This dissertation presents the essence of the experience of instructional designers and instructors who have used alternate reality games (ARGs) and transmedia storytelling (TS) for teaching and learning. The use of game-like narratives, such as ARGs and TS, is slowly increasing. However, we know little about the lived experiences of those who have implemented such transmedia experiences in formal or informal learning. The data consists of written transcripts from interviews with 11 co-researchers in the United States and Europe. Phenomenology was the guiding methodology. The study begins by reviewing storytelling and the use of games in learning, leading up to exploring the tradition of using ARGs and TS in learning contexts. The analysis was one of reduction leading to codes, summary stories, themes, and the essence of the experience. Co-researchers used many techniques to enlighten their learners including problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, encouragement, disruption, and connection-making. When successful, connection-making facilitates learner agency development by providing learners with the power to act by their own initiative. Action came through the communicated narratives and games that closely tied to real-world problems. In the context of these efforts, this study's co-researchers emerged as educational life-world learning-coaches, "sensei", who were each using strategies and techniques to move students toward meaningful real-world learning and the ability to make a difference in the world. The dissertation closes by exploring implications of this study for instructional designers and instructors interested in using alternate reality games and transmedia storytelling for teaching and learning purposes.

Magister Educationis - MEd / Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature. In this study, I seek to explore the potential that digital storytelling has in the teaching of undergraduate academic writing skills. I will focus on first year students' academic writing skills, how they are taught currently and how technology in the form of digital storytelling can help first year students improve their academic writing skills. The theoretical framework for the study is largely based on the New Literacies Studies which is championed by members of the New London Group such as Street and Street (1984) Lea and Street (2006) among others. The theoretical framework will draw on the notion of literacy as social practice rather than a set of reading and writing skills which explains why educators need to find new ways of teaching academic writing skills. I use semiotics and multimodality as a foundational concept for using digital storytelling in academic writing. That is because semiotics and multimodality further support the idea that literacy goes beyond words but that audio and visual elements are also part of learning and can help engage students in their academic work. The main aim of this proposed research is to explore both students and lecturer practices of digital literacies in the teaching and learning of academic writing at The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). I propose the following research objectives: (i.) elucidate current academic writing scaffolding in academic modules; (ii.) draw on the use of digital storytelling in a first-year undergraduate course; (iii.) shed light on lecturers and students’ perceptions of the ways digital storytelling impacts on first-year academic writing; (iv.) highlight the implications of infusing multimodality into academic writing in this context; and (v.) explore the ways first-year students’ take on new writing practices and how these new practices are facilitated by the ii lecturer. I plan to use a qualitative research method to achieve my set objectives. I have opted to conduct action research, as both participant and researcher. The qualitative research method allows me to use the following research tools: document analysis; questionnaires and interviews. I analyse 15 student essays in order to elucidate current academic writing scaffolding in academic modules. These essays are divided into three categories: high performance; average performance; and low performance. Then questionnaires are distributed to students through a Google Forms link. Of the 40 student participants; 32 students filled in the questionnaires. The interviews were conducted with three lecturers across two departments at CPUT. These interviews, together with questionnaires that the students filled in served to address the following objectives: draw on the use of digital storytelling in a first-year undergraduate course; shed light on lecturers and students’ perceptions of the ways digital storytelling impacts on first-year academic writing; highlight the implications of infusing multimodality into academic writing in this context; and explore the ways first-year students’ take on new writing practices and how these new practices are facilitated by the lecturer. All the ethical considerations were adhered to for my research. I categorized my findings according to the research questions that I posed in the study. There were three research questions which serve as the three main themes of my data analysis. However, during the process of analyzing the data, a fourth theme emerged. The first finding indicates that academic writing scaffolding in academic writing modules is adequate for students who have essays in the high-performance category. However, it is inadequate especially for students who wrote essays in the low performance categories as they could not meet the demands of academic writing. The second finding indicates that students are able to use digital storytelling to help them with various aspects of academic writing. They are able to improve language and grammar; the structure of their writing, that is, the introduction, body and conclusion. The third finding illustrates that lecturers also feel that there are academic writing benefits to when using digital storytelling. Even though that may be, the use of technology for the medium of digital storytelling proved to be somewhat difficult. That is mostly because students did not have access to various technology such as internet connection or even equipment to complete the digital stories unproblematically. Then the fourth finding emerged during lecturer interviews, that is, fees must fall protests and the impact it had on the traditional university structure across. Fees must fall protests led to disruptions in academia because one key aspect they highlight is the need for decolonisation of the curriculum The use of digital storytelling then not only addressed the student academic writing challenges that are highlighted by this study, but also speak to decolonisation of the curriculum because it is an innovative way for students to engage with the demands of academic writing. The conclusion of my thesis is that as useful as digital storytelling is in academic writing; those who wish to use it as a teaching tool need to be well versed with technology as it can have challenges if not used adequately. The most pertinent of the factors revealed is that there is a need for innovative ways to teach the 21st century student.

