The Power of Metaphors in eLearning

Synthesis:
In the film, Lincoln, President Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens used the power of metaphors to solve two crucial historical stand-offs during the American civil war. The insights shared here will help us to better appreciate the power of storytelling and show us how we can effectively use it as eLearning professionals, developers, and trainers. __________________________________________________________________________

Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s masterful biographical film on Abraham Lincoln, unravels the saga of an emerging American nation torn by ideological divide. The centerpiece of the film is the last four months of President Lincoln’s life, dedicated to push for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution by the House of Representatives.

While the film uncovers the many facets of the 16th President of the United States both as a man and  as an emancipator, it provides a glimpse into how other Americans stood by or stood against Lincoln. As soldiers fight on the battlefields, another battle shifted to the United States Congress as Republicans and Democrats debated on the meaning and context of the line: “Men, being created equal.”

Even the Republicans were divided. 

Thaddeus Stevens was firm on his hard stance on full equality for all – Negroes and Whites – on marriage and voting rights. However, Lincoln only wanted to focus on equality under the legal definition of emancipation.

To persuade Stevens, Lincoln used this metaphor:

“The compass points you true north but does not warn you of obstacles and swamps along the way. What is the use of knowing the North Star when along the way one can sink into a hole and never reach one’s destination?”

Apparently, Lincoln’s metaphor was so persuasive that it convinced Thaddeus Stevens  to support the Law of Emancipation.

Taking his cue from Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens used the power of metaphor to outwit and overpower the hostile Congress with these words:

“How can I hold that all men are created equal? When here before me stands stinking the moral carcass of the gentleman from Ohio, proof that some men are inferior, endowed by their Maker with dim wits, impermeable to reason, with cold pallet slime in their veins instead of hot red blood?!

You are more reptile than man, George!

So low in fact, that the foot of man is incapable of crushing you.

Yet, even you... even worthless, unworthy you, ought to be treated equally before the law.

And so, I say again and again and again: I do not hold the equality of all things - only the equality before the law!“

At the end, Steven Thaddeus succeeded.

Congress passed the Law of Emancipation.

So, what can we learn from here?

If you want to accelerate the learning process, use metaphors and tell a story.

While Lincoln used the ‘story of a man following the North Star’ to persuade Stevens, he in turn, told a scathing tale about ‘a man who was as low as a reptile’ to rebuke Congress.

By infusing metaphors with brilliant storytelling, the complex abstracts are transformed into understandable specifics.

In Story-Based eLearning Design there are abundant opportunities to use metaphors. I often use metaphors to emphasize a point or stress a simple idea with a more vivid image.

For example:

"I hate doing this." to "I grind my teeth when I am asked to do this task."

"Avoid using the software for the wrong reasons" to "Don't use a dump truck to haul furniture or use a Volkswagen Beetle to haul a boulder."

Do you want to change the world?

Tell a story.

See previous blog: Transforming Minds - Using Metaphors in eLearning


References
 
Jimenez, R., Lincoln, Storyteller. 2012, accessed at http://vignettestraining.blogspot.com/

Lincoln Production Notes, accessed at http://www.thelincolnmovie.com/media/LincolnProductionNotes.pdf

Spielberg, S.: Lincoln. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox & DreamWorks Studio, 2012.
 


Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"

Can you explain the “Fiscal Cliff Crisis” to an Eight-year old?

The title of this article is a challenge to educators, designers, and developers on how to turn complex financial subjects into simple understandable lessons. Finance matters are very important in current real life situations as America continues to thread the tightrope of its economic problems. So, what learning modality could be more effective in teaching lessons on finance and money matters?

Try storytelling.

I’ve always advocated using the power of a story in teaching lessons. View an   introduction to our Story-based eLearning Workshop.

Synthesis. In the research paper Using Storytelling to Increase Interest and Recollection in Finance Concepts, the authors Lonnie Bryant and Renard Harris discussed the use of storytelling as an effective means to engage students in teaching finance and economic matters. The study examines the effectiveness of storytelling as a way to heighten  student recollection. Results of their study shows that story telling increases the interest and recollection capabilities of the students who were part of the study.

