The Hero’s Journey (in HE) Continues: Applying the hero’s journey framework to curriculum planning and course design

Abstract

Building on the ideas contained in Farmer's 'The Hero's Journey in Higher Education: A Twelve Stage Narrative Approach to the Design of Active, Student-Centred University Modules' (2019), this current paper takes the idea of using the twelve stages of the hero’s journey as a course design tool, and extends it by adding a series of diagnostic questions linked to the stages, the purpose of which is to develop Farmer’s (2019) theoretical ideas into a more practically-oriented toolkit for educators. In the same spirit, this current paper also includes thoughts from workshop participants who have begun to make use of the hero’s journey as a course design toolkit, drawing the tentative conclusion that, for some people at least, the idea provides a useful framework for course design.

Keywords: Active Learning; Learning Design; Hero’s Journey; Inclusive Curriculum; Narrative Framework; Teaching and Learning