Meta-Twine Toolkit

Twine is a free, open-source tool that can be used to create "interactive, non-linear stories." You can use Twine in a web browser or in its desktop version. While having a basic understanding of HMTL, CSS, and/or Javascript can help your Twine really shine, it is not necessary to create a simple branching narrative. Twine has a very active community of content creators that are always working to improve current versions and add more functionality.

To access, download, and learn more about Twine and its community of creators, visit twinery.org.

When our team created a set of Twines for one of our graduate courses, we noticed that there were a lot of technical resources for building Twines – advice on how to use the tool, how to incorporate HTML and CSS, and how to add different game features like timers or score counters. But we didn't come across any guidance on how to actually write a branching narrative. More importantly, we did not find information about how to use Twine for educational purposes.

And that's how the idea for a Meta-Twine was born! A Meta-Twine is a Twine that incorporates tips and tools for using Twines in educational settings. It offers advice and insights into the thought processes that went into writing the Twine, choosing decision points, and considering course and learner objectives. To make sure our Meta-Twine spoke to educators, we centered our Meta-Twine narratives around common teaching dilemmas.

This site contains two full Twine stories along with their Meta-Twine counterparts. One is text-based, for the more traditional Twiner, and the other is image-based, for the creative illustrator.

Also included in this toolkit are resources that may not be education-focused, but can be helpful for building any type of Twines. We've included resources for exploring the technical aspects of Twine (for those just starting out and for the Twine masters), in addition to writing and planning engaging narratives.

We'll be up-front with you: one thing we learned in creating our Meta-Twines is that writing branching narratives can be difficult. They may take more time and planning than the traditional assignment, and they may work better for some types of content than others.

But for some, using branching narratives in educational contexts can have rewarding advantages. Some reasons why you might consider incorporating branching narratives in your course include:

• You notice learners make common mistakes, and you want to be able to highlight these mistakes and their consequences.

• The consequences of making a real-world mistake are especially egregious, and you want a low-stakes way for learners to practice decision-making.

• You already use simulations in your course, and you're looking for a way to move them to an online or asynchronous format.

• You'd like a more creative and engaging way to teach your content .

• You're interested in educational technology and want to add a quick, flexible, and free tool to your repertoire.

• You want to give your learners a more personalized learning experience, handing them more control over their path through your content.

Whatever your reason, we have tried to create this toolkit with the goal of shortening the learning curve. We also created a useful decision tool to help you decide if Twine might be right for you (and you guessed it - it's built in Twine!).

A final note: While this toolkit focuses on creating assignments for your students, asking your students to create Twines can be a great alternative to traditional writing assignments or projects. Not only can it help build a bridge between creative writing and computer science, it can help students practice procedural thinking and demonstrate knowledge of cause-and-effect. Student-created Twine projects can be incorporated into courses on a variety of subjects like History, English, and Research Methods. For more information on how to use Twine creation as an assignment, you can start by checking out: Interactive Fiction in the Classroom and Teaching with Twine.