Living the Stories We Create: Preparing Students for the Digital Age

132 Pages·2018·1.81 MB·English

by  Ellen McCabe

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN EDUCATION
Ellen McCabe
Living the Stories
We Create
Preparing Students
for the Digital Age
123
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Ellen McCabe
Living the Stories We Create
Preparing Students for the Digital Age
Ellen McCabe
Huston School of Film & Digital Media
National University of Ireland, Galway
Galway, Ireland
ISSN 2211-1921 ISSN 2211-193X (electronic)
SpringerBriefs in Education
ISBN 978-3-319-95797-5 ISBN 978-3-319-95798-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95798-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949116
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018
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For Brian and Christopher
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and
Social Studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway, for supporting the
completion of this book.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 World Making and Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Macbeth and the Leaving Certificate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4 The Otherness of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5 Invention and Intervention: Reimagining Educational Paradigms . . 71
6 The Digital Storytelling Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
ix
Chapter 1
Introduction
“Narrative is present in every age, in every place, in every society; it begins with the very
history of mankind and there nowhere is nor has been a people without narrative.” (Barthes
& Heath, 2009, p. 79)
A constant referent for creativity and imagination, narrative pervades and moulds
the cultural consciousness of humanity (Barthes & Heath, 2009). Both ancient and
universal, it possesses the power to structure perceived experience, to organise
memory, to segment and purpose-build the very events of life (Bruner, 2004).
Through our stories we acquire a sense not only of our environment but of our iden-
tity. Yet narratives are not fixed, they are continually informed by and subsequently
respond to the cultural context. External factors such as language, place and medium
are intrinsic to this process. As Marshall McLuhan noted media are not passive
channels, but significant in the way they shape the stories that can be told, where
they are told as well as who can tell them (qtd. in Carr, 2008). In light of this, how
have our forms of self-telling adapted to the recent shift from a society dominated
by print to one where digital media prevails? How have the inevitable changes in
perception, cognition and notions of identity influenced our engagement with narra-
tive? How have these informed contemporary expectations of storytelling? As such
what are the consequences of this change for learning?
In the wake of such transition this research will seek to address a perceived disjunc-
ture between a culture permeated by the ambiguity of digital media and education sys-
tems characterised by the standardisation and the values of print. This apparent
dichotomy invites numerous questions with regard to the appropriateness of such a sys-
tem in preparing students to become active participants in society as well as to realise the
extent of their own potential. What are the implications of this for students’ engagement
with their learning material and its potential meaning beyond formal learning contexts?
How does it inform students’ educational experience and thus their perceptions of learn-
ing? How does this problem manifest and as such how can it be responded to? This
research will thus explore the potential role of digital media in reimagining formal learn-
ing contexts to reflect contemporary perceptions and expectations of narrative.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 1
E. McCabe, Living the Stories We Create, SpringerBriefs in Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95798-2_1
2 1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.1.1 Narrative, Media and Society
For constructivists such as Jerome Bruner, stories represent the only real method for
describing and interpreting life as it is lived (2004). Thus in a very real sense we
create the world around us and subsequently seek to imitate the image we have
made. This inherently creative process of exploration, comprehension and self-
telling is by its nature heavily informed by cultural, linguistic, social and a variety
of other contributory factors and is as such intrinsically unstable (Bruner, 2004).
Considering this what are the implications of the ever increasing ubiquity of tech-
nology for storytelling? What new stories have emerged from this shift? How do
such stories in turn shape our perception of ourselves and our environment?
The theorist Donna Haraway offers a compelling and prophetic insight into the
relationship between the growth of technology and evolving social constructions in
her essay The Cyborg Manifesto. Neither living nor dead and yet both, for Haraway
the cyborg represents a blurring of traditional boundaries enabled by the proclivity
of technology (2010). With remarkable foresight she states, “Our machines are sur-
prisingly lively, while we ourselves are frighteningly inert” (2010, p. 456). She
describes a pervasive ambiguity prevailed by the manner in which human and
machine inform one another, frequently challenging the distinction of creator and
created (2010). For Haraway this ambiguity represents a welcome departure from
rigid yet contrived social categories. As such, she encourages, “Pleasure in the con-
fusion of boundaries” (2010, p. 455). Yet this dissolution of structures so deeply
embedded in the cultural context invites further questions with regard to the rela-
tionship between media and social construction, hence the possible implications of
such a shift for narrative and learning.
In pre-literate cultures stories fulfilled an invaluable role in the preservation of
knowledge and identity. The evanescence of sound necessitated that ideas and even
entire cultures were sustained through memory. Storytelling was a vital tool in this
regard, ensuring cohesion and structure for millennia (Egan, 1989). The advent of
print informed this role profoundly. While manuscripts presented numerous chal-
lenges such as the uniqueness of the hand and utilisation of many varied abbrevia-
tions, printed books were both portable and easily deciphered, enabling rapid silent
reading. Thus while prior to its invention writing chiefly functioned as an aid to oral
discourse, print secured words more resolutely in the world of the visual than ever
before. The implications for social interaction and notions of personal privacy were
significant, establishing a new concept of individualism (Ong, 2013).
The advent of print can therefore be understood as highly significant in regard
to societal structures and interactions, as well as the role of stories therein. The
influence of this shift can also be observed in the form of stories themselves. The
preservation of knowledge necessitated a precise and descriptive narrative style.
Such stories were heavily driven by cause and effect action, exemplified in
Aristotelian poetics. However with the growth of print these characteristics were