Dreams of time and space: exploring digital literacies through playful transmedia storying in school

To support digital literacies in schools, fundamental reorientation and rethinking is required to develop ‘appropriate’ pedagogical practices which are aligned with (and extend) the current curriculum. To achieve this, new flexible frameworks and tools are needed to support educators to work creatively and productively within the current constraints and challenge dominant discourses. Addressing this necessity, I present the findings from a 2-year research project, funded by the British Academy, entitled Playful Pedagogies: Developing New Literacies in the Classroom through the Design and Play of Alternate Reality Games which set out to investigate how engaging teachers in the co-design of an alternate reality game might develop their understanding of digital literacies (their own and those of the children in their classes). The game, ‘Join the DOTS (Dreams of Time and Space)’, provides a fictional context and pedagogical framework for exploring the potential of ‘transmedia storying’ in schools. The associated planning tool and observation frame support teachers to reflect on the skills, critical questions and cultural connections shaped during play and foreground the value of noticing literacy processes as they emerge ‘in the moment’. These have significant implications educators and policy makers and those developing transmedia narratives with and for young people.