“I Can Resist Anything But Temptation”: Oscar Wilde & Bosie on “Photopeach”
Pedagogical Rationale
The story I chose to tell is for my online “Survey of English Literature” course (2nd-year undergrads). The slide show is intended as a brief introduction to Oscar Wilde, the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray (which we will be studying) and serves to place this work in the context of the author’s life, which is significant to our understanding of this novel. While the story is greatly abbreviated here, and the students have a more comprehensive introduction to Oscar Wilde in their textbook, this brief visual introduction is useful for an online class to help keep the students engaged and takes into account different learning styles.
Choosing the Tool
My primary goal was a visual look at Oscar and Bosie in order to take advantage of the photographs, specifically of the latter, that are freely available. I chose a slide show with captions, although I also created a slide show with audio. The latter would have been as effective as the captions, but I found the tools were not as professional. For example, I created an audio show using Yodio, but this tool tends to cut off the audio at the end of the file (I noticed this on virtually all published “Yodios” that I reviewed). I also tried other tools, such as OneTrueMedia” and “Joggle”, but was similarly dissatisfied with the results. I finally opted to go without narration in order to produce a more seamless and professional story. I believe both are valid for achieving my pedagogical goals.
Strengths & Limitations of the Storytelling Approach
It is clear that offering an educational lesson in the form of a story is a useful way to fully engage the students and it offers a wide range of possibilities for creativity and fun. This approach, however, does limit one’s ability to “lecture” on the subject. That is, the story must contain the intended educational message but it must be implied. Offering a “moral” to the story in an overt and pedantic way detracts, I believe, from the storytelling approach. Therefore, we must craft our stories carefully to ensure our educational message is not lost in the story or in the technology.