NLEs are technological environments in which a narrative activity is used to support learning. They are characterized by three variables: the role of the user with respect to the narrative, the pedagogical approach adopted to exploit narrative's educational potential, and a set of technological tools aiming to facilitate the narrative construction or fruition, as well as to amplify its impact.
The list in this page includes both real NLEs and technological tools (like narrative editors) that can faciliate the contruction of NLEs. Don't forget that tools are not environments, and creating an NLE entails not only choosing a suitable tool, but also planning the pedagogical approach and activities and defining the user role with respect to narrative. Narrative should not be used simply as background, but support the learning activity.

Carmen's Bright IDEAS http://www.isi.edu/isd/carte/proj_parented/ Carmen’s Bright IDEAS is an interactive health intervention program designed to help mothers of paediatric cancer patients deal with their problems. The main characters in the story are Carmen and Gina, her counsellor. Carmen has two children and because one of them suffers from leukaemia she is living a stressful situation.
This environment has the following specificities: In terms of knowledge domain, it is designed to develop coping strategies ; the learner plays the role of an observer , even though she influences the course of the story; the learning approach is empathy-driven ; this environment uses 2D graphics and an intelligent agent with an emotional model .
D.Film Moviemaker http://www.dfilm.com D.Film Moviemaker is an “open” narrative-based software that is available on the web. With this program students can create short comic-strip-type animated cartoons by selecting from the set range of backgrounds, characters, situations and music, and then inputting their own dialogue text and titles. The result, which can be saved online, is a personalised comic strip with a very limited degree of animation.
This environment has the following specificities: this application aims at promoting story creation and can be used for language learning ; the user acts as the story author ; the learning approach is situated/case-based ; the technology used is 2D graphics .
FearNot! (Fun with Empathic Agents to Reach Novel Outcomes in Teaching) http://info.nicve.salford.ac.uk/victec/ This interactive application was developed within the Victec (Virtual Information and Communication Technology with Empathic Characters) project and aims at the prevention of aggressive behaviour of school children by inducing affective responses against bullying situations, and thus changing children’s behaviour and cognition.
This environment has the following specificities: it aims at developing social competence ; while watching the bullying episodes the child is an observer , but during the interaction with the victim he is a participant ; the learning approach is empathy-driven ; the application uses a 3D environment , intelligent agents with an emotional model , and natural language processing to a small extent.
Ghostwriter http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~judyr/ghostwriter Ghostwriter is a virtual role-play environment developed with the aim of being used as preparation activity for writing stories. The application takes the form of a game which is story-based, with the plot emerging from the role-playing activities and the story predefined components of characters, setting, and conflict between characters.
This environment has the following specificities: this program aims at promoting story creation ; the user is a participant in the story; the learning approach is collaborative through role playing ; the technology used is a 3D virtual environment with intelligent agents .
Kar2ouche Composer http://www.immersiveeducation.com/Kar2ouche/ Kar2ouche Composer makes it possible to create talking comic strip type stories or storyboards with three-dimensional images, speech/thought balloons and captions space. This application also features somewhat sophisticated controls, such as sizing and rotation of characters and props.
This environment has the following specificities: it aims primarily at promoting story creation and language learning , but with external libraries it can also be used for learning history and political sciences ; the user acts as the story author ; the learning approach is situated/case-based ; the technology used is 2D images and graphics .
MediaStage http://www.immersiveeducation.com/uk/MediaStage_Default.asp MediaStage allows users the creation of 3D animations in which end users can move around with some freedom. Student authors can “direct” virtual characters by determining their movements and gestures, and also by getting them to “recite” the lines of dialogue attributed to them: these can be written by the students themselves or taken from the program’s repertoire of English phrases and expressions. The dialogue can either be recorded by the students or reproduced by a text-to-speech engine.
This environment has the following specificities: it aims at promoting story creation and language learning ; the user acts as the story author ; the learning approach is situated/case-based ; the technology used is a 3D virtual environment .
POGO http://www.iku.ulg.ac.be/projets_5_en.htm The POGO environment was conceived as a virtual story world, accessible through a number of interactive physical tools distributed in the environment. It enables children of 6-8 years (primary school) to create stories by connecting the physical and virtual environments, thus by interfacing the virtual story world to active tools. Children can use the active tools to create and manipulate the story elements in a physical way. The virtual story world integrates everyday objects with digital media. Therefore the environment relies on the child’s physical environment and sensory modalities. The POGO environment sustains and enhances discussion between children and between children and adults and enables co-operative mechanisms and reflection.
This environment has the following specificities: this application aims at promoting story creation ; the user acts as the story author ; the learning approach is cooperative ; the technology used includes a virtual environment with digital media and augmented reality .
SAM http://www.media.mit.edu/gnl/projects/castlemate/ Sam is a virtual peer designed to engage in specific kinds of storytelling with children. The system has two components: an embodied conversational agent - a life-size gender-non-specific child named Sam - and a toy castle with several plastic figurines. Sam can act as a peer playmate to children, telling stories by turn-taking with them and sharing physical objects across the real and virtual worlds. The child and the character share the play space, which is thus partially real (the room where the child is playing) and partially virtual (the wall where Sam in projected).
This environment has the following specificities: it promotes story creation ; the user acts both as a story observer and a story author ; the learning approach is cooperative ; the technology used includes a 3D environment with tangible interfaces , augmented reality and an embodied conversational agent .
Story Maker 2 http://www.spasoft.co.uk/storymaker.html Story Maker 2 is designed to let primary school students create multimedia stories. In their work, authors can easily embed graphic elements and animations, as well as hypermedia links to be activated when the end users interact with the final narrative. The basic components of each scene (backdrop, characters, props, details, sound effects, etc.) can be selected from the program’s repertoire of elements and inserted in simple drag-and-drop mode: authors can also insert their own images or sounds to personalise the production further.
This environment has the following specificities: it promotes story creation and language learning ; the user acts both as a story observer and a story author ; the learning approach is situated/case-based ; the technology used is 2D graphics and animations .
Tactical Language Training System (TLTS) http://www.isi.edu/isd/carte/proj_tactlang/ The Tactical Language Training System (TLTS) is designed to help people who wish to communicate properly in Arabic countries to acquire basic communicative skills by practising the language and learning culturally appropriate gestures. The system provides short game-like episodes where the learner needs to communicate with native speakers and perform certain tasks.
This environment has the following specificities: this application fosters the acquisition of language knowledge and social skills ; the user acts as a participant ; the learning approach is game-based ; the technology used is a 3D environment with intelligent agents and allows speech recognition and generation .
Teatrix http://gaips.inesc-id.pt/teatrix Teatrix is a 3D virtual learning environment for story creation which allows children not only to participate in the creation of stories but also to take the role of a character. Teatrix provides the settings and a group of typified characters, following the functional roles presented by Propp; the children give life to the characters and write the plot. This program includes two types of agents: controlled by children and autonomous ones).
This environment has the following specificities: this application also promotes story creation ; the user acts both as a story observer and a story author ; the learning is promoted through role playing ; the technology used is a 3D environment with intelligent agents .