What Is Storytelling in the Higher Education Classroom?

Storytelling is popular and engaging, but also difficult. Professors in various disciplines who would like to use stories in their classrooms ask questions such as: "What stories are a part of the curriculum?" or "What constitutes a story?" This special issue addresses the theme of "storytelling in the higher education classroom" and attempts to answer some of the questions that surface from this practice. The ideas presented in this issue are meant to challenge readers' conceptions of storytelling and present storytelling as a classroom pedagogy from multiple perspectives. The authors in this issue illuminate many possibilities for story; they also explore the power storytelling can hold in instruction and in the life of a teacher.

It could be said that life is conducted through story; we make sense of our experiences by telling stories about how we live, and we learn about others through their stories (Fairbain). Stories capture the richness of life and convey the complexity of experience. The scholar Andrew Sparkes notes, "In the telling, listening, and reading of stories the opportunity arises to share experiences about our own lives and the lives of others" (1). In this way, we live storied lives and build stories through our life experiences.

All of our experiences can be characterized from a story perspective. Stories are cognitive because they contain ideas, but stories are also effective because they involve emotions. Further, stories are volitional because they involve activity or behavior. Our thoughts, feelings, actions, and even our personal identity can be understood through story.

Further, stories are a legitimate form of inquiry and knowledge construction (Bruner). In narrative inquiry, stories are used to describe human experience and connect us with others. Through stories, teachers gain powerful insights into the complex subjective reality of a student; teachers also catch a glimpse of the lens through which a student interprets and creates meaning in his/her life.

Storytelling as Listening

The question of how we hear, or fail to hear, aspects of stories and how we decipher their meaning is critical to the act of storytelling. Storytelling is an inescapably human activity that happens anywhere people come together, and can be considered, at its most fundamental level, an act of listening. The storyteller has to be engaged and has...