Interactive stories are narratives where the audience actively participates, from oral storytelling to computer games. They are effective educational tools for reading and writing, with multimedia features and personalized instruction. Interactive writing and secure websites can also be used for collaborative story creation.
Simply defined interactive stories are narratives in which the audience or reader actively participates in the experience, often directing the action. This type of storytelling has taken many forms over the years, from improv activities and “choose your own ending” books to today’s sophisticated interactive computer games, educational materials, and other media. Various types of computer-based interactive stories can serve as powerful educational tools, particularly in the areas of reading and writing, and the Internet makes these materials easily accessible. Interactive media appear to increase students’ interest in developing and applying language skills.
As long as they feature active readers or audience participation, interactive stories can take many forms. It can be a simple oral format, with each member of a group contributing part of the story. This can be a structured activity with specific guidelines or as basic as one member of the group telling a story until he is ready to stop and then letting another take over the story and continue like this. It can also include impromptu types of activities where participants act out the story as they go. In a written format, interactive stories can include short stories that allow the reader to select action from prescribed scenarios, where different choices lead to distinct endings, as well as books that engage the audience through physical page manipulations such as lifting flaps, turning wheels, etc.
Computer technology has proven particularly well suited to the production and use of interactive stories. The use of animation and audio allows for the creation of a more immersive multimedia experience. Advanced programming skills lead to countless possible paths that action can take, thus making each experience unique. Many modern computer games incorporate these components to produce extraordinarily complex virtual worlds in which participants are able to direct the action while playing one of the characters and, in some cases, interact with other players in real time via the Internet.
There are many educational uses for interactive stories, where the technology isn’t limited to play. Interactive books and computer-based reading programs are valuable learning tools that engage emerging readers while providing personalized instruction and assistance. Interactive books often include features such as telling the story with audio as the student reads, helping the reader say specific words when clicked, and letting the student control the animation and select some of the actions. Interactive reading programs can provide varying levels of assistance as the student progresses. Many students find the use of interactive multimedia particularly engaging and these materials are available on a multitude of websites.
There are also useful interactive story apps for writing how-tos. Students can work collaboratively to create stories in a process called interactive writing, where each participant contributes to the story, thus helping to create a finished piece. There are a number of Internet sites where people can add to ongoing interactive stories that have participants from around the world, usually by adding a chapter to a piece after reading the existing parts. With younger students, secure websites, perhaps limited to others in the same school, can be used to avoid exposure to objectionable content written by more mature participants.
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