The Instructional Value of Storytelling

Editor's Notes

• #2: The value and power of storytelling is universal across cultures, across disciplines, and over time. Given the rapid proliferation of digital storytelling tools in the 21st century, there exists little research to guide our pedagogical applications. This session provides frameworks for effective storytelling that can enrich and ensure learning.  The value and power of storytelling is universal across cultures, across disciplines, and over time; there is evidence that preliterate cultures relied on storytelling to educate their members and that these oral retellings were exceptionally accurate. In the 20th century, telling stories in the form of entertainment is something we know and understand from our earliest memories and experiences. If our life is replayed through our stories, then it makes sense that stories used in learning experiences help us to integrate new meaning into existing schemas. Yet research in this area is fragmented and situated in a variety of fields, and is therefore difficult to understand as an instructional method. Given the rapid proliferation of digital storytelling tools in the 21st century, identifying theoretical frameworks to guide our pedagogical applications will only enhance instructional applications. This session provides frameworks for effective storytelling that can enrich and ensure learning.    
• #4: My interest in lifelong learning is situated in the segmentation of markets that require us to learn new systems, processes, ways of interacting as we go through our lifelong development process. Technology, I believe, should not draw attention to itself.My inquiry examined multiple disciplines, highlighting significant thoughts, models, strategies, and research. Much of the language reflects the original context from which it was drawn, i.e. discourse analysis, curriculum studies, adult learning, cognitive science, neuroscience, etc. It is up to the audience to make connections to their own unique and specific applications of storytelling.
• #5: The value and power of storytelling is universal across cultures (MacDonald, 1997), across disciplines (Brown & Duguid, 2000; Sanchez & Blayer, 2002) and over time; there is evidence that preliterate cultures relied on storytelling to educate their members and that these oral retellings were exceptionally accurate (Egan, 1989). In the 20th century telling stories in the form of entertainment is something we know and understand from our earliest memories and experiences - we grow up learning from stories as a form of instruction, within our families, in our religious training, and as a part of our social community. Campbell and Moyers (1988) view stories as cultural mythology that shape our view of what is real as a part of a collective consciousness as well as our individual experience – stories help to form us. Others see stories as forms of discourse that give meaning to our interactions (Barthes, 1993) - stories reveal something about us. These two perspectives are presented in this paper through the examination of stories as social tool, and stories as source of inter- and intra-personal epistemology. When considering learning, the impact of story must be considered for individual impact. Arguably, we share our own personal, social, and professional identity stories as we meet new people, and represent ourselves to the world. Arendt (1958) claimed that the meaning of action (as depicted in a narrator’s story) is made real and enduring through the documentation and re-telling of an original story. In this way, storytelling is a form of disseminating meaning across the lifespan. If our life is replayed through our stories, then it makes sense that stories used in learning experiences help us to integrate new meaning (Hopkins, 1994) into existing schemas. Yet research in this area is fragmented and situated in a variety of fields, and is therefore difficult to understand as an instructional method.
• #6: Digital storytelling is unique because it can be created by anyone, disseminated via a variety of media, and replayed and re-used. I see DS as being data of the future about the past, archeological artifacts just as grafffitee, home movies, etc have been for our past.
• #7: Connecting digital storytelling to 21st century pedagogy WITH what we know about the value of storytelling is my aim in this presentation: How does what we know that is valuable about storytelling relate to what we are doing?
• #8: Most of all , this conversation is just a small part of the community who discusses storytelling and 21st century teaching and learning.
• #9: Story today is viewed as many things – it is the instructional framework with which I am interested in and to which I speak today.
• #13: The need for storytelling in the workplace comes from the requirements of knowledge dissemination and utilization for purposes of efficiency, effectiveness, and improved performance. Whether in the workplace or in traditional education the learner is “learning to be” and therefore requires more than just content. We know we have learned if we take and pass a test, do better than others, or perform an intended outcome successfully. Given the ubiquitousness of storytelling, we can appreciate its potential impact on teaching and learning, regardless of the context. But because of the very nature of its familiarity, I am not sure that we tell and use stories in such a manner that results in learning. What is the ‘test’ of learning through a story?
