The points of insertion of micro-scenarios in your eLearning program will boost learning effectiveness. The insertion points are important since it is best to use micro-scenarios sparingly and at the appropriate areas. When properly done, you can save on time and improve the quality of your programs.
Micro-scenarios – small, tiny, instant, rapid, quick and engaging learning – can add GLOW to your eLearning courses.
Using these types of scenarios to replace the page-turning type of learning will make you bankrupt. Why? Because scenarios can be costly if not used properly. Micro-scenarios are like diamonds on a ring. The shank of the ring is made of gold or silver, while the diamonds are strategically used to create the highlight or as a sparkling feature. The use of micro-scenarios utilizes the same concept.
Because they are high-packed interactions, micro-scenarios should be injected - yes injected or surgically embedded - in the right places and well-timed to make them work successfully. If micro-scenarios are used extensively – possibly wastefully – they become like wrongly applied Botox injections. Therefore, it is advisable to inject micro-scenarios in the right places and at the right times.
So, let’s be smart and inject micro-scenarios where they create the most impact in your eLearning projects.
These are the ten (10) areas.
1. Apply. When asking learners to apply ideas - instead of doing a memorization test, ask them to respond to a micro-scenario of a real-life event.
2. Response. Ask learners to pause and reflect on an idea - instead of just telling them, create a story interaction and scenario to elicit response.
3. Lesson starters. Start your lesson with a micro-scenario and story interaction - put learners on interaction mood at the very start. Get them hooked and engrossed so they can appreciate the topic.
4. In webinars. Allow learners to respond to a micro-scenario and story interaction as an activity in a webinar. This enhances the learners’ focus and attention in the webinar instead of multi-tasking. (See related blog “No-Lecture Webinar”)
5. Coaching. During coaching sessions, encourage participants to respond to a micro-scenario and story interaction based on their answers, to gauge their questions and learning needs.
6. Software. In software training, instead of just capturing the motions of the screen to show how the software works, use a micro-scenario and ask learners to respond to a real-life case. Then ask them to apply the solution in the software. See related blog.
7. Risky topics. In topics of a "risky nature" where sensitivity is a “must” in the design - like sexual harassment, disciplinary action or ethics - use a micro-scenario and story interaction to put learners in simulated situations that are real and yet less threatening.
8. Reminders. Use micro-scenarios and really small ones like 1-2 minutes as reminders. When you send out an email to remind or promote your courses, add a micro-scenario to provide learners with a teaser or a glimpse of the type of exciting learnings that can be derived from the program.
9. Complex. Use micro-scenarios in complex content to help learners find context or relate the complex ideas with real-life meaning.
10. Harm. When learning requires some physical risks or potential harm, it is good to use micro-scenarios to expose the learners to the content without having to go through the risk of physical harm like in oil rigs, drilling operations, handling hazardous materials and others.
Conclusion
Micro-scenarios work pretty much like diamonds in a ring – it gives the necessary glitter to your eLearning program. However, it should always be “injected” at the right place and at the right time for it to be totally effective, relevant and valuable to your learners.
Synthesis: With the barrage of distractions thrown at these already-overloaded learners, we are faced with the challenge to help them focus on what is necessary, must-learn, what is of immediate relevance and content that is rapidly applicable to their jobs and tasks at hand. My goal here is to provide helpful tips to engage our learners’ attention and achieve our learning objectives. _______________________________________________________ Design for Short Attention Span Learners Word Play Exercise (Fill in the Blanks) (Click here to play the exercise)
Do learners have short attention span or are our learning programs too long that we lose our learners in the process?
At the eLearning Guild Learning Solutions Conference, March 23-25, 2011, I facilitated a breakfast session on “Design for Short Attention Span Learners.” It was refreshing to hear so many good ideas on how to help learners assimilate knowledge in spite of the distractions, mobility and rapid demand for learning.
These are the common themes.
1. Useful content immediately Programs should be focused on must-learn and immediately-useful content. The ultimate goal of total content mastery can be learned while on the job.
2. Valuable content Work with the SMEs to enlighten them that not all content is important. The designer should take on the challenge of highlighting what the SMEs consider as valuable aspects of the learning when presenting the program design.