Elements of  Storytelling. The authors of the paper give significant reference to Hidler who wrote that

Storytellers also have the responsibility of respecting and protecting the audience as they travel together through the story (Harris (2007). Storytelling has the power to foster inclusivity because it engages the imagination and emotions (Hilder (2005)). Hilder (2005) writes that the mission of a story is to widen awareness and awaken possibilities. Stories should have a definite beginning, middle, and end, and a call to adventure that initiates a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey for the main character (Bishop and Kimball, 2006; Ohler, 2006). Merry and New (2008)

Reasons Why Storytelling is Effective. Here are summary points that justify storytelling as an effective teaching modality:

• Storytelling requires listeners to suspend their disbelief
• Storytelling induce the use imagination and metaphors
• Storytelling compels students to focus and to exert effort to listen
• Storytelling challenges people to respond and offer feedback

Conclusion of the Study. The authors Lonnie Bryant and Renard Harris in their paper Using Storytelling to Increase Interest and Recollection in Finance Concepts reached this conclusion:

This study has shown that the introduction of storytelling that links student interest and financial theory has led to an improvement in student performance. This is attributed to the fact that the use of storytelling was a successful active-learning tool that involved student recognition of some of the elements of the story. By incorporating a storytelling presentation, results from student performance reveal that a significant proportion of students have an increased recollection of  the material covered. It was also found that this positive outcome was not related to the type of class but rather the increased interest in the lecture. These results support arguments that students that have a greater interest in the presentation have a perceived benefit between studying financial theory and its practical applications by personalizing the problem, storytelling can change the minds, motives and capacities of students. The art of storytelling can provide students with knowledge, skills, and the moral convictions that are needed to establish a productive and financially stable community. Thus, the goal of a lecturer should not be to teach from the text book, but to understand the text-book theory and incorporate that theory into a storytelling presentation. That requires understanding of institutional details that are applicable and integrating them into a storytelling presentation.

Read also my related blog:

Avoid a Fatal Error: Lack of Specificity in eLearning Interactive Stories

Reference

Bryant, L. and Harris, R. (NA). Using Storytelling to Increase Interest and Recollection in Finance Concepts.

 

Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"

Are You Riding the Waves or the Ripples? Tracking Learning Trends

Synthesis:
The Thought/Action Wave and the Brain/Technology Wave are two particular learning principles that enable faster, cheaper and easier learning. The speed at which innovations propel these learning concepts are discussed here. __________________________________________________________________________

I am not a surfer. The closest I can get to do a balancing act is riding a bike.

A surfer possesses the skills to ride the waves and swim through the ripples with right timing - not too soon and not too late.

As an observer and a consistent student of learning trends, I am constantly challenged to surf the waves and ripples of changes. There are instances when I miscalculate, overestimate or misread trends. At certain times, I feel off-balance, fail to ride the waves and end up swimming through the ripples instead. Yet surely, I determine to always stay afloat and survive. At particular opportune times, I find myself on  the crest of the waves, not just drifting with the ripples.


Click here for larger view 

Strong Waves

There are two strong waves that I pay attention to: the Thought/Action Wave and the Brain/Technology Wave.

Thought/Action Wave

In the 18th century, education, learning and training have focused on thought or knowledge retention. Thinkers of that era believed that when learners retain abundant knowledge, they perform on the job when needed: “Thought First - Action Later” (Johnson, 2002). In decades past, however, evidence showed that “Thought First - Action Later” was inadequate. The alternative approach: “Thought and Action are One” (learn and apply, learning by doing) gained popularity.

Yet, the momentum gained by the “Thought First-Action Later” principles and practices  in large institutions and infrastructures – schools, book publishers, teachers/educators, government, corporate training, business processes, others – still exists. The wave is powerful. It persists. The current is strong.

Understanding and deciphering the Thought/Action Wave is critical to decision making with regard to the focus of our energies and resources. Oftentimes, we find ourselves  solving a problem with palliatives and failing at it rather than directly addressing the
true issues.

As an example, designers and developers are frustrated that subject matter experts throw PowerPoint files and linear and page turning lessons unto their laps (remnant of the “thought first – action later” practice). Without presenting an alternative way of writing content, SMEs will cling to these traditonal methods.

Instead of banging our heads on the wall (swimming through the ripples), we need to ask, “What exactly is the problem (wave) and how do we find a solution (riding the wave)?”.

