The Civic Storytelling project helps teachers empower their students to conduct and present research important to their communities.

 

Engaged Educators

Our partners include educators at Dryden High School, Ithaca City School District, Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Education Services (TST-BOCES), The History Center in Tompkins County, and the Rural Schools Association of New York. Cornell design teams helped students and teachers integrate transmedia knowledge into project-based learning that combines research and media-making—from writing to comics to pop-up exhibitions to research documentaries.

Dryden High School

At Dryden High School, we worked with Elizabeth Rechtin’s Documentary Film class, where students researched topics of exercise and well-being, local water pollution, and the tradition of college preparation.

The History Center of Tompkins County

Two Cornell teams accompanied the Dryden students to The History Center of Tompkins County. Julia Taylor, the Director of Youth Education (above), led a storyboarding exercise using the Center’s archives and gave us a tour of the new exhibition and gallery spaces.

Ithaca City School District

Zach Lind, ICSD Chief Information Officer, invited us to work with local teachers on course redesign to integrate transmedia knowledge into project-based learning. Three other Cornell design teams worked with students at Ithaca High School. Guided by teachers Sten Anderson, Margaux Deverin, Colleen Kremmelbein, and Sarah Ostrom, we worked with English students in literature circles and with their multi-genre research papers. Margaux’s students selected research topics and produces infographics about them.

Ithaca High School

After working with Cornell design teams, Colleen Kremmelbein’s students Alice Burke, Anna Cummings, Eden Lewis, and Emile Rebillard researched and composed essays and PechaKucha presentations on issues of testosterone levels in female athletes, the marketing of caffeinated products to students, mental health support in schools, and the question of group work.

Alice Burke, IHS	Anna Cummings, IHS	Eden Lewis, IHS	Emile Rebillard, IHS

Course Redesign

Cornell teams used design thinking to plan and reflect on their in-class support of local students whose teachers were integrating transmedia assignments into course redesigns guided by principles of project-based learning. These principles include authenticity of topic, student initiative, sustained research, and public presentation of work. Below, Jon McKenzie gives a workshop in Colleen Kremmelbein’s class.

TST-BOCES and RSA-NY

With an eye on the scaleability and sustainability of Civic Storytelling, we also learned about regional and statewide needs and resources. We met and presented work with Sunshine Miller, TST-BOCES Coordinator of Cooperative Enrichment, Mary Kay Welgoss, TST-BOCES Coordinator of School Library System, and Gretchen Rymarchyk, Deputy Director, Rural Schools Association of New York State. This work included 5 sets of reports and 25 instructional videos on civic storytelling and transmedia knowledge.

UX Design Frame

Strategic Sparkline

CAT Design Frame

Sparkline

Media Cascades

OK, Zoomers!

Our partner collaborations were interrupted by COVID in March. Cornell and the public schools closed for weeks and reopened at different times for distance learning. The crisis brought media, equity, and accessibility issues to the foreground, and our design challenge shifted to integrating transmedia knowledge into virtual and sharable learning. The Cornell teams created short Make Media! videos on different media genres and design frames, resources that can shared with teachers and students statewide—and around the world.

Next Steps

The Spring 2020 ENGL 3741 class is the first of many planned courses to develop resources and support for Civic Storytelling projects both locally and statewide over the next several years. The long-term goal is to work with ICSB, BOCES, RSA-NY, and other partners to encourage community-engaged collaborations that integrate transmedia knowledge into project-based learning in both campus and remote environments.

Dryden