Exploring Complex Concepts Through Storytelling: A Synchronous Online Health Policy Course Case Study and Recommendations for Implementing Across Disciplines

Corrie Whitmore; Kathryn Schild

doi:10.55982/openpraxis.14.3.498

Exploring Complex Concepts Through Storytelling: A Synchronous Online Health Policy Course Case Study and Recommendations for Implementing Across Disciplines

Open Praxis

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 3

By: Corrie Whitmore and Kathryn Schild

Open Access

|Sep 2022

Abstract

Educational experts advocate for storytelling’s community building aspects; it is also a valuable tool for deepening students’ cognitive engagement. Indigenous pedagogy has long emphasized the centrality of storytelling to knowledge production and transmission (Neeganagwedgin, 2020). This article offers a case study analyzing an upper-division undergraduate health policy course transformation to foreground storytelling in a synchronous online format. Consistent with the “watch one, do one, teach one” model, students heard narrative descriptions of guest storytellers’ policy experiences, constructed narrative stories describing a population health problem in written assignments, and shared a policy proposal story about why policy matters and how it can be changed to improve population health. This approach improved student engagement, fostered knowledge creation, and – despite the distance inherent in online education – improved students’ sense of self-efficacy and membership in a professional community. The article concludes with recommendations for integrating storytelling into other disciplines and modalities.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.14.3.498 | Journal eISSN: 2304-070X

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Language: English

Page range: 242 - 248

Submitted on: May 12, 2022

Accepted on: Sep 12, 2022

Published on: Sep 30, 2022

Published by: International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

storytelling,

Indigenous pedagogy,

online education,

community engagement,

instructional strategies,

health policy

© 2022 Corrie Whitmore, Kathryn Schild, published by International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 3