This is the full-text alternative of the reflection video I made for class.

Take a moment to reflect on a story that has had a lasting impact on you. Maybe it’s a fairytale from your childhood, that one book you can’t seem to put down, or even your favorite adventure film series.

Now let’s break that story down into smaller pieces. I bet you have some main character that eventually faces an important challenge. Whether or not they overcome that challenge, there’s also probably a resolution of some sort.

But let’s backtrack and hone in on that challenge, that key problem faced by your central character.

Describe it. No, sorry… wait, I didn’t mean literally.

Why don’t I share my favorite story so it’s easier to understand?

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster—have you read it? You should, it’s life changing… even as a little girl when I first read it, I just knew it was the book for me.

You see Milo, he’s the main character, he’s a very bored little boy that takes things for granted. That is until one day his toy tollbooth transports him into the unfamiliar Lands Beyond and Milo doesn’t know how to get home.

And thus Milo embarks on a journey through the Lands Beyond where he meets all sorts of unusual characters—like a giant watchdog, King Azaz the Unabridged and his brother the Mathemagician, and the banished princesses Rhyme and Reason.

On his journey, Milo manages to escape the Doldrums, repair the relationship between the warring Kingdoms of Wisdom and Digitopolis, and even bring rhyme and reason (both literally and figuratively) back to the Lands Beyond.

When he finds himself successfully passing through the tollbooth and back in his room once more, Milo longs to return to the Lands Beyond but can’t because he now knows the way.

So the once bored Milo finally opens his eyes to the world around him, because it’s all about the journey and the learning along the way.

Maybe the problem Milo faces in the book isn’t quite as literal as solving a math equation, but it’s a problem nonetheless. And it’s through the art of storytelling that we learn the value of learning.

From an instructional design perspective, storytelling is a tool that can scaffold learning, build a community of learners, and help learners negotiate meaning. (Merrill, 2012; Black, 2008; Jonassen & Hernandez-Serrano, 2002; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Bruner, 1990)

But from a personal perspective, I can tell you that it’s because of this book—this story—that I learned to appreciate and pursue learning. I learned how to be clever with my words and appreciate math. But most of all, I learned that “one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see, it’s very much like your trying to reach Infinity. You know that it’s there, but you just don’t know where—but just because you can never reach it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth looking for.” (Juster, 1961)

So take a moment to reflect on a story that has had a lasting impact on you. Think about the challenge the main character had to overcome and the lessons you learned through their journey.

References

Black, L. W. (2008). Deliberation, storytelling, and dialogic moments. Communication Theory, 18(1), 93–116. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2007.00315.x

Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Harvard University Press.

Jonassen, D. H., & Hernandez-Serrano, J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology Research and Development 50(2), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504994

Juster, N. (1961). The phantom tollbooth. Random House.

Merrill, M. D. (2012). First principles of instruction: Assessing and designing effective, efficient, and engaging instruction. Pfeiffer.

If you could see what is running (literally running, at hyperspeed) in my mind right now, you just might get whiplash. And it’s not like my mind is always racing, but as I was reading through our reflection prompts for class I suddenly became the Simone Biles of mental gymnastics. How do I begin to think about the creative part of projects?

Well, it happens just like that—suddenly and all at once, in a near-endless stream of creative consciousness.

But that’s not helpful. It’s like the opposite of helpful.

So I slow down and focus on one thing. It doesn’t need to be the right thing, just one thing. And I ask myself how this one thing relates to the goals of the project. If it even relates at all. If I can’t connect it, I file it away for Future Katie to deal with (she hates me, by the way 🤦‍♀️). And then I repeat until I have some version of a mind map… in my… mind.

You follow? Yeah, sometimes I don’t either.

Have you seen the Christopher Nolan film Inception? There are so many interesting things about it, but I’m particularly intrigued by the actual concept of inception. Narrowing down a message into its purest, simplest form. An emotion, feeling, or some value-driven message.

That’s what I’m looking for as I process my thoughts. Which of these things is the best expression of a value-driven message that directly relates to the learning goals of the project?

This is also an iterative process. So there may be an initial phase of just me processing my thoughts, a written brainstorm, an interesting journey on the internet (complete with entirely too many browser tabs), an actual mind map (thank you, Lucidchart), a mood board, scribbles on a notepad… whatever fits the project and the types of thoughts I have.

