"Whenever we create a new communications technology, we try new ways of telling stories with it," writes Bryan Alexander, calling this one of his "long-running contentions." Telling 'stories' seems to have a privileged position in education. But why? Let me contrast Alexander's assertion with another: "Whenever we create a new communications technology, we sometimes organize the contents in a linear fashion." This too seems to be a good description of what's happening, but without the connotations of calling linear content 'stories'. So what's the difference? Stories are overtly representational, based on (what may be) a consistent and coherent world view, consisting of a 'narrative' that we would (ideally) be able to render in words and sentences (which is why we can't just have the images, but also text summarizing them). If all this is in some way the essence of education, then I think that instead of waxing nostalgic over it, we would better be prepared for it to change.
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