Program Design

Narrative Learning Program Design

Will Cooper, Alex Davis, Tina Gee, Joshua Robinson and Danielle Wheat

Ball State University

Wargowsky, L. (2018). #METOO.

 Table 1. Summary of individual roles and comments

Group Member	Roles	Commented on
Will Cooper	Format final document, outline document, contribute to Rationale, Introduction and Reflection, edit each section, summarize data to create and format tables.	Group 4
Alex Davis	Lead on writing for Reflection section, provide sources for other sections, edit final document including references section.
Tina Gee	Lead on writing for Rationale section, provide sources and input for other sections, contribute to introduction and reflection.	Group 4 - Feminist Pedagogy
Joshua Robinson	Lead design and writing for Program section, provide sources for Rationale section, contribute to introduction and reflection.	Group 4
Danielle Wheat	Lead writing Introduction section, provide sources for other sections, contribute to rationale.	Group 4

                      

Introduction

Adult Education is a broad field that offers many forms of learning. Some of these forms include narrative, experiential, embodied, transformational, and more. The purpose of this program is to bring our learners, adult educators, to a level of understanding the importance of narratives in adult education. The objectives of this program is to use the many forms of narratives to allow adult learners to express themselve. Narratives also allow for these learners to understand themselves as not only learners, but individuals in general. Through different avenues such as journals and visual art, we can provide the opportunity to enhance the adult education experience for everyone involved. 

Rationale

Our group is interested in narrative learning. We are going to use the main ideas of narrative learning to frame our program design. Narrative learning occurs through the process of hearing and receiving narratives, telling and acting within narratives, or recognizing and conceptualizing narratives. Our program will incorporate the idea of telling and acting within narratives. Narrative learning occurs through different forms, including story telling, storying the curriculum, and autobiographies. Our program will also incorporate the idea of using autobiographies as a form of narrative, which can not only be used within a wide range of contents and disciplines, but also to express and understand oneself.

Ideas from the Literature

            Narrative learning, in its simplest terms, is learning through stories. As children, stories are told to us. As we age, we tell stories to others, and eventually recognize stories that are part of our culture and society. Our program is formed around the idea that our participants are creating and telling stories; “the learner is the actor, rather than the receiver” (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 65).  Clark (2010) explains this idea, stating “when we tell, we are the actor, the one putting all the details together and making the experience coherent for ourselves and for others” (p. 6). Playing the role of the actor, students are much more likely to be engrossed in the learning, as they are directly telling stories for their application of knowledge. 

            While narratives can present themselves in several forms, our program uses the form of autobiographies. Autobiographical writing can include journaling, blogging, therapy, dream logs, tapes, and videos, and involve storying the events of one’s life, educational/professional experiences, or transformative events. As a result, the autobiography is one of the most personal components of narrative learning. Blogs can be used as an online diary, but can also be used as a place to collaborate with others, as is the case for the blogs used in this course. Travel journals can be used to reminisce on past trips, but can also be used as references for others who are planning similar vacations. While diaries and journals may be used to record personal thoughts and experiences, serving as educational tools for the individual, over time they could transform into educational tools for others. One of the more famous examples of this is The Diary of Anne Frank. Kerka (2000) said “journal writing accentuates unfavorable learning conditions-it demands time and space for reflection, encourages independent thought and ownership, enables expression of feelings, and provides a place to work with ill-structured problems” (as cited in Merriam et al., 2007, p. 212). Autobiographical writing isn’t just journaling about the weather or what day-to-day activities occur in life. Instead, Merriam et al. (2007) state that it involves finding and reflecting on larger meanings and patterns to learning something we didn’t know before (p. 213). Our program is created around the use of autobiographical writing to help participants learn something new about themselves.

            While reading autobiographies written by others can teach us about the past, creating and recording our own biographies can teach us about ourselves - the overall goal of our program. To achieve the goal of learning about oneself, Clark and Rossiter (2008) suggest creating autobiographical learning portfolios, which allow participants “to tell the story of their own learning...reflect on what they’ve learned…[and] to understand themselves as lifelong learners” (p. 68). Creating and reflecting upon these portfolios can be a gateway to applying knowledge to every facet of our participants’ lives, from past to present to future. Regardless of the method of recording (journals, blogs, videos, etc.), research suggests that writing about yourself or to yourself results in a number of positive outcomes (Merriam et al., 2007). By writing about personal thoughts, feelings, and ideas we can begin to visualize our thinking and make it more tangible; it “becomes an object of reflection that enables [us] to examine [our] own learning process” (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 67). Researchers believe journaling and the use of other narratives help to explore and construct one’s view of the the world and the self, and enhances self-empowerment.( Liuoliene & Metiuniene, 2009)

Ideas from the Practical Program

            In order to know how to apply these ideas in our program design, our group researched two programs: Creative Wings Journaling Warriors and 30-Day Digital Journaling Challenge. These programs used the assumptions of narrative learning to design their programs, by having learners tell their own story by creating different variations of autobiographies to express themselves, and reflect upon their lives, in hopes to learn more about themselves. 