Brain/Technology Wave
 
Scientists and pioneering entrepreneurs are confident that a "thinking machine" will be perfected in the next few years, comparable to how the human brain works. The Singularity movement spearheads the conversations and forum for exchanges about the Brain/Technology Wave.

Unlike the approaches of earlier decades, where primary focus was on computing power, today’s scientists use the discoveries on how the brain works in their design of the "thinking machines."

There is a convergence of technology and brain sciences brought about by multidisciplinary research. IBM's Watson and robotics will change how we learn and work. The “thinking machines” will perform mundane and heavy data lifting and processing so we can spend more time on higher-thinking tasks or decisions. In profound ways, this will impact learning principles and practices. More and more we will find ourselves subordinating our knowledge to “thinking machines”. Such reality is now evident in ubiquitous tools like smart phones, GPSs, sequencing the human genomes and in many fields.

The Brain/Technology Wave is a dominant driver and accelerates this change in all facets of government and industries. Ray Kurzweil calls this the “Law of Accelerating Returns.”  Apparently, faster–paced changes are poised to happen in the next few years compared to progress in the past.

My Vantage Point and Balancing Acts – Riding or Falling

I don’t have a crystal ball to foretell what solutions will succeed or fail. However, patterns (ripples) emerge from big (trends) waves. They reveal the drivers of the solutions.

My intent is to share with you my interest areas and studies with the hope of providing you with a different vantage point.

See the diagram “Tracking Learning Trends: Are you Riding the Waves or the Ripples?”.
 
 Click to view larger image

Contextual Learning

People learn the natural way - through the interdependencies of things. Thoughts, ideas and knowledge have to be experienced. People need to discover meaning. This is the "Thought and Action as One" philosophy. John Dewey tells us, paraphrasing: “when we see a wagon, we just don’t see the parts, but the way people use the wagon.” Contextual Learning and Teaching are adapted methods in many universities and the adoption is growing.

Leaving ADDIE for SAM

Michael Allen in his book “Learning ADDIE for SAM” confirms what I have suspected all along – we need to develop courses reiteratively - small review cycles - and select what works in our environment (I stressed this in my book “3-Minute eLearning ”). Allen boosts our confidence that there are different ways to design and implement eLearning courses. SAM (the successive approximation model) describes what many of us do under the radar.

Microlearning

The Microlearning practitioners espouse the use of micro-content to make knowledge flexible, searchable and contextually relevant in work environments. The goal is to redesign work conditions to permit the instant occurrence of Microlearning. We see the effort in the direction of the 'Thought and Action are one" concept. See Microlearning Conference and Marcia Conner’s article. I made a study in 2007 on the Impacts of Microlearning.

Story and Experience Based Learning Design

I follow and continue to apply key principles and practices that Roger Schank pioneered. “Stories index memories and it is by stories that we recall and learn new things.” Through stories, learners find the meaning and context of the content that help them apply ideas in real-life work situations. See Roger Schank's "Tell Me a Story", “Teaching Minds and my workshop on Story-Based eLearning Design.

Social Media and Learning

In "Informal Learning", Jay Cross relates that 90% of knowledge and skills are acquired by learners informally. Furthermore, Jane Bozarth (Social Media for Trainers) shows us how to use social media to optimize informal learning opportunities.

Social Learning encourages learners to share and contribute their learning and experiences. This aids them to connect ideas with real-life work situations. By now, you recognize how the trend and the above developments support the promotion of the "Thought and Action as One" principle.

Gamification

Mario Herger, at the Caltech Entrepreneurs’ Forum last Jan. 12, 2013, spoke of how they have made training on software at SAP more engaging for workers with the use of gamification. When workers were asked, “How’s your training going?”, the response was, “Don’t you see I am working hard. I need to win this exercise!” Gamification accelerates “Thought and Action is One“ learning.

ZebraZapps

ZebraZapps is an authoring tool created for the next generation of learners and developers. It is a sophisticated and advance technology for developing highly interactive content. It signals the growing maturity of software development for the learning industry. It supports the embedding of interactive design in programs. One would be embarrassed to producing page-turning programs in ZebraZapps.

Storyline

Articulate has succeeded in providing developers and designers a new milestone in authoring tools. Storyline adds the power of Flash in authoring without a single scripting line. It enables many “do-it-yourselfers” in eLearning, to develop faster, cheaper and smarter interactive programs. See my workshop on Storyline Authoring.

