When you hear the term transmedia, you may immediately think of massive marketing campaigns. However, when transmedia storytelling principles are applied to education, this unique approach can promote literacy across print, screen-based, and electronic media.

Transmedia storytelling, which reveals a story to an audience through a series of different mediums like video, text, and graphics, encourages its viewers to utilize problem solving to reveal the story’s conclusion. By building a lesson plan that asks students to present the information they’ve learned through multiple platforms and mediums, educators can build engagement and prepare students for navigating the immense amount of content they will encounter in both physical and digital spaces.

There are several ways students can build a transmedia campaign based on topics in the classroom including:

• Creating a graphic novel
• Writing a short story
• Producing/editing a video
• Building a slideshow

Having students present their own transmedia story will give them new ways to present information, promote their creativity, and help them retain what they’re learning.

The links below have more ideas on incorporating transmedia storytelling into your lesson plan and tools to make it work:

How Can Transmedia Learning Transform Education?

A New Model of Storytelling: Transmedia

Essential Apps for the Physical and Digital Classroom