Transmedia is a unique form of storytelling. The prefix trans means across, beyond, through, or changing quite thoroughly, so transmedia can be understood as across media, beyond media, or changing media quite thoroughly. Contrast this with multimedia, in which the use of more than one medium (book, video, music, pictures, etc.) is utilized. Transmedia, then, involves media applications that cut across, go beyond, or thoroughly change the underlying media.

While critical studies professor Marsha Kinder coined the term, media scholar Henry Jenkins is among the foremost leaders in the area of transmedia applications in storytelling. As a community, instructional technologists can help Jenkins to translate these ideas, which focus more on media products, directly into learning environment design. Transmedia, according to Jenkins, is essentially a way ...