Title: Tips & Resources
Course: FLO MicroCourse: Teach With Stories OER

November 2019

This is a collection of resources for participants in the FLO MicroCourse: Teach With Stories.

If you come across other useful articles, tips, and tools you would like to share, please add them to the Open Forum and we will update this resource page.

DO THIS FIRST

Start by watching the video below for an introduction to the core course concepts. (Here's a rough transcript for your reference).

https://youtu.be/Jv-2vbbdMmg

Articles

Interestingly, most books and guides on using story to teach refers to work with children. Here are a few resources that are specific to adult learning.

- Teaching that Sticks
- Storytelling — the Best-Kept Secret in Online Employee Training — 3 Ways to Use its Power
- What Makes Storytelling So Effective for Learning
- Telling Stories: How Leaders Can Influence, Teach, and Inspire
- The Power of Storytelling as a Teaching Tool
- Narrative Theory and Adult Learning: A Review of the Literature
- What Are Narrative Podcasts? Why Use Them in eLearning?
- Using Storytelling Strategies to Improve Student Comprehension in Online Classes
- Telling Stories, hearing stories: The value to mid-wifery students

Denise Withers' articles in SSIR on story design in general.
- Cut to the Chase: How Stories Engage
- Using Story to Solve Social Problems
- Stories as Data: Are You Ignoring Your Richest Intel?

Books

- Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
- Story Smart: Using the Science of Story to Persuade, Influence, Inspire, and Teach
- Story Design: The Creative Way to Innovate (by Denise Withers)

Videos

November 20, 2019 Course Q&A with Denise Withers

tinymce-kalturamedia-embed||Teach with Stories Q&A [33:39]||658||602

Teaching through stories

Teaching through stories

Five ways to teach with real stories

Five ways to teach with real stories

Empowering students through storytelling

Empowering students through storytelling

Using tales to teach science (France)

Using tales to teach science (France)

Kurt Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories

Kurt Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories

Nancy Duarte uncovers common structure of greatest communicators

The Danger of a Single Story

Websites

- Denise Withers Story Design
- StoryCorps

Tools

Here are a few tools you can use to help you design engaging and effective stories.
- Story Specs™ Story Structure
- Story Design (Problem-solving Process)
- Story Canvas™ (Story planning / problem-solving map)

Tips

- Follow the Problem, Quest, Resolution structure. Remember that the learning happens in the gap, where the hero has to overcome an obstacle. So make sure your story has obstacles!
- Send students on a Quest - to answer a Question.
- Make SURE your stories are engaging by making them Simple, Unpredictable, Relevant and Extraordinary.
- Try sketching your story out as a storyboard or storymap to see the flow.
- If you're designing a story, cut absolutely everything that isn't essential to move the story forward.