Experience API

Experience API is a new simple learning utility that allows companies to track and encourage informal learning and sharing of experiences. I emphasize “ encourage” because it is my hope that this will turn out to be a recognition of how learners learn from real-life situations which lead to faster and cheaper ways of providing learning opportunities. The risk, to my mind, is that Experience API becomes another “big brother” and SCORM-type of tracking for “cover your __ (CYA) type of learning.”

Whole Brain

I had the distinct privilege of working with Perla Tayko at the Assumption University, Bangkok, to help students use software I developed for “thinking through” learning content. Tayko says, “to take advantage of the explosion in digital technology, we need to employ the whole brain thinking for improved learning and decision making.” 

Recursive Design

I have been following the work of Jürgen Schmidhuber on self-learning machines. His works on neural networks and building robots endowed me with curiosity and creative feed for my study on the learner’s ability to learn from small events, incrementally and rapidly. I am fascinated with his applications of the self-supervised learning in robots.

Mobile

Mlearning is the new eLearning. Mobile tools enable the learners to learn on need, wherever and wherever. Mobile learning is where “Brain/Technology Wave” and “Thought/Action Wave” juxtapose. We are enamored by the freedom and impact on productivity and our quality of life. We often forget that Mlearning is the tip of the wave that liberates and accelerates the learner’s capability  to “Think/Act” at the same time. The ubiquitous Mlearning tools will forever bury the delay and hindrances caused by the “thought, action later” thinking. Now, we think-act-educate-use simultaneously.

Drones

Chris Anderson left Wired Magazine to launch the “do-it-yourself” venture into the mass production of drones. What is fascinating to me is the amazing speed of technology transfer from military use to civilian use. Furthermore, Anderson worked with a young kid to evolve the concept from the inception of the project - an application of crowd sourcing. This suggests that innovation comes from all around us.

Cloud Computing

The “cloud” will enable us to afford cheaper, faster and easier ways to design and deliver learning. Check out Jane Hart’s website for the newest and greatest of learning software. One can see the abundance of tools and enablers to help us implement learning environments.

Robotics and Learning

Steve Wheeler discloses how we will never be able to separate our learning and work away from some form of robotics. Today, this happens in the high-fidelity-simulation type of training.

Watson

We are all familiar with IBM’s Watson. In the healthcare industry, Watson works with mobile devices to help doctors and staff. In Fortune’s January 14, 2013 issue, an article illustrates how our lives are now so intertwined and dependent on drones, medical devices, surgical robots and supercomputers. “Thinking machines” will most likely help us to act faster and better by outsourcing the data mining drudgery, while allowing us to think through and make decisions on more important things. 

Fascinating future, here and now.
 



Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"

Lincoln, the Storyteller

Synthesis:
What makes a good storyteller? Stories abound and Lincoln – the extremely smart being that he is – used these accounts to bring home critical points for decision making and persuasion. Embedding stories in the learning design achieves a similar outcome. Discover how Lincoln inspires you and me to become better storytellers, too. __________________________________________________________________________

Click here for a preview of "Lincoln"

I saw the movie “Lincoln” three times. Totally inspiring and deeply moving.

As a curious student of interactive stories, I look into stories to discover their functions in the context, meaning and characters through which they communicate.

Self-reflection stories

Lincoln was about to send a telegraph to General Grant to allow the Confederate representatives to come to Washington and negotiate for a peace treaty. This would have compromised the  plan to pass the emancipation act. At a very crucial moment, he asked two junior officers a thought-provoking question.

“Can we choose to be born? Are we fitted to the times we’re born into?

A reflective and introspective question done in the manner of conversation with oneself.  At the core, is a philosophical argument on the role and impact he made, as Lincoln, the  President. The question also asks all of us to reflect on our roles and what we would do if we were in such a situation. That single thought-provoking question transported us, the audience and citizens, into the real-world issues. It made Lincoln real.  It provided vivid pictures of the difficult times they were in. 

Story of dilemma

Thaddeus Stevens was a leading proponent of total equal rights. His insistence on full equality for all, including marriage and voting rights, raised violent resistance amongst the democrats – as Lincoln observed.  To persuade Stevens to focus on equality under the legal definition of emancipation, Lincoln persuaded him with this metaphor:

“The compass points you true north but does not warn you of obstacles and swamps along the way.

