Engaging Readers and Writers with Interactive Fiction

Four week online class facilitated for the Association of Library Service to Children (a division of ALA), Summer and Fall 2016, Winter 2017

• Syllabus (.pdf)

This course introduces interactive fiction (IF) while showing how to create narrative text-based games for a variety of audiences and platforms. IF is a powerful tool to engage both readers and writers while teaching basic programming skills. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand how IF influenced and continues to influence not only video game design, but also literature
• Demonstrate how readers can interact with texts in new and non-traditional ways through IF
• Leverage IF in children’s and teen programming, both inside the library and out, to encourage reading, writing, and computer programming skills across disciplines
• Write their own stories using Twine, Inform7, and others cross-platform programs