Creative Wings Art Shoppe, located in Lockport, Illinois, offers an art journaling class, Journaling Warriors, every other Monday night. During class, warriors are provided with prompts, images, quotes, paints, stamps, and other supplies to use to create 1-3 pages in their personal journal. Leanne Wargowsky, owner and operator of Creative Wings, described art journaling as “a form of a visual diary where the artist can record thoughts and memories through images, art and words.” These pages are created within, or added to, a personal journal that each warrior brings with them to class. At the end of each class, warriors are welcomed to share their new pages, and discuss how they relate to their days, lives, emotions, or even their previous pages. While some warriors use class time to work on their own ideas, others choose to participate by following prompts provided by Leanne. 

“We have honestly done hundreds of journaling pages since we have been open. Many are light hearted and inspiring in nature, since I strongly believe in putting out positive into the world. But sometimes our journaling becomes more serious and helps work through some deep stuff” (L. Wargowsky, personal communication, March 10, 2020). 

Some of these deeper topics included “What would you tell your younger self?” and “Rise Above.” 

Another prompt was in response to the #metoo movement. During this class, participants were encouraged to record, in word, their personal experiences with being “victimized, taken advantage of, or harassed.” Once everyone had their thoughts written down, those words were used as part of the background within the layout of a visual interpretation. “This was probably one of our most powerful classes that we ever had in our shoppe” (L. Wargowsky, personal communication, March 10, 2020).

 

Wargowsky, L. (2018). What would you tell your younger self.

Wargowsky, L. (2018). Rise above.

One of the ideas we decided to incorporate from this program was having easy access to past work created in the program. It’s important that participants are allowed to reflect on their work, both literally and figuratively, whenever they feel drawn to do so. Some participants may need longer to think about what they have created, before they are able to reflect on how it has or does affect them. 

The 30-Day Digital Journaling Challenge, described by Adams, Ohren, and Hundson (2015) and launched in October 2014, is a free, public, online event created by Nathan Ohren. Those participating in the challenge were encouraged to journal digitally rather than analog. To encourage this idea, a daily e-newsletter was delivered to the participants, which contained not only the writing prompt for the day, but also tips, techniques, resources, and tools to promote digital journaling. In addition to the daily communication between the program and the participant, participants were encouraged to communicate with one another through a Facebook group, to give and receive support and feedback throughout the challenge. The support and feedback ranged from reminders and encouragement to participate each day to comments and critiques about specific journal entries and reflections about the process as a whole. 

One idea we decided to incorporate from this program is the use of groups. Having participants discuss their experience with others encourages reflection and critique, one of the main components of learning through narratives.  Participants can communicate their thoughts and feelings during the journaling process, share their experiences during the process, and reflect on how the process has changed their views of themselves.  Using each other as a support system can encourage growth, and constructive criticism provided by individuals in the same situation can lead to deeper connections and understanding.

After researching both of these programs, our group decided to incorporate the idea that autobiographies can take several forms, including penned, typed, painted, etc. By allowing individuals to participate through several different mediums, there are no limits imposed to stifle creativity and hinder learning. Kathy Lohr (2018) highlights this importance by saying that in the process of narrative learning, memory and imagination must fuse together. .

Another idea our group decided to incorporate is the use of prompts. Providing prompts to our participants allows us to direct the goals of our program. Without prompts, the entries of our participants could vary widely, and may not align with the desired outcomes of our program. As noted by Adams et al. (2015), some of the prompts provided in the challenge included questions about being lost, figuratively or literally, as a child or an adult and if participants felt if they were a leader, a follower, or a loner. Given the goal of our program is to use narratives to express and understand oneself, we could include these prompts, or similar prompts for our participants. 

Program

Our program, scheduled after finals, presents an opportunity for adult learners and educators to destress from the semester and shift focus from their studies to themselves. Although geared towards Ball State University students, faculty, and staff, the all-day workshop will be open to the public at Maring-Hunt Library.