What is the use of knowing the north star when along the way one can sink into a hole and never reach one’s destination?” 

Lincoln succeeded in persuading Thaddeus Stevens . The law of emancipation was passed.

The meaning of stories in learning design

I have no intention to suggest that our learning content is parallel to the issues that Lincoln had to deal with. However, using his story helps us relate these two story approaches to help learners learn.

The first task is to transport the learner into real-ife situations using stories. It is only through stories that we add realism and relevance.

Asking learners reflective questions or allowing them to resolve problems through their discovery of their own answers help make the content more useful to them.

Oftentimes, we teach our content yet fail to understand that learners must think for themselves to make sense of the content and find ways to apply the ideas.

Summary:

Lincoln was a great storyteller.  Learning professionals can learn from his example.  Leveraging stories to reflect and drive home learning points lead to the learner’s discovery of the solution, ensures better retention and positive impact on job performance.

Related blogs

Surgical Insertion of Micro-Scenarios that Beautify and Fire Up Your eLearning

Listen to the Geniuses Who Created Our Worlds
 
Using the ridiculous and exaggerated situations to hone learning ideas.


Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"

Instant and Rapid One-Minute Learning for mLearning and eLearning

Synthesis:
In a rapid, constantly-changing, technology-enabled work environment, which one works best – linear or random learning? How do we rethink or reformulate to make the linear content friendly to random learning?  How does this benefit instant learning for busy learners? Discover the steps and begin to apply it. __________________________________________________________________________

Science supports random learning Illustration 1- Optimal Ordered Problem Solver Click here for a larger view

Illustration 2 – Recursive Learning Click here for a larger view

Heart of Recursive  Learning

The faster the lesson/content “SPINS” (facilitates or elicits) the heart of Recursive Learning,  the more instant learning occurs.

Which image helps instant learning on sexual harassment? 

Five Steps in Formulating Instant Learning

1. One small idea
Identify from your content a small piece of idea you want learners to learn.

2. Event
Find an event based on experience.
 
3. Embed
Play the event and look for opportunities to embed the idea to be learned.

4. SPIN IT
Allow, facilitate or elicit conversations, comments, relating and finding more information.

5. Test it
Test using Recursive Learning Analysis.

1. Select one small idea (not big)
Avoid dumping massive information on learners.  Cut down your content by selecting key ideas and critical data specifically relevant to the learner’s immediate learning needs.

2. Find an event strongly associated  with experience.
Learners quickly relate to the learning idea when an associated experience is
used to support it.  Context is easily recognized and retained in the learning process.

3. Embed - Play the event, look for opportunities to embed the idea to be learned
Stories of actual and relatable events in the workplace heighten the learners' engagement and keep them focused on discovering the embedded learning objective.  Strategically incorporate these events into the lessons to point learners towards the key learnings.

4. SPIN IT!
Allow learners to facilitate or elicit conversations, comments, relating and  finding more information. Leverage social media tools,modern day gadgets and other forms of passing on information, to enhance interactivity and experience sharing.

 

Click here for a larger view.

5. Test it. 
Test using Recursive Learning Analysis

 

Click here for a larger view.

Here is a preview of a sample for instant learning from Storytakes –
“That Is Reassuring” .  Click here to view the vignette. (Note: The demo is an HTML5 version and may not work in all browsers.)

SPECIAL FREE OFFERS : Click here to preview the recording on Instant Learning and download the handout.
 
View more sample vignette presentations by clicking on our StoryImpacts link.

Summary:
The dawn of modern technology fuels instant and recursive learning. By applying the 5 steps in the formulation of instant learning, learners are provided with access to key references at their fingertips.  Learning professionals, on the other hand, are enabled to achieve learning objectives by leveraging an innovative and high-impact approach through the strategic use of technology.   

Related blogs

eLearning Design for Short Attention Span and Overloaded Learners

Proof of Direct Link between Learning and Performance
 
Making Technical & Compliance Learning Engaging & Fun




Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"

Divergent Thinking - RSA Animation; Visualization of Stories

You probably have seen this.  Sir Ken Robinson has a compelling message on rethinking learning, teaching and our educational institutions. RSA Animation did a fantastic job visualizing the ideas.

Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning.
See more eLearning stories: Story Impacts eLearning System