to Inspire and Improve Writing for Digital Media Assignments
Using Narrative Structures to Inspire and Improve Writing for Digital Media Assignments
Summary
This resource offers examples for the general format of several narrative structures, illustrative examples, and learning application strategies. Narrative is one of the most consistently used elements of digital media assignments within higher education.
Background
In the 2010/2011 academic year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Engage Program offered a Digital Media Assignment (DMA) Award, which encouraged faculty to integrate digital media assignments into their curricula. These assignments enable student-demonstrated learning of course content through the creation of digital projects. As consultations with faculty progressed, campus learning technology consultants observed that stories were a common element across several assignments. Whether students created short video documentaries, first person narratives, online magazines, or enhanced podcasts, storytelling was present in the assignment.
The omnipresence of story across digital media assignments suggests storytelling is an implicitly required student communication skill and are central to cognitive methods of meaning-making. During the DMA award process, we observed little direct pedagogical support given to students for the creation of compelling stories. Faculty concurred. Based on input from faculty and learning technology support staff, we implemented this narrative structures website. We invite readers to consider and experiment with these structures to encourage student mastery of storytelling skills.
Establishing a Narrative Framework
Effective stories are essentially a sequence of events that engage audiences with emotion and meaning. Narrative structures demonstrate popular patterns of storytelling that have held up over time. These structures can serve as frames of reference (not formulas!) to help writers achieve coherence and re-conceptualize their work. Using narrative structures as guides help to feed one's creative imagination. They allow writers and producers to sift through a wide variety of information and identify relevant components that strengthen messages and engage audiences.
Digital Media Assignments using narratives encourage the achievement of learning goals, as students contextualize content, reflect on experiences, connect concepts, conduct research, facilitate problem-solving, and build meaningful relationships through collaboration. For instance, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, two courses (Psychology & Human Ecology) included a digital storytelling student assignment as the final class assignment. End of semester assignment evaluations showed that 98% of the students who responded to the evaluation said the assignment helped to increase their understanding of course concepts, and 100% said the digital assignment inspired them to write. You can view student and faculty produced digital stories at https://academictech.doit.wisc.edu/ideas/digitalstorytelling.
Many narrative structures contain distinguishing features and yet share some of the same stages. Different narrative structures may work well for the same projects but not all structures work for every project. Choosing a useful structure involves considerations of intended audience, message, style, tone, and learning goals.