When I think about the creative elements of other projects I enjoy the most, whether it be games, stories, learning designs, or anything else, I find myself most appreciating when I feel some type of connection. And I mean that in the broadest sense of the word.

Connection as in I can see myself, where I am currently in life, in that content.

Connection as in I can see myself, where I aspire to be in life, in that content.

Connection as in I can see myself, where I have been in life, in that content.

Connection as in I can see myself, where I never hope to be in life, in that content.

Connection as in I can see myself, where I “what if” myself in life, in that content.

Connection as in I can see someone, or something, important to me in that content.

There is something I can relate to. Connection.

The Kingkiller Chronicle series by Patrick Rothfuss is absolutely wonderful. I feel a very strong connection to the story. But it’s a story about Kvothe, a lute-playing adventurer, neither of which describes me. But it’s about someone struggling with their past, someone trying to prove themselves worthy, someone on a personal quest for knowledge, and so much more. That is what I connect with. Kvothe is sometimes too smart for his own good and makes infuriatingly stupid mistakes; I’ve been there. Kvothe has insane musical talents that as a pretty decent violinist I can appreciate. Kvothe often finds himself struggling between worlds and the anxiety of similar situations I’ve been in all start to come back.

I also love that when I go back to the material, I find new meanings and new connections. A central concept to the books is the idea that to master a thing, you must know its name. And not name in the sense that I know the word for that particular object, but name in the truest sense of it. Much like the difference between knowledge and knowing. I loved that concept when I first read it, but it has even more meaning for me after taking Foundations of the Learning Sciences and learning about the acquisition and participation metaphors of learning (Sfard, 2008).

Okay, this reflection isn’t about the brilliance that is Rothfuss’ writing. It’s about creativity and narrative design.

We had another reflection prompt: How can my own interests inform my design narrative?

I spoke previously about my values and how they informed my design narrative. I think the same is true of my interests, albeit perhaps more subtle in their influence.

I love literature, gaming, fantasy, science fiction, true crime, film, dance, history, civics, and only the absolute cutest of animals (like sloths 🦥). How do those disparate interests influence my design narrative? Well, I mean, it’s all me.

My love of literature, for example, has influenced my writing style and shaped my perception of the world. My love of gaming has taught me perseverance (seriously, talk to me when after you’ve repeated the same level for the millionth time), strategy, creativity, and Russian curse words that I probably shouldn’t know. Fantasy has taught me that anything is possible and science fiction has taught me to expect the unexpected. True crime has taught me how to be safe as a woman that exists in the world. Film has taught me how to see things, quite literally, through a different lens. Dance has taught me how to express my thoughts and emotions when words fail me. History has taught me how we got to where we are and civics taught me the important role I play in shaping where we go. And sloths have taught me that it’s okay to be still.

I carry all of this with me with every project I work on, every word I write, and every element of my narrative.

In class this week, we started discussing our portfolios and how we might weave visual, informational, and thematic narratives into our sites. This isn’t something I explicitly thought about prior to creating my portfolio, but as we discussed these elements in class I realized that my design does address this question. I think those narrative elements connect strongly to how your personal brand is reflected in your portfolio, which is something that I have explicitly thought about.

Before I started at NYU, I spent almost seven years at Apple with two of those years dedicated to a leadership development program where we talked a lot about our personal brands and core values. When we were developing personal brands at Apple, this article about values from MindTools was essential. I remember going through multiple passes and color-coding values that I exhibited, values I aspired to, and values that others saw in me. It was a very introspective process and something I’ve tried to revisit every so often since.

The values I associate with my personal brand have evolved since I first did that exercise. They’re more well-rounded and complimentary—in fact, they kind of remind me of the Triforce (yes, that Triforce ) in how they balance each other. In thinking of my values, I ultimately want to be known as someone who is strategic but I want that association to be a direct reflection of other elements: bold, thoughtful, and creative. In this way, my ability to be a strategic thinker is represented by my willingness to make the bold move, the thought I put into work, and the creativity I bring to the table.