The multi-media and multi-modal workshop will explore the ways that storytelling, journaling, and autobiographies can enhance learning in traditional and nontraditional educational settings. Prompts and group interaction will play major roles in the facilitation of the program. Video coverage will be a vital aspect of the program, making the one-time event always accessible for participants and allowing them to fully engage in the experience. Personal journals, materials for activities, and online resources will also be provided for program participants. After a brief introduction that provides content for participants and explains the schedule of the workshop, the activities will commence. 

Activity One: Storytime!

     The first activity will serve as an ice breaker and a brief narrative exercise that many learners are already familiar with: aural storytelling. Building off the timeliness of finals, program participants will be prompted to introduce themselves and tell what was the biggest challenge that they experienced during the weeks of finals this year. By sharing their unique perspectives, each participant will practice telling stories, becoming an actor of their narrative. When listening to other program participants, the activity will make learners more comfortable with actively hearing and receiving narratives. 

Activity Two: Journaling Session #1 (Documenting)

     Next, participants will put their brand new personal journals to use and recap what happened during the first activity. The purpose of this journaling session will be solely to document their experience from their point of view. Participants will be prompted to use 1-2 pages in their journal to summarize their experience, specifically chronicling the story that they shared along with 2-3 stories shared by other program participants. 

Activity Three: Creating a Visual Autobiography

     The third activity is the epicenter of the workshop. Program participants will create an autobiography in the form of a collage to represent the most meaningful narratives of their lives. This activity will position participants to recognize and conceptualize their stories as well as create and tell their stories in an engaging way. In the interest of time and scope, the activity’s prompt will dictate that participants, using materials and equipment provided, will choose 3-5 takeaways from their personal journey within the past 3 years and represent them in an 8.5 inch x 11 inch collage. They will be able to be as creative as they like with the resources provided, and they will be prompted to write a quick explanation of their collage on an index card, in order for other program participants to understand its meaning.

Activity Four: Journaling Session #2 (Transforming)

     After finishing their visual autobiographies, facilitators will scan and take pictures of their work for future digital access, and participants will return to their journals to write about the previous activity. This session will focus on the transformative potential of journaling and critically exploring one’s story. Instead of regurgitating what narratives they incorporated into their autobiographical collage, participants will be prompted to analyze how revisiting those narratives made them feel and reflecting on what the activity taught them about themselves. In similar fashion to the first journaling session, participants will use 1-2 pages in their distributed personal journals.

Activity Five: Group Gallery Walks

     Next, participants will be divided into groups to explore the creations of other participants in an interactive, organized, and meaningful way. While the groups are being divided, program facilitators will ensure that the autobiographical collages are situated around the room for a proper gallery walk. Groups will be prompted to leave 1-3 sentences of feedback on an index card at each collage, focusing on anything from how the creator conveyed their story to what emotions the collage made viewers feel.

Activity Six: Journaling Session #3 (Educating) 

     Once each participant receives feedback from each group, participants will part ways with their groups for a final journaling session. This journaling session is geared around the educational benefits of journaling, and participants will be prompted to use 1-2 pages in their personal journal to brainstorm how the last activity as well as the activities throughout the entire workshop can be applied to traditional educational settings.

Activity Seven: Wrap-Up Discussion & Questions

     After the conclusion of the activities, the program facilitators will lead participants in a discussion about the significance of each exercise as well as the skills and themes explored throughout the workshop, such as the various purposes of journaling, the multi-modal nature of storytelling, and the importance of autobiographical learning. After the discussion concludes, there will be an opportunity for questions from program participants. The participants will have plenty of space in their personal journeys to use in the future, and they will be encouraged to use it in their personal, professional, and educational lives. Participants will be able to take their collages home with them as well, and digital footage and images of the entire program will be readily made accessible to them.

Reflection

This project focuses heavily on journaling, but is unique in that it engages in multiple forms of journaling, not simply writing.  While both a written and visual journal are beneficial in their own rite, the interplay between these two mediums is where this program truly shines.  Additionally, this program engages what could be considered a third medium, that being electronic journaling. Capturing visual works and archiving them for other uses allows learners to engage in journaling online or in other electronic forms that would add additional benefit to the narrative learning process. 

Our group started by meeting electronically so we could review the work each completed in the literature review assignment.  It was very beneficial to engage in this discussion right away, while the ideas and research were both fresh in our minds.  The group then determined several themes within the literature that we would focus on for this project.  Next it was decided that we wanted to focus on a journaling project for our program design, as it was one of the most consistent themes in each of our literature reviews.  We then outlined how the project would proceed, and volunteered for different aspects of the assignment.  Using a variety of online platforms allowed our group to remain in communication throughout the project, and complete the assignment concurrently.    

