Let's Tell a Story: Narrative, Constructivism, and Accessibility

I started making video tutorials as a graduate student in library and information science, took a few years off, and started again as a reference librarian at Portland State University. While I always had a sense that video tutorials could be better than they often are, I wasn't really sure exactly what that meant—that is, until I went to remake a few older videos to reflect some changes in the library catalog. How could I communicate those changes in a way that was engaging and helped move the viewer through the video? Then I remembered an old lesson from teaching music theory: tell them a story. For me, telling a story was a foundational aspect of both writing and teaching. So, I thought I would try it out. I was going to tell stories in my videos!