ID Zone: Storytelling in eLearning

You are a natural born storyteller! Every time you tell a joke, relate an incident, explain facts & figures, talk about your childhood, recreate the steps in a task... See, you can do it.

How does storytelling relate to eLearning?
For design:

• confirm what to cover (objectives)
• decide how to cover it (design)

For content:

• using scenarios

For motivation & evaluation

• sell the course to futures learners (WIIFM)
• learn how peiple are using the couse in real life

Stories and scenarios can be used interchangeably. Scenarios are real-file stories with a purpose. A really good story can become a really good scenario.

Nonfiction stories in eLearning
Those stories are captured from direct observation or interviews. These are true events. Nonfiction stories can put the learning into context for the learner and make the resulting training more relevant.

Fiction stories
They may be based on real-life scenarios. Often a composite of many experiences. They can be used as cautionary tales or to model exemplary behavior.

So, let's create a story...

First, let's create an objective.
Demonstrate a useful, non-traditional way to use a toothbrush.

A good story contains:

• facts
• situation
• characters
• plot (conflict)
• resolution (ending)

Next, the facts:
Who does this? Define the user categories.
What are their goals?
There are many useful ways to get more from life from a used toothbrush.

Where does this happen and in what circumstance?
You can reuse an old toothbrush at home, at work, for cleaning, or other creative projects.

Characters really bring the story to life.
Personas represent characters' similarities and differences. Personas are composites of user analysis and turning it into a particular character. Also a user profile. They're not one real person, not a sterotype but an archetype, and not your average joe. They have specific properties.
They include:

• name/picture
• job title
• demographics
• goals and tasks in relation to the subject
• environment
• a quote that sums up what matters most to the persona.

If you have a persona for your characters, they can be developed more 'realisticly'. Now, where can you find the domographic info to develop your characters? Think creatively. Customer profiles, Department of Labor statistics, direct observation.

Now, what's the conflict?
BAck to our example. Kathy, our character is having trouble keeping the areas of her sink clean.

The resolution?
Kathy heard from a friend that a toothbrush could help.

Now yout can take that, put it all together, and you can build a scenario that is more robust. Remember elementary school? A scenario is really a story problem.

Change the persona, and the whole scenario changes. Instead of grandma Kathy, how about Paris Hilton or MacGyver?

Go and have fun. How can you use it in your design, in your content and in your evaluation?