Title: Woven stories: collaboratively authoring microworlds via the Internet

Authors: Tatu Harviainen, Mikko Hassinen, Piet A.M. Kommers, Erkki Sutinen

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 26, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland. ' Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 26, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland. ' University of Twente, Faculty of Educational Science and Technology, Department of Educational Instrumentation, Postbox 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. ' Department of Computer Science, University of Joensuu, P.O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland

Abstract: Stories as microworlds provide an attractive and open environment for learning. They are easy to combine with almost any subject matter, and students can create them by their own, also in groups. Woven stories are composed of units or text passages called nodes. Thus, they can be represented visually as graphs on a display. Several authors can work on their common woven story simultaneously, by linking different plots together by joining nodes. A preliminary prototype of woven stories was implemented as a web site. Although a simple framework, it reveals the strength of stories as an educational resource and the value of a computer as a technique to enhance the learning process. Moreover, the concept of the woven stories is versatile enough to be applied in various kinds of educational settings. The prototype is available at http://www.cs.Helsinki.fi/group/stories/.

Keywords: authoring collaboration; collaborative learning; microworlds; text visualisation; folklore; internet; woven stories; educational resources.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.1999.030159

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 1999 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.328 - 340

Published online: 11 Dec 2009 *

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