• #14: As educators, our goal is to help students initially “know” then transfer that knowledge into doing.
• #15: From the foundations of learning through storytelling in formal education, the transition to storytelling in the workplace makes sense and we see evidence in many professions: archeology (Gibb, 2000), cognitive psychology (Tversky, & Marsh, 2000), counseling (Sue & Sue, 2007), dentistry (Whipp, Ferguson, Wells, & Iacopino, 2000), general medicine (Churchill, & Churchill, 1989), journalism (Hanson, 1997), marketing (Woodside, Sood, & Miller, 2008), military (Cianciolo, Prevou, Cianciolo, & Morris, 2007), and nursing (Schmidt Bunkers, 2000).
• #16: Omodei and Wearing (1995 as cited in Elliott, 2005) characterized high risk work environments as having dynamicity (unrelenting complexity that requires continual decision-making and upon which subsequent decisions reside on previous ones), uncertainty (potential for available information to be incomplete or inaccurate), and distribution of tasks (due to the situation’s complexity, multiple individuals are involved in the decision-making). Such environments are considered naturalistic and there is a vigorous field of study dedicated to examining decision making under these conditions. Stories have the potential to help explain and model decision-making in complex situations and are valued for their contributions in high-risk work environmentsSimulations ---- Role Playing – Games – Virtual Worlds
• #17: Virtual Army Experience allows prospective recruits to experience what being a soldier is all about. The Ann Myers Medical Center in Second Life. Thee-Learning Faculty of Imperial College London created a spectacular and useful Second Life tool in medical education.
• #18: These illustrate story in action where the system is based on real world conditions and the outcome is somewhat realistic – this allows the learner to acquire an understanding about the context as well as the unique situation in which they are placed.
• #19: Environments that allow interaction between users expand the impact of the story -
• #20: These 21st century tools and strategies contribute to the value of story, particularly as instructional method. By using story to trigger connections, engage the learner, and co-construct understanding, we instill and reinforce the story message.
• #21: Stories are captured and collaboratively told and recorded in a variety of ways.
• #22: As are how our personal narratives are shaped and formed through interactions with others.
• #27: Fischer (1987) articulates five criteria of narrative fidelity:Empirical evidence is implied or clearly stated. Facts and details that support large claims are crucial to acceptance.
• #28: Clearly articulated connection between the story details and the message being conveyed. Details must, in the end, have contributed to the message rather than distract.
• #29: Consequences are reasonably related to message so that listener is convinced to accept prescribed values, beliefs or actions. In a sense, the story is selling a way of thinking to the recipient.
• #30: Values espoused in story correlate to those held by the audience. Within an instructional setting, it may be challenging to present values that mirror those of the listener, particularly given new/novice learners and experienced/expert storytellers. Values are well integrated into thinking and acting and may be unconsciously transmitted in stories, particularly those stories that are just-in-time or just-in-need where taking action or learning a lesson operates at lower levels of thinking.
• #31: Transcendence of values so that they can be seen as related to the highest order; the value is shared and aspirational.
• #32: Transcendence of values so that they can be seen as related to the highest order; the value is shared and aspirational.
• #33: http://www.expertvillage.com/video/119284_chinese-dining-etiquette-the-entrance.htm
• #35: Generations of Heroes is a project that offers South Carolina educators and students a chance to document the living memories of heroes and civilians who have served the United States from World War II to today’s soldiers serving in the Global War on Terrorism.ETV’sKnowitall.org and the SC National Guard teamed up with Perry McLeod, a history teacher at Richland Northeast High School in Columbia, SC to develop the project. After two years of production and taping, Mr. McLeod’s students have produced over 30 interviews with veterans. The documentaries capture the experiences of veterans who have fought and continue to fight bravely and selflessly to save the world for future generations.On the Generations of Heroes site, students can take their place alongside the writers and producers of television documentaries and interactive media on Knowitall.org. By utilizing digital technologies, teachers and students have the opportunity to create content at a professional level.
