Transmedia storytelling is defined by Henry Jenkins as stories that unfold across multiple media platforms, with each medium making distinctive contributions to our understanding of the world, a more integrated approach to franchise development than models based on urtext and ancillary products (p. 334).
For years I've watched my 9 year old grandson collect Pokemon characters, trading cards, apparel, books, watch Pokemon cartoons, and play the game on his Nintendo. He and his cousin share what they learn with each other to be able to move to various levels. He reads manuals and searches the internet for clues on how to play the game. They are learning and sharing information to reach a destination.
Yet when they go to school they are not allowed to work together to solve problems, to explore ways to gather information, to have fun learning. How can we as educators start integrating transmedia storytelling in our classrooms?
Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture. New York: New York University Press.
Google Image Retrieved October 4, 2009 from http://images.google.com/images?hl=EN&source=hp&q=pokemon&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10
It's Henry Jenkins, not Howard Jenkins – but aside from that, you're right on the money. I gave a talk at the Descolagem event in Brazil earlier this summer called "Transmedia Tales to Teach" that sketched out a model for how to use each component of a transmedia story not just as a rabbit hole into the story but into opportunities for learning as well. The core idea was to figure out which students most enjoy animations, which enjoy movies, which enjoy comics, and so on - and then assign those students the corresponding chapters in the transmedia franchise. The key is that they not only have to report on what happened, but also how those chapters functioned as examples of that media type; given the chance to drill even further down, the students could/should report on the creative industries surrounding those media types. What's the history of video games? How do Western cartoons compare aesthetically to Japanese cartoons? What is the difference between manga and comics from DC or Marvel?
ReplyDeleteThat's how I was looking at it, in any case - there's bound to be a number of white papers examining this very topic appearing in the next couple of years!