Indiana University of Pennsylvania faculty member Mike Sell has received a two-year $255,000 grant from the Alliance for Decision Education to develop and assess an innovative English Language Arts curriculum to improve the decision-making skills of high-school students.
Sell will be working with students and teachers at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville.
Sell, a member of IUP’s Department of Language, Literature, and Writing, is co-leader of the Digital Storytelling Project with two recent IUP graduates, Rachel Schiera and Zeeshan Siddique. Schiera received her doctorate in curriculum and instruction in 2019, and Siddique is a 2025 literature and criticism doctoral graduate.
Dana Driscoll, also a faculty member in the IUP Department of Language, Literature, and Writing, is serving as director of research, overseeing qualitative and quantitative research design and the collection and assessment of data for the project. IUP students Amar Mmoud, Taylor McKelvey-Hughes, Mary Stewart, and Brennon Huff will serve as instructional assistants.
The Digital Storytelling Project was founded in 2015 to support K-12, university, and nonprofit educators to improve learning engagement and reinforce critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. For this project, the DSP and Franklin Regional teachers Susan White, Julie Babal, Lisa Fako, and Sarah Bowers will design a curriculum that integrates standards-based study of classic literary texts with decision-making concepts and videogame design.
“Improving young people’s ability to make good decisions is a critical mission for today’s educators,” Sell said. “We believe that one way to support that mission is by teaching decision-making concepts in a curriculum that integrates the analysis of great works of literature and the design of storytelling video games. After all, literature is full of characters who must make challenging, consequential decisions. When Hamlet asks, ‘To be or not to be?’ that’s a question about a life-changing decision. Similarly, a well-designed game asks its players to do the same. A well-designed game is a series of interesting decisions.”
The two-year study is funded by the Alliance for Decision Education, a nonprofit organization leading the call for decision education to be taught in schools across the country. The Alliance for Decision Education is a national nonprofit and field builder with the mission of improving lives by empowering students with essential skills and dispositions for making better decisions. The Alliance partners with teachers, academic and business leaders, families, and community members to raise awareness and lead the growing call to have decision education taught in schools across the country.
“This research is an important step forward for the field of decision education,” Alliance Executive Director David Samuelson said. “It is exciting to see researchers and teachers working side by side to test, refine, and better understand how integrating decision education into core subjects like English language arts can shape student learning and long-term outcomes.”
Additional support comes from the IUP Department of Literature, Language, and Writing; the IUP College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs; the IUP University Senate Small Grant Program; and the IUP Research Institute, particularly Charlie Gambino.
“Dr. Sell’s team integrates the best traditions of literary study with digital design, student-centered teaching, and community partnerships,” IUP Department of Language, Literature, and Writing Chair Gian Pagnucci said.
“This project wouldn’t be possible without the expertise and creativity of our teaching partners,” Schiera said.
White, coordinator of the Franklin Regional Senior High School gifted education program, was the first teacher to welcome Sell into her classroom and is a member of the DSP leadership team. Frankling Regional teachers Babal, Bowers, and Fako have collaborated with Sell and the DSP since 2018 and were teachers of Sell’s three children, all of whom are Franklin Regional High School graduates.
“The curriculum and the needs of our students were primary in our planning, and the DSP has been supportive of those goals in implementing this program,” Babal said.
Ron Suvak, principal of Franklin Regional High School, is proud of his faculty members and their involvement with the project.
“These teachers are exposing our students to crucial twenty-first-century skills like critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. By integrating decision education into English language arts, our teachers are enabling real-world readiness and innovation, whole-child development, and excellence,” Suvak said.
For further information about the Digital Storytelling Project, persons can contact Prof. Sell at msell@iup.edu. For further information on the Alliance for Decision Education, visit the Alliance for Decision Education website.
IUP’s Department of Language, Literature, and Writing includes programs in English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Asian Studies, and graduate studies at the master’s degree and PhD level in composition and literature, composition and applied linguistics, literature and criticism, and several certificate programs.
Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. As IUP celebrates its 150th anniversary during the 2025–26 academic year and through the Impact 150 comprehensive campaign, the university honors a legacy of educational excellence while looking to its next 150 years of student success, innovation, leadership in healthcare education, and public service.