Session 3 Storytelling and Communications (October 2022 C Cohort)

Textbook Success Program October 2022 C Cohort
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Hi[ @oct22-c-cohort ), thanks for the great session today! I hope the beginning of our session was helpful to you all for how to navigate the Rebus Community forum. If you need any more assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out! Below you’ll find the key links to our session, along with a session recap, chat transcript, and the recommended task checklist.

Key Links:

Slide Deck: Storytelling and Communications 1

Handout: Storytelling and Communications

Storytelling & Communications Template 1

Chat transcript

Recap:
Session 3: Storytelling and Communication focused on continuing the scoping work from last week and we returned to look more closely at those parts that relate to the storytelling in your OER, namely the motivators, the audience, and the course materials.

Storytelling allows you to situate your role in the work, describe the story of your project, both within your team, but also more broadly as you market your OER. We used a template [link above] to guide your teams in the process of creating your project storywork plan. We also emphasised acknowledging and validating different types of knowledge and expertise — and how you all play an integral part in this work by reflecting on the content of your OER (approach, vision for the discipline, knowledge, research, text, media, contributors, students, pedagogy).

Thinking deeply about the storywork you want to do as content creators and team support members, may sound like a lot of effort, but we know from experience with past cohorts how well those efforts play out in the longer term. Having a clear understanding of the storywork for your resource - both its purpose and content - is critical throughout the publishing process to ensure you create an equitably and culturally sustainable resource.

Recommended Task Checklist:

[] I know why and how to use storytelling as part of our OER project.
I have listened to the individual motivators of my team and understand the expertise they bring to this work.

[] In our teams, we have discussed specific aspects of storytelling in our OER to guide our equitable work [based on Part 2 in the Storytelling and Communications (S&C) template 1]. Note: Feel free to use your discussion results to update aspects of your Project Summary!

[] Deliverable : Individually, I have written a short bio for our team to use going forward based on [Part 1 in the S&C template 1]. Note: Since you’ve already introduced yourselves to the cohort, you can view this new bio as an update, in light of the Session 3 storytelling principles. Updated bios should go in the “Meet and Greet” thread of your team’s Project Homepage.

[] Deliverable (from Week 2) : If your team hasn’t yet posted a Project Summary to your homepage’s Project Summary thread, try to do that now. You can just link to your team’s shared document until everything is finalized. Treat it as a work in progress!

[] Deliverable: Before Session 4 , respond to the Session 3 main thread and let us know: What parts of this homework checklist were you able to successfully complete? What parts of Week 3 did you find most useful? What challenges did you face while attempting the checklist? When peaking at the outcomes listed on Slide 4 in Session 4: Managing and Growing Teams, what are you eager to learn and what questions do you currently have related to those areas?

Looking forward to seeing you all next week!

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Hi @aalexander ,
I did record it! However, I checked the option to send it to the cloud, so that’s where it is. So I think Emily would have access to that since it’s her (or LOUIS’s) Zoom? And yes, I do always hit record at each session. :slight_smile:

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I am reporting for Anatomy and Physiology I
October 22 C Cohort

So far we have put together a Project Summary that underlines our goals and motivations for the project. We have also contributed some possible existing OER resources that might assist unless in developing our own materials.
We have discussed potential audience for this material and how to go about creating resources that are suitable for and be easily adopted for different education levels.
I think one common difficulty that our group is faced with is being able to develop materials for students without a universal background and being able to creating story-based teaching resources that still incorporate the classic learning objectives of Anatomy and Physiology.
I think I’m most excited about discussing individual roles in the team project and assigning tasks that everyone is comfortable with. I think it will ease a lot of common anxiety when our focus gets narrowed down to concrete tasks that we are responsible for.

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We are still tweaking the Project Summary and doing some project scoping, so we are not caught up with the Storytelling and Communications template. Some of our cohort has elaborated on Storytelling aspects – their own experience and drivers, who our audience will be, and how this will be marketed – but other sections of the template have yet to be fully addressed.
I think Session 4 will be most helpful for us to solidify our team and how we work together.

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The Physical Sciences Team met on Monday to do more work on our Project Summary and to begin discussing storytelling as it relates to our content and our course development work. I think that we had very productive discussions about our motivations for participation in this initiative and our commitment to diverse representation, universal design, inclusivity, etc.

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That’s wonderful @aalexander that you all are documenting those motivators and drivers. That pre-work helps when drafting the Front Matter or Introduction to your text, so all that work is not for naught! :slight_smile:

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@kellyedwards This is so great to hear that your group is committed to undergirding your textbook design with DEI. Your readers will be so much heard and rewarded by these measures you are taking from the onset!

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Hi @scrous1 thanks to you all for adding to your documents and thinking about your audience and the various ways in which you can meet them where they are at. I’m excited to hear you all are thinking about how to incorporate storytelling in your science/A & P textbook. Stories resonate with students. Here are some things I found that may help to reinforce the importance of storytelling or some examples of how those stories are woven in:

https://ua.pressbooks.pub/writingandthesciences/chapter/using-narratives-and-storytelling-to-communicate-science-with-nonexpert-audiences/

https://ua.pressbooks.pub/writingandthesciences/chapter/chapter-7/

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/knowinghome/chapter/chapter-14/

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I am excited to be back after a brief absence. I am watching the videos and replying to the homework assignments. I am still lost as to what I am doing. But, confident I will be able to catch on soon.

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Thank you, @dlrenfro , we’re glad you’re back and chipping away at things. Great job in getting that bio done, and I’m excited that you all delved into the various aspects of storytelling and how that will inform your project and serve as a relatable piece to your students and underscore your motivators!

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I am responding for the Introduction to Criminal Justice Cohort. We know why and how to use storytelling as part of our OER project after the session about it. Our team has listened to each other about the individual motivators and understand their expertise they bring to this project. We have discussed specific aspects of storytelling in our OER. At this point, we have shared in Google Docs the Project Summary template and have started adding information to it. Some team members did not have access and that has been rectified. It is definitely a work in progress! We have met all parts of this homework checklist and look forward to our next session.

1 Like
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Thanks so much @psimek for the update. That is wonderful that you are integrating aspects of storytelling into your Project Summary, layering in those individual and group motivators and expertise that help to fill out the backstory of your team’s project. Let me know if I can answer any questions. :slight_smile: