Storytelling Class moves online, Register Today, starts May 20th

I was teaching in the classroom when the email rippled across campus.

The campus is closing due to the pandemic.
All classes will be moving online.

I was so surprised and inspired by the success of the online transition that I am offering a new online class this summer for the general public. Join the interactive video sessions. Learn to tell your story and transform your life.

Moving a college class online? Will it work?

At Florida Gulf Coast University, I teach “Storytelling as Healing” as an interactive class each semester since January 2019. I teach oral storytelling–person to person, face to face–as a communication skill, performance art, and healing art. The class is centered around Storytelling Circles where the twenty students tell their stories, listen to their fellow classmates, and coach each other with encouraging feedback. The class combines storytelling performance, lectures, group activities, and student performance. This is a dream job to tell my own stories, listen to student stories, and give students the healing experience of storytelling circles.

How can I move a “storytelling circle” to an online experience?

While students could still learn by watching pre-recorded lectures and submitting assignments, my intent for the college class is student interaction and performance. Quiet students transform into more confident classroom participants. Even the extroverts get nervous with the vulnerability of sharing personal stories. I watch as students form community and get to know each other. One students said, “I sat with this person for five minutes, and now he knows about my grandmother.” In a world of mundane conversation, I teach students how to create the space for connection in their lives through sharing stories.

To teach storytelling, we teach story-listening.

We learn to tell stories by listening to stories. Opening up to the stories of others requires not just listening with the mind, but also listening with the heart. Diverse students recognize what they have in common as their stories touch each other.

Video Conferencing creates virtual meeting space!

While it does not replace the richness of live in-person storytelling, the video conferencing format provides a different type of connection. Across space and time, we can still connect to each other through the power of story. Virtual breakout rooms allow small group activities. I can still give instruction and show slides. Even though we could not sit together in a circle physically, we could use the guidelines of the “Storytelling Circle” to recreate the space for a virtual circle.

1. Confidentiality
2. Active listening / be present
3. Turn off distractions
4. One person speaking at a time
5. Be respectful

Virtual online space cannot replace the live in-person experience; however, the fact that we could still connect across space and time with the power of storytelling is a modern marvel of technology.

This summer, I am inspired to offer a new storytelling class open to the general public.

It starts next week, REGISTER TODAY.

If you can’t make it for the class, join the list for more storytelling content and future courses with Dr. Joel Ying.
Click HERE to join the storytelling transformation.