Last semester I fulfilled a life-long ambition. I began to teach a course in Digital Narratives.
Having fallen in love with writing Interactive Fiction at the age of eight, playing “Adventure” at a University Open Day, it was not even on my career ambition list, it was so far removed from what I thought people would pay me money to do.
When I went to university myself to study for a computing degree, games were played in the computer labs, but were not written (apart from attempt to write the shortest code to create the Game of Life as an assignment), and we concentrating on compiling code, and understanding the hardware. Evenings were spent in the uni bar playing space invaders and the original Mario, and weekends inventing my own pseudo-medieval world for midnight live-action role-playing sessions, but work was work. Even my parents — both academics and teachers — called it “playing silly buggers”. As a career ambition, it was never even on my radar.
So flash-forward to last semester, and my first Digital Narratives class. I was, by now, very excited to teach it. Here’s some of the things I learnt:
- Enthusiasm is a double-edged sword, on the one hand it brings energy, life and the possibility to discuss shared experience to the classroom. On the other, for those who are new to the subject it can come across as a little overwhelming, and perhaps off-putting for those people who don’t get the references yet. Enthusiasm is great in small doses — be specific with it when teaching your topic.
- Always start at the beginning. Walk others through your journey, in this case mapped beside the journey of the development of interactive fiction. Students respond well to your personal take on a subject. Why am I teaching this? What was relevant and relatable* for me- as that is how they will relate and find relevance too.
- Pick your sources. Don’t try and teach everything. I know this one is obvious. Still as an enthusiast you want everyone to “get” it, yet less is more. To edit down to the best, the most illustrative, and at the start — the most enjoyable examples is crucial. In the classroom we can only ever open doors, the students have to choose to step through them, and find their own path.
- Stay consciously competent. Remember what it was like to learn something for the first time. Here’s a quick reminder of the model:
It has been a thrill to find some fellow IF enthusiasts, and to introduce others to a different take on story-telling. By tempering enthusiasm with method and scaffolding, carefully curating well-chosen resources, and not overwhelming, I hope to convert many more.
*yep, I know.
