T. HALL
lise that potential; and 3) through the attitude we take toward
unavoidable suffering. According to Frankl, nöogenic neuroses
(or crises of meaning) arise when there is an ostensible, existen-
ti al vacuum or meaningless in life. Frankl contends however that
meaning is always there, even when such crises arise—meaning
is omnipresent in our lives; the challenge is to see it and appre-
ciate its significance.
According to Frankl, life inevita bly will have its painful, trou-
bling and disappointing moments. However, our unique gift is
to choose our attitude to unavoidable loss or pain; and to realise
that even when times are tough, there is meaning to be found in
life. The positive psychological approach has been further de-
fined and extended in the contemporary context by Seligman
through, for example, his PERMA model (2011), which identi-
fies key fundaments of “Authentic Happiness” and the “good
life”: (P)ositive Emotion, (E)ngagement, (R)elationships, (M)ean-
ing and (A)chievement.
The concept of the nöogenic narrative integrates and synthe-
sises fundamental aspects of positive psychology with the nar-
ratological conception of education: that narrative and positive-
inspirational stories in particular are centrally important in hu-
man ontogenetic development—in human communication, crea-
tivity, culture, ethics, imagination and self-identity (e.g. Bruner,
2002; 2007).
Essentially, nöogenic narrative (Figure 1) can be defined as
the view that life—as a narrative/story—draws its meaning fun-
damentally from three interpenetrating—and mutually reinforc-
ing—dimensions of positive engagement: our relationship with
our world (accomplishment); our relationship wit h others (affect) ;
and, critically, our relationship with ourselves (attitude).
As will be presently outlined, narrative and its synergy with
technology: narrative technology creates potential and signifi-
cant possibilities to enhance the ternary dimensions of nöogenic
narrative: accomplishment, affect and attitude.
Creativity, Narrativity and Technology
In recent years, new technologies have emerged that create
new possibilities for education, learning and pedagogy. Plow-
man and Stephen advert to the educational potential of novel
Figure 1.
Nöogenic narrative: dynamic dimensions of en gag ement.
computing thus: “New technologies may lead to new concepts
of play and learning in which ICT is much more than the “benign
addition” referred to by Cuban (2001), especially as new ways
are found of conceptualising ICT so that the term does not sim-
ply denote standard co mputers. These shifts in thi nking may lead
to technologies that can enco mpass participation by practitioners,
parents and children in different learning spaces and promote
discovery, delight, curiosity , creativity, self-expression and pl ea-
sure in learning” (2003: p. 160).
Our research aims to explore new potential and possibilities
for education and pedagogy when intuitive, elegant and easy-
to-use technologies are combined with intrinsically powerful
human f orms of creativity, expressiveness and interpre tation, prin-
cipally narrative and storytelling. The emergence of new tech-
nology is potentially helping to realise new contexts, opportu-
nities and resources for creativity and creative education (Fu-
turelab, 2010). For example, just fifteen years ago, to digitise
and edit video could usurp hours or even days of one’s time.
Now it is eminently easy to record video digitally with a mobile
device and use an app on the device to edit, post-produce and
share the video.
Although there have been very significant developments in
respect of the interactive capabilities and usability of technol-
ogy, reports such as the recently published EU Kids Online (2011)
point to potential challenges and limitations in the way young
people are conceptualising and using technology today.
EU Kids Online explodes a number of myths about children’s
and young people’s contemporary use of technology, and the
prevailing view that young people today are innately digitally
literate: “Only 36 percent of 9 - 16-year-old say it is very true
that they know more about the internet than their parents. This
myth obscures children’s needs to develop digital skills” (2011:
p. 42). Furthermore, the report highlights limitations and passiv-
ity in the way young people are using computing, which pre-
dominantly focuses on ready-made content, and a “televisual”
experience, which is particularly problematic for the develop-
ment of creativity and creative education. The findings of re-
search such as EU Kids Online (2011) serve to underscore the
contemporary imperative to develop young people’s digital
competency and their digital creativity. But, how do we achieve
these important twin aims of competency and creativity in
young people’s engagement with digital media? Furthermore,
how do we support their teachers in developing their creativity
and competency in ICT (Rizza, 2011), in ways that positively
inform, shape and enhance their pedagogical practice and con-
tinuous professional development as educators in the 21st Cen-
tury? How can we utilise new, creative technologies to enhance
nöogenic narrative along the three dynamic dimensions of en-
gagement: accomplishment, affect and attitude?
Narrative Technology in Education
The paper outlines a number of explorations of ICT—de-
signed, deployed, and evaluated over the last five years—which
aimed to synergise narrative and technology to enhance learn-
ers’ achievement and confidence, their intra- and inter-personal
learning. Our use of narrative technology has encompassed dif-
ferent applications, and involved different groups of learners.
Principally, there are two main ways in which we have deplo-
yed narrative technology in our research-enhanced teaching: 1)
as a pedagogical methodology and 2) as a reflective methodol-
ogy.
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