• #36: Fidelity mirrors what learning theory informs us about instruction. It is ‘game pedagogy’ that is enduring or applicable to 21st century learners, it is STORY pedagogy.
• #38: A LEGEND focuses on an outer reality that is believable and situated in truth around a localized episode (Tangherlini, 1990). Legends typically represent a shared belief or representational experience of many people and reaffirm the values of the group to whom the story belongs. In a legend an individual is a vehicle for making a narrative point. A FABLE differs from a legend in that fables focus on an inner reality that has some possibility of outer reality (Blackham, 1985) and is related through an element of irony (Tangherlini, 1990). The individual (typically an animal character) enacts or experiences the narrative point. Fables are not necessarily situated in reality and conclude with a moral, leaving no ambiguity about the message of the story. PARABLES are fables in which the main character is human. Regardless of the veracity of the story, or the nature of the characters, folklore often utilizes archetypes as devices to personify character, situation, or behavior. Archetypes can be an effective narrative element because in an archetype, there is something that each person wants to become (Snowden, 2001).
• #40: Archetypes are powerful in that they convey something that each person wants or wants to become. In an educational setting, the learner has a goal in mind, and to be provided stories of how to get there or what it is to be there (successfully) facilitates the process of ‘becoming.’Archetypes can serve instruction in several ways: they can cue the learner to the type of message, relieve cognitive load by following a pre-ordained format, and facilitate recall. Such plots relate directly to real world situations, conditions, and challenges.
• #41: The questions posed mirror the titles of current popular literature designed to aid the employee in overcoming challenges placed before them: How to deal with difficult people (Brinkman & Kirschner, 2006), Who moved my cheese? (Johnson & Blanchard, 1998), What color is your parachute? (Bolles, 2008), and Workplace warrior (Hammer, 2000). If these themes endure, then so it is likely that the oral narratives through which they are communicated will also endure. Therefore, situating instructional stories within enduring themes potentially enhances retention, learning and transfer.
• #44: How we deliver a story may also impact its acceptance and intended outcome.
• #45: Message - The underlying messages which permeates the story itself and which does not always have to be precise. Once upon a time there were three little pigs and the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes. Before they left, their mother told them " Whatever you do , do it the best that you can because that's the way to get along in the world.Context (3) - Three anecdotes assembled in ascending sequence of impact, drawn from intended message and context which in no way reveal the message but which draw the audience into the context of the story to prepare them for the message. Elucidate the context. The first little pig built his house out of straw because it was the easiest thing to do.The second little pig built his house out of sticks. This was a little bit stronger than a straw house. The third little pig built his house out of bricksMessage (3) - Three anecdotes assembled in ascending sequence of impact, which deliver the message through successive revelation without revealing the message itself. Big Bad Wolf visits each pigTurning Point - The story turns, a clear incident signals to the audience that the story is moving from context to message. Wolf cannot blow down brick housReverse/Resolve- An old story trick, the message is thrown into sharp relief when the resolution appears to be achieved but is suddenly cast into doubt before being restored. This reminds the audience of the core message. But the wolf was a sly old wolf and he climbed up on the roof to look for a way into the brick house.Slogan – A simple phrase such as “social context, social obligation” which is easily memorised. “The way to get along in the world is to do things as well as you can."Context - Storyteller creates a relationship with the audience and sets up the message without revealing it.
• #46: Most commonly, stories are structured from a teleological framework; however, in popular culture we see variations, such as the never-ending story best personified in soap operas where the end is not in sight and the beginning may be long forgotten by the viewer (Leitch, 1986). Histrionic story in which discourse rather than plot is paramount,Ironic story that is full of asides to the central plot and overcomes it, and theDigressive story in which frequent plot interruptions focus attention on subplots, making the central plot superfluous. Consider the script of a standup comedian and you can envision the styles embodied in these variations.Leitch suggests a polytrophic principle that structures a story as a roller coaster ride – it is thrilling, full of unexpected events, and allows for no control or input from the listener and to whom the storyteller is unresponsive.
• #47: http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/outreach/k12out/pdf/language06/Jennifer.mov
• #48: Convergent– the storyteller provides one condoned point of view as a consolidation of multiple possible truths into one. Divergent - open-ended stories that can involve multiple perspectives and meanings that can be open to interpretation. Inclusive – brings together the listeners into a shared point of view or consensus.Critical – divides listeners into opposing positions
• #49: Descriptive stories that have low color and low need fulfillment can offer much useful detailed information for the learner/employee; however, the lack of color indicates missing structural elements that detract from impact. O’Neill believes that this can cause doubt or stress because the importance of story is understated. When only the details are provided without elaboration, humor, or any sense of larger impact then a need is not being fulfilled and the story will not be retold.iClicker – which type of story is most impactual?
• #50: http://wordcircuits.com/clues/
• #51: Heuristic - involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heuristic).Algorithm - “… a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/algorithm).
• #52: AlgorithmSocratic Method deals mostly in epistemology (what an individual knows that separates him/her from knowing and how we acquire knowledge) and ontological (what is real independent of my own experience: the nature and structure of the world) questions
• #54: Strum (1998) identifies factors of storytelling under which listeners are more likely to enter an altered (and engaged) state: “storytelling style; activation of listener’s memories; sense of comfort or safety; story content; storyteller’s ability and involvement; and listener’s expectations” (p. vi). Laski (1961) identified ‘triggers’ for altered states of conscious that include EMOTIONAL STIMULATION of story, connection to PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES or memories, conveyance of a WORLD VIEW or PERPSPECTIVE to which the listener adheres, closely replicates a DREAM or FANTASY, includes INFORMATION THAT IS ILLOGICAL, requires listener to FILL IN DETAILS, stimulates visuals, and touches on the mysteries of life that are not easily understood. Stallings (1988) found that emotive ability, pacing, gestures and facial expressions, eye contact, and emotional tone can also add missing information and contribute to the listeners altered state. PREPARATION FOR FUTURE LEARNING
• #55: See http://digitalstory.osu.edu/movies/dassler-f.html
• #56: Dudukovic, Marsh, and Tversky (2004) found that when a listener is prompted to be prepared for re-telling (for either accuracy or entertainment) prior to hearing a story, he or she is more likely to recall and retell the story in a manner that supports the intended outcome. When asked to retell for accuracy, listeners are less descriptive but more factually accurate, although they rate stories as less entertaining. Those retelling for accuracy are more hesitant in their retelling, reflecting an intention to ‘get it right’ when recalling details and include more accurate details than do the entertainment stories. When asked to retell for entertainment, those re-telling stories use more descriptive and emotional language; stories are more highly entertaining when present tense is used and there is less hesitation in the storytelling. Entertainment stories are, overall, less accurate and include a higher degree of exaggeration. Such evidence suggests that learners should be prepared for future learning (PFL) in order to increase achievement when learning for understanding rather than for rote recall (Schwartz, Bransford, & Sears, 2005).
• #62: 1 Pre-structural: here students are simply acquiring bits of unconnected information, which have no organization and make no sense.2 Unistructural: simple and obvious connections are made, but their significance is not grasped.3 Multistructural: a number of connections may be made, but the meta-connections between them are missed, as is their significance for the whole.4 Relational level: the student is now able to appreciate the significance of the parts in relation to the whole.5 At the extended abstract level, the student is making connections not only within the given subject area, but also beyond it, able to generalise and transfer the principles and ideas underlying the specific instance
• #64: Remembering, recalling, and recollecting are all facets of active listening and situated reflection, and all are grounded in neurological functions throughout the brain (Cozolino, 2002; Rubin & Greenberg, 2003). Seigel (1999) says that narratives provide an opportunity for cross-neural transfer; the more that learning involves different functions of the brain, the more likely the learner is to remember, recall, and utilize the knowledge learned.