Table 2. Summary of the literature review

Main Themes/Ideas from the Literature	Application of the Main Ideas in Practice
Storytelling is the active form of narrative, and can take many forms, including verbal, written, or artistic.  It allows learners to examine, create, and engage with narratives. Storytelling allows self-expression, critical meaning-making, and creative participation in their own learning.  Stories can be archived and be an active form of sharing individual or collective experience	Practitioners can incorporate storytelling into existing curriculum, or build new learning opportunities around this idea.  Stories allow students to learn from one another, or through the perspective of a visiting storyteller students can more fully understand a given experience or subject.  In-person stories, video stories, visual stories, or musical stories are all examples of how practitioners can apply these ideas in practice.
Autobiography is narrative about the individual self, and often takes the form of journals, blogs, logs or other archival formats which allow the information to be accessed at a later date.  They are transformative events which can be powerful tools for analysis and meaning-making.	These can be viewed by practitioners as more focused and personal stories, and can be used to ‘story’ the curriculum with a specific subject.  Practitioners can also encourage learners to practice autobiography in a variety of narrative forms, including aural, written, or visual.  Practitioners should use autobiography to help learners make meaning of their own, or another’s experience.
Narrative is the overarching premise which uses stories to foster learning through hearing, telling, and recognizing narratives. Narrative learning can be a very transformative learning experience, as it is closely related to embodied and spiritual learning.	Practitioners can use tools such as journaling to create a learning environment that is shaped by narrative.  Other forms of narrative learning, such as storytelling and autobiography can grow from this method, but it can also be used to simply allow learners to respond to what they are learning, and examine how it applies to themselves.

Table 3. Summary of Program Design

	Rationale	Purpose/ Objective of the Design	Learning Environment (setting)	Activities (mode)	Methods/Tools/ Strategies (media)
1	Storytime: Learners can express thought and learn through telling and hearing stories	Introduce students to the idea of storytelling, and processing experience through story.	Group setting, community space at the library	Individual storytelling (voice only), active listening	Icebreaker prompt (react to recent shared experience), no preparation necessary
2	Documenting: Learners can gain a deeper or unique  understand of an individual or shared experience through journaling	Introduce journaling as a way to process and learn from individual and shared experiences	Individual setting at library, following writing prompt	Individual journal entries based on individual and others’ stories during first experience	Writing prompt (re-live aural storytelling experience), initial journal entry using new journal (provided)
3	Visual Journal: Learners can express thought and learn through telling stories with different mediums	To introduce multimedia journaling formats	Individual setting at library, following instructions from facilitator	Creation of a 8.5 inch by 11 inch collage, and short writing exercise	Specific materials given for collage, prompt, and index card for short written explanation
4	Transforming: examining one’s work or story can lead to a transformational experience	To examine the potential of critically exploring one’s story, through analysis and reflection	Individual setting at library, following writing prompt	Individual journal entries based on visual representations of their own experience	Writing prompt (reflection and analysis of one’s story), for second journal entry
5	Gallery Walk: Learners can gain a deeper or unique  perspective through another’s individual experience	To explore what emotions or thoughts the work or others’ stories evoke in the individual	Group setting, community space at the library	Individual responses to others’ collage pieces	Curated gallery space coordinated by the facilitator, index cards for responses
6	Educating: Story and journaling can be applied in other educational settings	To explore the educational benefits of journaling	Individual setting at library, following writing prompt	Individual journal entries based on their experience in the class, and application	Writing prompt (reflection on benefits of story), for third journal entry
7	Wrap-up: Learners can express thought and learn by aurally processing shared experience	To allow students to process the journaling experience, and learn from one another’s perspective	Group setting, community space at the library	Group discussion and presentation by facilitator	All materials from the class, and discussion prompts from the facilitator

  

References

Adams, K., Ohren, N., & Hudson, B. (2015) The 30-day digital journaling challenge: A report for
          helping professionals. Center for Journal Therapy. DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.13445.70886

Clark, M., Rossiter, M., & Clark, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New Directions for
          Adult and Continuing Education, 2008(119), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.306

Clark, M. (2010). Narrative learning: Its contours and its possibilities. New Directions for Adult and
          Continuing Education, 2010(126), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.367

Kerka, S. (2000). Journal writing as an adult learning tool. ERIC Digest No. 174 Columbus, OH:
          ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. (ERIC Document
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Liuoliene, A. & Metiūnienė, R. (2009). Students’ learning through reflective journaling. Coactivity:
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Lohr, K. D. (2018). Tapping autobiographical narratives to illuminate resilience: A transformative
          learning tool for adult educators. Educational Gerontology, 44(2-3), 163–170. doi:
          10.1080/03601277.2018.1432529

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A
          comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.