories. Each of these three modules have the following components:
Interact - This is your chance to read and engage with stories on digital platforms.
Investigate - In each investigation, you’ll study a particular concept related to the module’s theme. This will involve reading scholarship and participating in an online discussion.
Create - Here, you’ll develop your own digital story! This project will run throughout the semester.
Apply - This section asks you to think critically and creatively about the topics and stories we’ll be investigating.
This course is writing intensive, which means that the course will include substantial and ongoing writing assignments that a) relate clearly to course learning; b) teach the communication values of a discipline—for example, its practices of argument, evidence, credibility, and format; and c) prepare students for further writing in their academic work, in graduate school, and in professional life. The written assignments will result in a significant and diverse body of written work (the equivalent of 6000 words or 25 pages) and the instructor (and/or the teaching assistant assigned to the course) will be closely involved in student writing, providing opportunities for feedback and substantive revision.
All readings for the course will be available as PDFs or links to online material. For all of the readings, please feel free to print them out if you would like to enable note-taking strategies that might not be available for digital texts (i.e., in-text annotations, marginal comments, etc.).
Example of readings you’ll encounter -
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Free - For this course, you’ll need free accounts with the following digital tools and social media. You are welcome to create separate accounts to use for course-related activities or a pre-existing account, so long as the username, profile, and existing tweets are appropriate.
Year-long subscription - You’ll also need an account with Reclaim Hosting. This will give you a domain where you’ll be able to create and share the work you do for this class. And after the class, you’ll be able to use the domain as you wish, possibly for a personal-professional portfolio or blog.