‘StoriesAbout... Assessment’: supporting reflection in art and design higher education through on-line storytelling

Storytelling has long been part of a child’s educational development, however, its use as a learning tool in higher education has not been fully explored and offers great potential in supporting the learning process. This paper proposes the use of storytelling as a reflective tool in higher education and investigates this by considering its use in art and design to support reflection about assessment. An interactive learning environment, ‘StoriesAbout... Assessment’ has been developed to mediate the on-line narratives and some emerging themes from the current pilot study are discussed. 1. The changing nature of storytelling Storytelling commonly conjures up images of groups of children sitting cross legged on the floor being told fictional stories by their teacher. However, the ‘traditional’ role of storytelling is diversifying and its value is increasingly being recognised and used in many areas to support both fictional and factual stories. Organisations are increasingly seeing the value of storytelling as a knowledge management tool which can increase their leverage as a learning organisation (Gabriel, 2000). They have recognised the importance of organisational knowledge and the role that storytelling can play in capturing an organisation’s valuable tacit knowledge (Sole & Wilson, 2003). Computers have opened up many more possibilities for using storytelling in engaging and constructive ways. Telling fictional stories, a traditional remit of storytelling, has been enhanced by bringing computers into the storytelling arena to improve childrens’ writing skills through giving advice on their storywriting skills (Robertson & WiemerHastings, 2002). Digital storytelling is a new medium for the collective voice of communities who have often found themselves disadvantaged and silenced. At times, students in higher education may also feel that they too belong to a community with no voice and no power. Storytelling has long been used to build a sense of community and widespread access to computers and the globalisation of the Internet has led these communities to embrace this new medium (Freidus & Hlubinka, 2002). It is these three key aspects of storytelling: its educational aspect, its ability to capture knowledge, especially tacit knowledge, and its role in building a sense of community that are at the heart of the research described here. This paper has two main aims: to propose a further direction which storytelling can take, that of a reflective tool in higher education and this will be discussed in the context of art and design education; and to report some emerging themes from a pilot study currently underway as part of the author’s on-going PhD research.