Clover: Narratives and simulations in virtual environments

This article presents a newly developed software application (Clover) for constructing animated narrative vignette. Results from a semester-long field study with 69 elementary pre-service teachers are reported including, two complete examples of animated narrative vignettes that focused on a personal school experience and results from a usability survey. Results indicate that Clover is a viable tool for facilitating the process of self discovery, cognitions, and identity using animated narrative vignette simulations. Implications for the use of Clover as an animated narrative vignette tool are discussed, as well as opportunities and challenges for improving the design of vignette authoring tools.