Doctor Educationis / Writing is an important skill throughout learners’ schooling trajectory because it is through writing that learners need to situate meaning and sense-making across the curriculum. Writing proficiency becomes even more important when learners access tertiary studies. Yet studies suggest that most students struggle with academic writing. Various authors suggest that writing has not been taught appropriately especially in secondary schooling contexts in South Africa and that writing becomes even more daunting for Second Language speakers of English when they reach tertiary education. There is abundant literature on students’ challenges with academic writing and ways to address academic writing challenges but the use of digital storytelling in relation to academic writing development is recent and distinctively underexplored in the literature.

This study aims to define the area that fall in-between predetermined and emergent narratives and pitches the term of “co-authorial narrative” to describe it. Co-authorial narratives are defined by their design of splitting the responsibility of authorship between the developer and the player. The purpose of the study is to prove this concept, with the overall goal of broadening the understanding of emergent narrative.

In the past decades a lot of research has been dedicated to widening the understanding of different media audiences, as well as to determining the motivations behind both, creation of user-generated content (UGC) as well as audience behavior. This thesis seeks to broaden this knowledge by studying vloggers and their interaction with their audiences. Instead of asking the audience members: In what ways are the vloggers an influence on you, this thesis asks: “Can the audience be a source of inspiration and influence for vloggers? The thesis aims also at recognizing typicality’s in vloggers audio-visual content as well as strategical approaches for audience engagement. Approach in order to find answers to the set questions is critical yet humanistic. Empirical research is divided in two parts, of which the first is done by qualitative content analysis and the second part by semi-structured interviews. The aim of this multimethod approach is to get a broad yet deep view on this commercial, and contemporary storytelling form. Appadurai’s five scape- theory is used as the theoretical framework, and the research findings as well as conclusions are also viewed through other recent studies from media and communications field.

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In this study, I attempted to understand how a history of literacy in the U.S. continues to shape the ways in which Latino/a/e/x students learn in English classrooms today. Through the work of scholars such as Gloria Anzaldúa and Ofelia Garcia and with authors such as Richard Rodriguez, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Lorna Dee Cervantes, I have come to believe that Latino/a/e/x students often experience years of an education system that views literacy so narrowly that it can silence languages that do not fit the perceived academic language of standard English. To understand what an expanded view of literacy could possibly look like in this study, I turned to scholars including The New London Group (1996), Cary Jewitt (2017), and Gunther Kress (2017) who study multimodality, as well as other researchers who examine digital literacies, particularly digital storytelling, in both formal and informal spaces. I did this in an effort to understand how multimodality and narrative might impact my Latino/a/e/x students’ learning and creative processes in the classroom. In this study, I wanted to learn what happens when the notion of literacy is expanded in my classroom and my Latino/a/e/x college students incorporate digital literacies to create their own digital stories in our English composition class. More specifically, I wanted to have a clearer understanding of the processes students experience as they embark on their digital storytelling journey. What I have learned throughout this journey is that digital storytelling does, indeed, offer another lens through which to view Latino/a/e/x students in my English composition classroom and their work and that perhaps it is time to see how digital storytelling might fit into the larger field of English education.