• #65: Remembering, recalling, and recollecting are all facets of active listening and situated reflection, and all are grounded in neurological functions throughout the brain (Cozolino, 2002; Rubin & Greenberg, 2003). Seigel (1999) says that narratives provide an opportunity for cross-neural transfer; the more that learning involves different functions of the brain, the more likely the learner is to remember, recall, and utilize the knowledge learned.
• #72: MIT as a dynamic museum whose “exhibits” will be constructed collaboratively — not just by museum curators and other experts but also by the entire MIT community. A rich repository of digital information and stories (indexed by location, time and thematically) will make possible a truly “Infinite Corridor,” meaning almost limitless ways to explore and understand the Institute — past, present and future. The real goal, however, is a system that any institution can use.What if you could walk around MIT and hold its history in your hand?The MIT Museum Without Walls project is inspired by the idea of in situ exploration, meaning that one would use a mobile device while actually on the campus but it will also be as powerful on a desktop computer halfway around the world.
• #73: Storytelling also supports critical reflection (Brookfield, 1995). Brookfield (1987, 1991, 1995) sees critical reflection enacted through three “interrelated processes:”  The process by which adults question and then replace or reframe an assumption that, up to that point, has been uncritically accepted as representing commonsense wisdom, The process through which adults take alternative perspective on previously taken for granted ideas, actions, forms of reasoning and ideologies, and The process by which adults come to recognize the hegemonic aspects of dominant cultural values and to understand how self-evident renderings of the ‘natural’ state of the world actually bolsters the power and self-interest of unrepresentative minorities (p. 376). For the learner, stories have the potential to trigger deeper learning and self-reflection and the awareness that can improve receptiveness to new learning, provide confidence regarding progress, and assist in putting personal knowledge in perspective within the organization.
• #74: Storytelling also supports critical reflection (Brookfield, 1995). Brookfield (1987, 1991, 1995) sees critical reflection enacted through three “interrelated processes:”  The process by which adults question and then replace or reframe an assumption that, up to that point, has been uncritically accepted as representing commonsense wisdom, The process through which adults take alternative perspective on previously taken for granted ideas, actions, forms of reasoning and ideologies, and The process by which adults come to recognize the hegemonic aspects of dominant cultural values and to understand how self-evident renderings of the ‘natural’ state of the world actually bolsters the power and self-interest of unrepresentative minorities (p. 376). For the learner, stories have the potential to trigger deeper learning and self-reflection and the awareness that can improve receptiveness to new learning, provide confidence regarding progress, and assist in putting personal knowledge in perspective within the organization.
• #75: The greater an individual’s connections and understanding of the workplace, the greater is his or her wisdom. Processing information results in non-declarative knowledge requiring lower levels of thinking; patterns and principles require increasingly higher orders of thinking such as analysis and evaluation. The more an individual knows, the more others respect, seek out, and trust his or her judgments, increasing status. There is evidence that social ranking is related to fidelity and to whom the learner is more likely to believe. Stories for instructional purposes tend to work toward non-declarative knowledge, from a position of wisdom or expertise. It may be that the focus of a story told in the workplace indicates the expertise, status, or knowledge of the storyteller in their professional identity within the institution (Holmes, 2005) and the acknowledgement of that identity by others, superseding the content of the intended message. Stories told for status recognition are less likely to result in learning by the listener. Curci and Bellelli (2004) examined secondary emotion sharing through storytelling that occurs when listeners hear an emotion-laden narrative and subsequently respond emotionally. This type of response has been associated with relationship formation (Christophe & Rime, 1997 as cited in Curci & Bellelli, 2004) and social networks (Christophe, Di Giacomo, & Amatulli, 2001 as cited in Curci & Bellelli, 2004).
• #78: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4