ESRC seminar series
Seminar 2: Narrative
3 February 2004, Coventry
This second seminar in the series considered questions including: how is narrative taken into account in the design process and at what stages? What are the reference points for narrative that are drawn on either by designers and/or by children? Are there problems sustaining narrative in an interactive medium?
Outcomes
Dr Lydia Plowman, University of Stirling
This was the second of four seminars looking at the relationship between educational research and the design of interactive media for education. The first one took a general look at the area, examining some of the barriers to integrating research in the design process and making some recommendations on how these barriers could be overcome.
This second seminar was on the theme of narrative. The first presentation outlined some issues relating to narrative in the design of interactive media including balancing authorial or designer interest in controlling the navigational path of users to ensure a clear narrative, against the freedom afforded by the medium for users to construct their own paths. This leads to issues around how to balance exploration with the need for structure within a narrative framework and how to incorporate task activities and educational content whilst maintaining narrative.
Prompted by the presentations, discussion groups made up of representatives from different sectors of education, government, media and industry considered a number of related topics:
How is narrative taken into account in the design process and at what stages?
- What are the reference points for narrative that are drawn on either by designers and/or by children?
- Is there a tension between the educational content to be conveyed and the narrative?
- To what extent does narrative provide motivation or enjoyment? Could it be seen as a distraction?
- Are there problems sustaining narrative in an interactive medium?
- How do designers design multilinear narratives or allow for user input?
- Is it possible to use learning objects within a narrative framework?
One group discussed why there were no examples of narrative in mathematics or science in the presentations (apart from Astroversity, but that had an equal focus on developing collaborative skills) and why the examples given seemed to focus on open tasks: Tableaux/MediaStage and the primary video project are both open tools and the narrative is generated by the student. This was picked up later in discussing whether technology adds to narrative. One of the most popular events at the first NESTA Ignite workshop was a storyteller. The participants - including 14 year-old boys - were entranced despite the absence of technology.
The group debated whether there should be reflection incorporated into a narrative. Should you be made to realise that you have been learning mathematics? Would this make it easier to transfer to other environments or would this detract from the narrative? If you broke out of the Runner game to do the extra exercises would that prevent flow and break the engagement? There can be conflict if the learning is labelled. Is the point of providing a narrative to enable explicit learning of what the designer or educator expects? Is sparking interest to continue investigating, like the question of what is blood-letting in the Roman murder, a sufficient outcome? Or is the am0bient learning, like knowing Romans believed the body consisted of four elements, better?
There is a risk that an over-complex narrative detracts from learning. To compensate we believe that any tool (textbook, software, TV programme) needs to be developed iteratively and with all stakeholders.
Another group considered issues of control and identified three levels: no control, in which predefined functions prevent the learner from taking control of the narrative; medium control, in which learners can interact with the narrative; and high control, in which learners can participate in the narrative. Participation entails more than simply choosing a path through some materials but having an active role in transforming the narrative.
A recurring issue from the previous seminar was considered: that of no shared language between academics, designers, teachers and developers. This can mean that the purpose of given resources is not shared and that there is tension between a curriculum-focused narrative (a tendency for academics) and an audience-focused narrative (a tendency for media designers and developers) in terms of purpose.
Prompted by one of the presentations, several groups considered the role of violent content and the ways in which it can be used to appeal to particular user groups. Does an educational goal justify elements of violence in a narrative for learning? Is there a tension between making violence a reward (such as gaining points or moving on a level if the user kills or hurts opponents), or do educational materials unnecessarily sanitise interactive resources for some groups? Are there alternatives to violent content as a hook to gain the interest of disaffected students or young adult males?
Groups considered the future of narrative and whether adults need to realise that narrative cultures are changing. Adults may impose their own understandings of narrative on children and use structures which close down their thinking. Children may relate to and understand narrative in a more sophisticated way since adults largely understand linear, rather than multilinear, narrative. Shared authorship may be the link between narrative and learning.
Another group tried to isolate some of the components of narrative that engage learners. It was agreed that a quality necessary for engagement with narrative was that of identification with characters or a situation (an example was given from a mine disaster
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