But how does one integrate these values into a portfolio? Well, the hot pink (#ff0066) should be a giveaway. Because of its vibrancy, I associate that color with being unabashedly bold. I find it more difficult to express being thoughtful and creative, but my decision to include a handwriting style font and all lowercase labels is intentional. I want them to show thought, purpose, and a sense of construction (think: writing in pencil ✏️ ). When presenting my projects I’ve included backgrounds that highlight the original problem or challenge so that the creativity and thoughtfulness behind my design shine through. I’m also publicly sharing my post-class reflections even though that isn’t required because, again, I want to highlight the thought I put into my work. My commentary may be frank at times, but it’s true to who I am and what I can offer.

Would I do anything differently? Graphics—I need (want?) more. For now, I’ve only been including graphics as they relate to my projects but when I have time, I’d like to rethink how I incorporate visual elements into my portfolio.

It’s easy to look at what others have designed and question your own decision-making process, but I find it’s important not to compare yourselves to others when you have different goals and values. Instead, I like to focus on specific design elements they’ve included that I’m inspired to reconfigure in a way that works for me. For example, I once saw someone’s portfolio where they listed out all of their project members and another where they listed out their specific role in the project, I’ve combined those two elements where appropriate to give credit to project members while also highlighting the role I played.

👋 Why hello there, new friend! You’ve found my humble graduate student portfolio and, not only that, the section of my portfolio where a lot of ✨ experimenting ✨ is happening. Let’s catch you up to speed:

• I’m a professional training facilitator at NYU by way of Apple
• I’m passionate about employee advocacy, development, and onboarding
• I’m in graduate school studying digital learning design at NYU Steinhardt
• I’m taking a class on narrative design in learning (📍 you are here)

So this class I’m in, well, we’ve got some reflection assignments to complete throughout the semester. That’s what this is. Literally, right now… this is a reflection assignment. I said this space was going to be a bit experimental in nature because I need to find my voice as a narrator. My goal is to transition from Katie, the narrator, to Katie the Narrator.

There’s a subtle difference there. Did you catch it?

While I’m no grammar queen—there’s a reason I rely heavily on Merriam-Webster, Grammarly, and the almighty APA Style Guide—that comma makes a difference.

Katie, the narrator. Who’s she? She is learning and exploring the act of narration. She is described by the adjective “narrator” because she is, quite simply, one who narrates.

Katie the Narrator. Now her? She’s something else. She is not only one who narrates, she is a storyteller. She wears the epithet of “Narrator” with pride. It’s no longer just an adjective, it’s a badge of honor.

So let’s return to this reflection assignment because there’s an actual question I need to respond to: What is my voice as a narrator and what responsibility does that bring with it?

What is my voice as a narrator? I doubt that my response today will be a complete, accurate picture of what my response would be a few months from now. But let’s give it a shot.

• Approachable but not pandering
• Humorous but not childish
• Intelligent but not overbearing

Maybe that’s more of an aspirational description, but keep that in mind because I think it’s a good segue to the second part of my reflection assignment. Responsibility.

Narrators are biased. Sit with that a moment and then let’s continue.

Knowing that as a narrator I am biased, I can then take that detail and actively try to lean in to or away from that bias. Having the self-awareness to know that my voice is not representative of everyone’s voice is empowering and humbling (note to self: my voice as a narrator should also aspire to be confident but humble).

I don’t think that my responsibility as a narrator is to appeal to all audiences all the time, I think that’s unreasonable. But I do think that it’s my responsibility as a narrator to be aware of and respectful of the fact that mine is not the only voice.

I’m unsure if this will be a popular opinion or not but I also think it’s my responsibility as a narrator to be honest. More specifically, to not mislead audiences with inaccurate details or misinformation. I suppose that depending on the subject matter, this can more of a grey area and I could definitely see this being more appropriate for a non-educational context (think: fiction writing).

I also think it’s my responsibility as a narrator to be engaging. I know that’s such a vague concept, but I don’t want to get in the mindset that if I’m not able to hold an audience’s attention it’s their fault and not my own. (There is obviously some grey area, but let’s not blame others for our own faults is perhaps closer to what I’m trying to say here.)

Alright then, did you get all that? Here’s a quick summary for you, a TL,DR if you will.

I’m exploring what it means to be a narrator and I believe it’s my responsibility to establish trust and rapport with my audience by being honest, approachable, and humorous.

You’re welcome to stick around. This space will slowly fill out with more reflection assignments and class projects that you can read through later.

Thanks for stopping by!