Developing Hyper-Stories In The Context Of Cultural Heritage Appreciation

Storytelling has been used as a powerful methodology to design learning activities. By producing their own stories, students learn while developing artifacts, which can be shared with other peer learners generating a rich collaborative learning environment based on constructivism. Digital media and especially hypermedia have been successfully used to support storytelling in learning contexts since it eases the collaborative authoring process and allows for the creation of stories with parallel threads and multiple versions, supporting various viewpoints of the same story. Inspired by the context of learning the cultural heritage of the Armenian cross-stones or Khachkars, we developed a tool in which students can create their own hyper-stories to discuss their different aspects. The tool reflects the inherent attachment of the Khachkars to a geographical location by offering a map on which learners can present the location of the stones. We conducted a preliminary test for answers to our research objectives on the effectiveness of a tool that raises the interest and knowledge of the users in cultural heritage objects, which are located in open-air settings. We also address the tool's usability when using a mobile interface. The results indicate that there is a slight increase in the interest and knowledge of users in objects associated with cultural and historical heritage. The usability of the tool over mobile interfaces was acceptable, although it is necessary to improve certain functionalities.