New multimodal text
June 11, 2017 11:19 PM Subscribe
Is there a better Inanimate Alice? Can you help us find one?
We've been using Inanimate Alice for YEARS now as the first text in our Year 7 curriculum. However, there are some issues and I'd like to find a new text as an option when we look at running the unit again.
The assessment is to get the students to tell their own story, using something like keynote, to create a multi-modal narrative in an approximate style.
It's crucial that the new text be super obvious to analyse as we introduce them to the idea of analysis, and the idea of creatively responding to a text.
Things I like about Inanimate Alice:
- female protagonist
- appropriate content for 11-13 year olds
- first person narration
- super easy to unpack the narrative (orientation, complication, climax, resolution)
- multimodal text
- international
- free
- consistent across episodes
Things I don't like about Inanimate Alice
-it's too long- we have been doing the first three episodes only.
-it's flash based, which means it doesn't work on iPads, which is the device the students have.
-it's a bit dated.
So, I'd love to find an alternative that keeps the positives (multimodal, female, clear narrative, age appropriate) and loses the negatives (will be modern, work on a range of devices, easy to get through quickly.)
Solutions we've tried:
We've tried that app that translates flash to HTML5 - the issue is that this then helps them skirt our filter.
I tried contacting InanimateAlice to get them to update their browser versions to be iPad friendly, however they have taken the project in a direction that isn't compatible with our needs. (If we could have browser based episodes 1-3 that work on iPads, I wouldn't be asking this question.)
What we do is screen the episodes on the smart board using the PC, and get the students to take turns 'driving' but this isn't great. Ideally, they can 'drive' the narrative themselves.
We use twinery in Year 8 to make 'choose your own adventure game', so would prefer not to introduce twinery in Year 7.
Bonus points- is there a free app we can use to get the students to create their own narratives that is better than keynote?
We've been using Inanimate Alice for YEARS now as the first text in our Year 7 curriculum. However, there are some issues and I'd like to find a new text as an option when we look at running the unit again.
The assessment is to get the students to tell their own story, using something like keynote, to create a multi-modal narrative in an approximate style.
It's crucial that the new text be super obvious to analyse as we introduce them to the idea of analysis, and the idea of creatively responding to a text.
Things I like about Inanimate Alice:
- female protagonist
- appropriate content for 11-13 year olds
- first person narration
- super easy to unpack the narrative (orientation, complication, climax, resolution)
- multimodal text
- international
- free
- consistent across episodes
Things I don't like about Inanimate Alice
-it's too long- we have been doing the first three episodes only.
-it's flash based, which means it doesn't work on iPads, which is the device the students have.
-it's a bit dated.
So, I'd love to find an alternative that keeps the positives (multimodal, female, clear narrative, age appropriate) and loses the negatives (will be modern, work on a range of devices, easy to get through quickly.)
Solutions we've tried:
We've tried that app that translates flash to HTML5 - the issue is that this then helps them skirt our filter.
I tried contacting InanimateAlice to get them to update their browser versions to be iPad friendly, however they have taken the project in a direction that isn't compatible with our needs. (If we could have browser based episodes 1-3 that work on iPads, I wouldn't be asking this question.)
What we do is screen the episodes on the smart board using the PC, and get the students to take turns 'driving' but this isn't great. Ideally, they can 'drive' the narrative themselves.
We use twinery in Year 8 to make 'choose your own adventure game', so would prefer not to introduce twinery in Year 7.
Bonus points- is there a free app we can use to get the students to create their own narratives that is better than keynote?
Take a look at Kari Krause's ARG DUST project. Not sure where it's at right now but I saw a presentation about it last year at a conference and it looks great.
posted by media_itoku at 12:26 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by media_itoku at 12:26 PM on June 12, 2017
And, although they have a stronger background in poetics, the Electronic Literature Organization is a great resource.
posted by media_itoku at 12:28 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by media_itoku at 12:28 PM on June 12, 2017
Looks like DUST might be defunct, or need some correspondence with the authors to see what's up, but Krause is working on this one now, a kind of Ada Lovelace ghost story: The Tessera.
posted by media_itoku at 12:48 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by media_itoku at 12:48 PM on June 12, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by freethefeet at 11:22 PM on June 11, 2017