Narrative forms in the Digital Classroom

This semester we launched a pilot project, Worlds of Wordcraft: Digital Narrative and Virtual Reality (http://worldsofwordcraft.wordpress.com/about), a First Year Writing Seminar at Vanderbilt University. The mission of this class is similar to that of courses taught at nearly all post-secondary educational institutions: to teach students to think critically and write effectively beyond the basic composition level. Our seminar focuses on how stories change as they cross from one media to another, from books to films to online games. We begin with The Lord of the Rings, a work at the intersection of canonical literature (Old English texts, romance conventions, religious and mythical symbolism), popular culture, and multiple media formats. Tolkien's novels have been the inspiration not only for Peter Jackson's successful films but for a vast array of games from paper-and-pencil based Dungeons and Dragons to nearly all of the early MMOs such as Ultima Online and EverQuest to the most popular current MMO, World of Warcraft. In spring 2007, Turbine released Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), the game we have chosen to represent MMOs in our study.

Juxtaposing a story in three media prompts questions about such fundamental aspects of narrative as character, point of view, and the experience of space and time, as well as more theoretical considerations such as Who is the author of an interactive work? How does the inclusion of sound, graphics, voice, text, and the ability to move around in a virtual world alter one's experience of narrative? and What is one's subject position in relation to each medium?

At the same time, the project explores the potential of social networking and other digital tools for managing course content, documenting class discussions, facilitating peer editing, and disseminating student-created knowledge. The course blends tools with which students are already familiar—Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and podcasts—with freely available productivity software—Google Documents, Microsoft Live Office, and iTunes University—to demonstrate that students are producers as well as recipients of knowledge. Leveraging college-age students' pre-existing digital competencies in the literature classroom has the potential to encourage active engagement, group participation, teacher-student interaction, and connections to real world contexts.

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