Transmedia is a new platform for children to develop media literacy skills. Transmedia draws away from the linear act of reading printed text such as books. Rather than reading a book from start to finish, transmedia allows children and adults alike to revisit the story and engage with the media. According to Prensky (2008) children find traditional classroom work boring and become disengaged. Transmedia gives students more opportunities to interact with digital technologies and media. The interactive nature of transmedia encourages student participation and digital citizenship.
Transmedia causes one to feel anxieties which stem from an existing techno-phobia. I am a self-proclaimed digital immigrant. Others like to assume that being relatively young entitles one to the secrets of the inner workings of twenty-first century technological devices. However, unlike those of the millennial age a time is remembered when a computer-like device was a rarity in households. The Windows 95 was introduced to the home when one was in the latter years of primary school. One had already adapted to the old-fashioned lateral ways of reading literature in the classroom. One has grown adamant against alternatives to these old school teaching methods.
A benefit of transmedia is that digital citizenship is welcome to all willing to gain citizenship. Transmedia has created so much more (cyber)space to explore. Transmedia is the obvious next course for the evolution of storytelling. Johnson (n.d.) describes how storytelling has already evolved from the verbal telling of bible stories to graphic representations of these stories. Early images of bible stories are early examples of transmedia. Now take these bibles stories and images and create from them movies. These stories have evolved across media (Johnson, n.d.). Various stakeholders are able to have an impact on how these stories are shared and shaped and this allows for different contexts to change how each person interprets and interacts with a story. No longer does a story have one finite ending and that is worth celebrating and embracing.
References
Johnson, D. (n.d.). A history of transmedia entertainment. Retrieved from http://spreadablemedia.org/essays/johnson/#.VyLgrEc5zDT.
Prensky, M. (2008). The 21st-century digital learner. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-digital-learner-technology-2008.
Eventbrite. (2016). Transmedia Storyworlds: Creating and Managing Your Content (IMAGE). Retrieved from http://www.eventbrite.com/e/transmedia-storyworlds-creating-and-managing-your-content-tickets-7887576955.
Teaching in a Digital World 