About Us - AwesomeStories Breakthrough in Learning

The AwesomeStories learning solution is described by Deborah Bond-Upson, Chief Education & Strategy Officer.

AwesomeStories is a smart slim layer of technology sitting on top of many resources to orchestrate highly engaged, creative work by teachers and students.

AwesomeStories blends the world’s oldest teaching trick with effective use of the newest information technologies. The trick is that stories work almost magically. When we hear new information in a story, we remember it. Our brain follows stories as if the story is happening to us. A story sparks synapses in different parts of the brain than textbooks or encyclopedias.

Several years ago I met trial attorney, Carole Bos. She had a surprising record of trial wins. Those wins were based on a savvy marriage of stories and evidence in the courtroom. Carole worked with her law firm’s support to apply these trial techniques to teaching and learning, and her continuously growing stories—delving into key topics in social studies, language arts, science, the arts—attracted a following of thousands of teachers and librarians.

Given my work with Kaplan’s systematized learning, Galaxy Classroom’s teaching science through stories, TeacherUniverse’s technology integration, NBC Learn’s teaching through news media, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, I saw the potential of AwesomeStories to personalize learning, to integrate story, media, primary sources, to support standards-based instruction and to exalt the art of teaching.

So we built a creation engine to scaffold writing, curate resources, align to standards, manage and deliver evidence-based stories. Teachers research and build their own rich media lessons and e-texts, and students research and create stories, papers and projects in our evidence-based, beautiful multimedia format.

Our archive presents key concepts across the curriculum in story form—more than 5000 stories and growing. Today’s critical thinking requires, and today’s Internet enables, us to find evidence to evaluate those stories. AwesomeStories curates, manages, and grows primary sources, 100,000+ so far.

The impact of this integrated learning approach is significant, and the growth of stories and curated primary sources is a virtuous cycle that can go viral. The next step in full engagement is for the learner to become the storyteller.

Facebook offers social connection through our shared personal stories. AwesomeStories offers learning connection through our shared knowledge stories. AwesomeStories give exciting entrée to publisher content, enables the blending of carefully curated primary sources, and our creation engine provides the authentic work-tool that learners need for engagement and mastery.

For educators and students, MakerSpace for the Humanities operates as a layer of interactive engagement on top of major teaching and learning solutions, unleashing the creative capability of teachers and learners, sparking learner brain synapses, and driving reading, research and learning deeper.

For partners and schools, our MakerSpace creation engine can achieve propelled growth with an infinitely scalable solution for the humanities.

Members receive monthly newsletters and send testimonials and requests to AwesomeStories. Students and teachers are excited by publishing their work on our beautiful and busy website.