CASE STUDY
Storytelling as a Teaching Tool:
Storytelling Training for Faculty Members
Client
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Audience
Lecturers and faculty members from a wide range of disciplines, including Mechanical Engineering, Business Innovation, Psychology, Peace Studies, Atmospheric Physics, and Archaeology.
Purpose
Our Approach
We co-designed a three-part programme with the university team, including:
- A 4-hour hands-on workshop delivered in English for a multi-disciplinary group (in person)
- A 6-week intentional practice programme with regular prompts for story collection, reflection, and shaping
- A 1-hour online reflection session to share progress, insights, and future applications
In the initial workshop (delivered in early 2025), participants explored why stories work — from both a humanistic and evidence-based perspective — and practiced finding, structuring, and sharing a variety of story types using practical tools and frameworks.
Highlights
- Interdisciplinary exchange sparked new ideas for story use across disciplines
- Faculty recognised the storytelling techniques they were already using and refined them with more structure
- Tools were provided for adapting personal, historical, and scientific stories to different settings (e.g. lectures, presentations, MOOCs)
Follow-up Support
Participants received digital story-building resources and access to curated examples. Many continued story practice in their teaching and communication work.
Impact
Participants reported using the story structures and techniques in lectures, public talks, and in developing MOOCs. The workshop created a shared vocabulary for storytelling among participants, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with requests for future sessions.
I am leaving this workshop with so much energy and a big smile on my face: I can’t wait to play with stories!
After the workshop and intentional practice sessions, I saw stories everywhere and realised how many of them conform to the structures you offered us.
Thank you for the suggestion to use stories from the discipline rather than personal stories — that felt more appropriate for me.
I like that you made it clear there are so many different story types — from dramatic to everyday. That opened up new possibilities for me.
Curious? Want to know more?
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We believe that research matters. We also believe that good research deserves to be shared. What about you?
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