2. Important Terms to Know
Cultural Attractor VS Cultural Activator
A cultural attractor is something that can bring
together diverse communities
It becomes a cultural activator when it encourages
those communities to interact to solve
problems, think critically about the work, and build
upon the work with their own elaborations

3. Cultural Attractors and
Activators in the Classroom
In my classroom:
Read the novel Holes by Louis Sachar
Students visit the website
http://www.scholastic.com/holes/treasurehunt.htm to play an interactive
game involving the characters and plot from the story (if they haven’t read
the story, the game won’t make sense)
Students createblogsfrom the point of view of one of the characters
View the movie after we have completed the book study; students could
write a critical analysis of the movie in comparison to the book and interact
in online discussion groups about their findings
(This kind of interaction with the media is much like the media convergence created with the Matrix series
as Jenkins mentions in his book Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide (2006).

4. Cultural Artifacts
In the classroom, a cultural artifact is anything
the students can create to show their
understanding of a certain subject matter (like a
short film, character costume, or blog).
For example, a fan of the Harry Potter series may create their
own Hogwarts uniform, publish an online blog or “fanzine” about
a particular story or character in the series, or even create their
own spin-off movies about a plot twist or their own side story

5. Transmedia Storytelling
Transmedia: when a story is told through many
media types (video, written, short Internet
film, video games, etc) and each type builds
upon the original story line

6. Transmedia in the Classroom
The principals of transmedia storytelling can be used
when planning lessons
Main lesson is taught in the classroom
Students can access additional materials online to
enhance the original lesson
Students can participate in games or create short videos
to build on to their prior knowledge gained in the
classroom
Enrichment and extension activities

7. Interactivity VS
Participation
Interactivity can be described as the ways in which
the consumer can interact with the media and is
determined by the designer
Is the activity “user friendly”?
Participation is in the control of the consumer and is
characterized by how the consumer interacts with
the media
The user decides how involved they want to become in
the activity.

8. The Participatory Classroom
Students are studying geometry
They can play online games using skills they
have learned in class
Create digital artwork using transformations
(rotations, reflections, translations)
Create a homework help blog where they can
answer each others’ questions.

9. A Message to Teachers
Students need to be given opportunities to
experience this kind of learning environment within
the classroom if they do not have the capability at
home
Be aware of the students’ understanding of the main
material before providing transmedia activities
If a student does not have a comprehensive
understanding of the content, the extended activities
will not serve as beneficial tools, but rather further
frustrate the student

10. References
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where
old and new media collide. New York, NY: New
York University Press.