Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from individual expression to community involvement. - Henry Jenkins (2006)
This month, I attended a meet and greet with LEGO Ventures organised by YSYS. There's always something new and unexpected to learn at such events, so I always look forward to them.
On this occasion, a discussion on the metaverse ignited my curiosity, especially given the opportunities it creates for cross-platform teaching channels in online learning. Most companies have yet to grasp the implications of this.
Over the last decade or so, we've seen the increasing popularity of transmedia storytelling, especially with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Henry Jenkins, a renowned American media scholar, defines transmedia storytelling as "an approach to telling a single narrative through several instalments on different mediums".
The MCU, of course, is at the forefront of the transmedia expansion.
It is an intricate web of crossover narratives, characters and events that ties together an extended storytelling experience. Social media platforms sustain and perpetuate the MCU further, giving fans a venue to engage further with the universe by dissecting theories, callbacks, and connective tissue between movies.
The combined impact is enormous.
Transmedia ecosystems teach us an important lesson. People want more of the stories they love, more often, in more places and more media.
As of November 2020, the MCU series remains the highest-grossing film franchise, with a total worldwide box office revenue of 22 billion U.S. dollars. The current configuration of the entertainment industry makes transmedia expansion an economic imperative.
Despite the transmedia model's success, I noticed that most online learning experiences still existed in silos. Against the backdrop of an increasingly open Internet, this acknowledgement seemed bankrupt, almost reminiscent of an "old-world AOL ideology". It prompted me to make a case against learning experiences that primarily occur within closed ecosystems.
"Perhaps online learning needs a Netflix moment?"
Over the last two decades, the company has tirelessly collected and analysed viewership data to build markets where none previously existed. I wrote about how instructors might improve their online courses if they had access to similar real-time actionable insights.
Even without Netflix's insights, we can be sure of one thing - teaching and learning do not occur in a vacuum. It is most effective when all parties involved can support reflection, practice, constructive feedback, and collaboration.
Forte's article on the rise of cohort-based courses helped me outline what one needs to consider when thinking about the changing instructor-learner relationship in an online context. As the longevity of transmedia franchises hinges on audience loyalty, I reviewed how placing learners in a primary position to contribute to the online learning experience can help with engagement and retention.
The ongoing non-fungible token (NFT) market boom inspired my final thought for this month's newsletter.
As current NFT standards allow for tokens to move across multiple ecosystems, I reflected on how this interoperability could help unbundle higher education from an accreditation perspective.
It's clear. The opportunity to learn within these unique interconnected virtual worlds can unlock a utopia of positive outcomes that can change our physical world for the better.
It's time we entered the metaverse.