Final Paper

The Student Journey:

Mapping the Emotional Rollercoaster

Fielding Graduate University

Colleen M. Cleveland

Abstract

Student journeys are stories in the making. Their trials and tribulations are put into a digital narrative as they go through a University system. We find that these journeys need to be mapped in order to know the way into future “episodes” in order to be aware of the accomplishments and challenges that they meet along the way.  We will look at self-narrative in the digital age and how good organization will connect students to creating an increasingly engaging story.

In the book, The Language of Film, the authors introduce the subject of filmmaking to the reader, stating, “Leaving a story to play itself out in front of the camera is wasteful of time, and will almost always result in something as awkward, slow, drab, and stagey.  The camera is not responsible for the pictures on the screen – you are”  (Edgar-Hunt, Marland & Rawie, 2010).  Great storytelling in film and video doesn’t happen by accident.  It’s designed.  As we look at the collegiate journey, a time-honored tale of intellectual and mental growth, we will discuss how students will design their own self-narrative.

What makes a story?

According to Kendall Haven, defining a story is not as simple as it sounds.  Process is not necessarily story.  A story may have a beginning, middle, and end.  A story most likely tells something that happened.  Alas, the scientific definition is, to tell the truth, vague.  But, as Haven delves deeper into his research, he comes to the conclusion that “stories are centered around characters, structured around achieving goals, and encountering obstacles leading to those goals” (Haven, 2007, pg.80). 

As a professor, when we first meet a student, I ask students simply, what are their hopes and dreams and how the program can help them achieve these aspirations.    In some instances, this question can befuddle the student, as if an alien had just dropped from the sky.  It is not that students do not have hopes and dreams, but they haven’t considered a successful pathway in order to obtain those goals. 

Throughout a student’s academic journey, they are required to create a form of digital media that tell the story of their milestones and what do they have to look forward to in the future.  How they do this, is through a self-narrative of their lives as they go through each class.  It helps them gather themselves and their experiences and through digital video they attempt to articulate what they have learned in order to put these new skills in the forefront of their thoughts, rather than surrendering them to the ether.  By articulating it, they must construct a story that involves them in the passage of time overcoming the obstacles that we put before them.

As I mentioned, part of the student journey in our design program is for each student to create a reflection video.  Initially, this was a trial and error on the part of the professors as well as the students.  In the beginning, the rubric was vague and so was the idea of each student reflecting on what they had learned. Without a story map, the students carved paths every which way, outside of the expectations of the professor, and yet, each professor had a different idea as to what the reflection video was to result in. This did not bode well when trying to quantify what the self-narrative was supposed to entail.

The story map, or Ohler’s Visual Portrait of a Story, became the diagram in which a student could use in order to weave the tapestry of the story of their academic journey.  (Ohler. 2013, pg. 274

FIGURE 1: Visual Portrait of a Story

(Ohler, (2001) adapted from Dillingham, B. (2001)

The Story Map succinctly lays out the pathway for the students.  The student will begin at the beginning.  There is, then, a learning curve where students must acclimate themselves to the situation of learning and finding out what is expected of them.  It is about this time that students find conflict and growth.  Sometimes, this is within the classroom and other times, this is outside of the classroom.  Occasionally, these can be external conflicts and many times, from this instructor’s perspective, it can be an internal conflict.  For example, a recent student was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  His challenge was not in the work itself.  His Transformation and conflict resided in his mental state.  His solution was in working through his issue, and though, the symptoms were still ongoing by the end of the program, he completed the challenge of being able to learn when the odds were against him.

 Similarly, a female student was dealing with both anxiety and an upcoming divorce.  Her story led her to taking time off from the program, then coming back in order to finish it.  Others affected her story. As instructors, we are there to reach out and bring her back into the program, quell her anxiety about the assignments, listen to her and encourage her to continue on, despite bleak circumstances.

Beginnings are fresh, new, and exciting. They are the “call for adventure” (Ohler, 2013).  This is where the adrenaline rush into the unknown begins.  Students continue on into the elevated learning curve to understand what is expected from them.  The problem soon surfaces.  Perhaps it is anxiety about the assignment or difficulties at home.    There is a concurrent theme, however. The student timeline for each month differs in demand and in deliverables.  The reflection video becomes a digital record of how the student thinks and feels as he or she explains their month-long term.  Having them explain as to how they felt during the month is both therapeutic for the student and informative for the professor.  Most importantly, creating a story in a language that both the student and instructor understand.

Additionally, Haven mentions that “readers and listeners more readily comprehend and retain key narrative information and concepts when presented in story form” (Haven, 2007, pg. 91).  By sharing these reflection videos, the students are listening for confirmation of, not only the content of their story, but also, the emotional state as well. 

As Don Polkinghorne wrote in his book, Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences, “Human identities are considered to be evolving constructions; they emerge out of our continual social interactions in the course of life” (1988).  He goes on to say that “self-narratives have particular historical terms in which to be told and in a particular language” (Polkinghorne, 1988).  Reflection videos are the outlets that project what students feel in this time about their academic journey.  It allows their peers to commiserate with them, and it allows them to evolve in a language of the designers we help them strive to become.  More often than not, the easier path in navigating this road is to plan the travel. 

Conclusion

There is ebb and flow in life as there is in story. Self-narrative leads to our students being comfortable with who they are.  They are given the opportunity to put themselves out there as a brand amongst the peers they will network as they go out together into the industry.  The next step is to take their narrative to the professional level where they will have a chance to explain their skills to an interviewer or create their own viral marketing materials.  As one of many instructors, we helped organize the map.  Now, It’s their turn to create the future.

References

Edgar-Hunt, R., Marland, J., & Rawie, S. (2010). The language of film. Switzerland: AVA Publishing SA.

Haven, K. (2007). Story proof: The science behind the startling power of story. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Ohler, J. (2013). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning and creativity. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Polkinghorne, D. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.