Uno de los aspectos más valiosos en la persona es el lenguaje, ya que es un ser social que necesita relacionarse con otros. El siguiente trabajo de finde grado tuvo como objetivo potenciar el lenguaje oral en los niños de 5 años mediante el programa Storytelling digital. La metodología utilizada fue de enfoque cuantitativo tipo básica – propositiva, no experimental. Para este fin, se recogió la información empleando la Prueba de Lenguaje Oral Navarra Revisada también conocida como PLON-R, que permitió evaluar las dimensiones del lenguaje oral las cuales fueron: forma, contenido y uso, dicho instrumento fue aplicado a la población conformada por 21 niños. Para procesar la información obtenida se hizo uso del programa Excel, teniendo como resultado que el 48% de los evaluados se encontraba en el nivel “retraso”, mientras que el 52 % de los niños se encuentra en el nivel “necesita mejorar”. De esta manera, se deduce que los infantes en edad preescolar necesitan que se empleen nuevas metodológicas innovadoras que estimulen y potencien su lenguaje oral sus tres dimensiones. / One of the most valuable aspects in the person is language, since it is a social being that needs to relate to others. The following end-of-grade work aimed to enhance oral language in 5 year old children from a public educational institution in Chiclayo through the digital Storytelling program. The methodology used was a basic type quantitative approach - propositional, not experimental. For this purpose, the information was collected using the Revised Navarra Oral Language Test, also known as PLON-R, which allowed evaluating the dimensions of oral language which were: form, content and use, this instrument was applied to the population made up of 21 children. To process the information obtained, the Excel program was used, with the result that 48% of those evaluated were at the "delay" level, while 52% of the children were at the "needs to improve" level. In this way, it follows that preschool children need to use new innovative methodologies that stimulate and enhance their oral language in its three dimensions.

The aim of this study is to reveal how LBD adheres to postmodern tenets while also being ultimately suspicious of these principles. This suspicion of postmodern principles is reflected in the interaction between the main subject of the videos, Lizzie Bennet, and the audience. This examination invokes the questions of when, where, and how the audience experiences LBD. This illuminates the manner in which LBD functions as a postmodern literary text and how this text is critical of its digital composition. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The aim of this multi-disciplinary research was to explore the power of digital, interactive or participatory storytelling to influence human behaviour in the context of public health. It addressed three related questions: RQ1: Does digital storytelling have the power to influence human behaviour? RQ2: If digital storytelling can influence human behaviour then how might it do so? RQ3: Is a ‘digital storytelling framework’ feasible as an approach to behaviour change? Four linked qualitative studies were conducted: a scoping review, in-depth interviews with 11 international ‘digital storytellers’, two case studies of ‘digital storytelling designed to influence human behaviour’ and six focus groups with 35 adolescent ‘digital story participants’. The research found that: RA1: Digital storytelling appears to influence human behaviour. RA2: Digital storytelling appears to influence by engaging at ever deepening emotional and non-conscious levels. Commerce appears to understand and embrace this power: But public health appears to rely on traditional uni-directional, non-participatory message led approaches and appeals to cognition. This presents threats and opportunities to public health. RA3: The proposed ‘digital storytelling framework’ is feasible and desirable as a behaviour change paradigm. The thesis concludes that Digital Storytelling appears to influence human behaviour. It appears to derive its power to influence by facilitating unprecedented depths of emotional engagement potentially en route to behaviour change. The current imbalance in how commerce and public health corral the power of digital storytelling suggests that the latter might embrace its potential; and tougher regulation might constrain how the former uses it to market harmful products. The proposed digital storytelling framework makes a valuable creative, analytical and critical contribution to both of these ends. Its core principles have informed the design of numerous story-led digital health interventions; and they now sit at the core of a counter-marketing campaign to reduce harmful effects of marketing on children’s health.