Editorial by Ian Harper

MINNEAPOLIS: The National Education Technology Plan in the US has prescribed a wholesale technological transformation for education. Yet, adults — parents and teachers alike — often fear what’s “out there” on the Internet, whether “they” are bullies, predatory stalkers or pornography. This has made educators reluctant to embrace sharing technologies in the classroom. As a result, open environments are not in widespread use in elementary and middle school education.

Despite concerns –- and school-imposed protection measures -– many teachers are keenly interested in sharing, learning and collaborating. Of course, the kids get “technology,” even if the teachers don’t.

I believe, based on my own experience as producer of the transmedia storytelling project Inanimate Alice (which I described earlier this year on Publishing Perspectives), transmedia storytelling is the perfect bridge from conventional- to technology-based learning.

Inanimate Alice offers just one example of how technology -– and all the interconnected, interactivity that implies — can be safely and effectively incorporated into the classroom.

Of course, the key starts with having a title that people are enthusiastic about. To recap Alice is a story about a young girl growing up in the early years of the 21st century. Hers is a nomadic life. Homeschooled and traveling the world with her parents, she has no friends save for Brad, the character she has created on her computer. This story, resonating with many whose experiences it reflects, has captured the imagination of teachers in need of a stimulus for the reluctant learner and inspiration for the gifted.

In the past year, I’ve seen numerous examples of how teachers are using Alice as a jumping off point for a variety of classroom based learning experiences.

In its simplest form, it encourages the development of social media skills. Kerry McDonald, a seventh-grade teacher in Peterborough, Canada, told me she wanted her students “to know that the digital world has real world applications.” After discovering Inanimate Alice and presenting it in her classroom, she encouraged her entire class to post comments to a blog to which I responded with posts both to the blog and on Alice’s Facebook page .

Others have found the combination of visual and interactive elements perfect for learning language skills. Mayus Chavez, principal of the Jules Verne School in Mexico City, set up a literacy program for sixth and seventh graders, learning to read in both English and Spanish, using Alice as one of its core components.

That said, transmedia development is a painfully slow, and often expensive process. As such, teachers are forced consider how do to get the most out of what limited resources may be available.

Laura Fleming, a librarian and school media specialist in New Jersey, is a thought leader in using transmedia in the classroom. Laura’s methodology requires ever deeper investigation into the text, seeking meaning from short sequences and even single screenshots from the series. “What is going on here?” she asks her 11-year-olds as they focus on Alice staring out of the window of the Jeep. “What is she thinking about?” By deconstructing the episodes, a few minutes of on-screen time becomes many hours of classwork. “And they are never bored” she told me.

Dr. Gloria Latham, at the RMIT school of education in Australia explained why this works. “I think what makes Alice so special is the strong narrative that allows for deep reading, conversations that move into critical reading, prediction, a shared experience between readers who are anticipating what might happen next,” she said.

In fact, having students create their own versions and extensions of Alice have proven to be among the most rewarding and engaging of all classroom projects. Shaun Wood’s class in New Zealand has done some fantastic work with Alice and produced their own episode, which has been shortlisted for a Best Class Blog Award at the Edublog Awards.

In Argentina, students of Lucila Blazquiz have been hard at work on new stories for Alice, taking her to age 18 and up (where we as producers have yet to go) and sending her off to Amsterdam.

Schools of education are developing courses around how to use transmedia in the classroom. Jess Laccetti who runs a “teachers-in-training” program in Edmonton has included several lessons on transmedia in the classroom focusing on Alice.

Knowing this, we created “Alice’s School Report,” a magazine style channel that opens the doors for teachers to tell their stories, while providing a place to showcase the best of the creative work that the students deliver. Available on the website homepage it is a great incentive for budding digital storytellers to know that their work will be seen by many thousands via Alice’s site.

Transmedia, as Inanimate Alice demonstrates, suggests that the issues for teachers extend beyond technology and towards the medium, the content. It is high quality content, much of it interactive, that will provide the drivers for the technology. Technology without appropriate content creates a vacuum –- interactive white boards gathering dust in closets pay testament to the technology/content gap.

And change -– especially technological change -– is not always easy. Teacher Hilery Williams told us she “loathed” Alice on first meeting her. She admitted, however, that “11-year-old students who will be helping [me] to make more sense of all this transmedia stuff.”

In the case of transmedia, an old cliché often rings true: the students become the teachers and the teachers become students.

As Inanimate Alice unfolds in this era of educational transformation, we hear loud and clear that the kids get it. They are fully engaged. By pushing aside their own prejudices, teachers receptive to such developments with text can reap rewards we are only beginning to grasp.