3. Quick Search Enable the program to provide a quick search, to allow learners to dive into the details of the lessons. This helps learners to study quick references and materials while on the job.
4. Small releases Release small sections of the program progressively instead of attempting a big launch period after several months of work. Learners will definitely benefit from small lessons spread over several determined intervals instead of taking them through a huge chunk of learning data at one singular time.
5. Easy navigation The navigation design should assist learners to access all available types of content at one glance or in a single site. For example, they can click on videos, audio, references, lessons, reviews, programs, lessons, modules, tests, etc. rather than keeping them hidden.
6. Indexing content Prepare a good index list of topics that are linked to specific pages in the lessons or programs to facilitate rapid access for the learners.
7. Multi-format Design programs so that some of the content are in simple formats like PDF, Word, PowerPoint and HTML with a good mix of the more complex formats (audio, video, image or Flash) resulting in an engaging, definitely interactive yet comprehensive, compact and not overly produced learning model.
8. SMS and Mobile For new updates on the programs, use SMS, text messaging and mobile devices with links to the specific pages.
9. Synthesis Always provide a short synthesis to inform learners about the gist of the content.
10. Bookmark and sharing Learners can bookmark and share relevant pages to help other learners. Certain programs cannot be shared by just focusing on specific single pages. Learners have to read the whole lesson or module before they unearth useful content.
11. Unbundle authoring content Consider authoring lessons and modules as separate or stand-alone units of programs rather than creating traditional closed and encapsulated courses developed by simply following the structures of authoring tools. They become a flexible and easily transferrable set of learning objects. Learners can then scan, view and select quickly from small lessons rather than large programs.
12. Simple time savers Simple time savers are: 1) video and audio files that show how long they are; 2) a short introduction or synopsis before asking learners to read a long document.
13. Working competency versus full competency Help SMEs and internal clients understand the difference between programs that help learners acquire vital and critical skills and knowledge immediately needed on the job (working competency) and those that they can master later (full competency). Sometimes, programs become excessively long and very boring because they force the learner to develop full competency even at the onset of the learning process.
14. Instant conversations In many instances, learners simply need a person to call, chat or exchange emails with, to inquire, validate, or acquire more understanding. We often forget that the ability to have instant, quick and short talks makes a huge difference.
Synthesis: As learning professionals, have we analyzed how our approaches affect our learners and their specific learning and performance environments? Why does one choose to adhere to his/her present method? Are you an AGNOSTIC or PRINCIPLED Learning Professional? A deeper understanding of these professionals may hopefully lead you to an enlightened decision. Perhaps, the Agnostic is the unbounded innovator in us and the Principled is the traditionalist in us. _____________________________________________________ As learning professionals, have we analyzed how our approaches affect our learners and their specific learning and performance environments? Why does one choose to adhere to his/her present method? Are you an AGNOSTIC or PRINCIPLED Learning Professional? A deeper understanding of these professionals may hopefully lead you to an enlightened decision. Perhaps, the Agnostic is the unbounded innovator in us and the Principled is the traditionalist in us.
“This vendor is telling me to spend 200 hours in task analysis. Don’t they know that we pretty much know the tasks?”
“We have so many learning rituals that are irrelevant.” he continued.
“We should rid ourselves (trainers and learning professionals) of practices that appear to be based on sound principles but are actually impractical and apparently outdated thinking.”
As I attend conferences and meet clients and friends, I also keep my ears to the ground and listen to how learning professionals evolve or drastically change their approaches. I look for patterns that help deliver results, improve learning, drastically cut costs and increase speed of delivery. Moreover, I specifically look for something out of the ordinary that I can also learn from. In fact, I’d like to share some interesting differences between the Agnostic and Principled Learning professionals.
Before I share my observations, allow me to define some terms. An Agnostic is a learning professional that is passionate about immediate results. This practitioner uses learning principles and practices only if they serve the end results. The Principled learning professional is also results-focused, but strictly adheres to practices that have been proven and tested in the past. The differences basically lie in the mind set and outlook of these two specialists. These determine their inclinations towards being Agnostic or Principled.
Here are a few of my observations. For easier understanding, we shall refer to these learning professionals as either AGNOSTIC or PRINCIPLED from hereon.
ROI in training and learning
The Principled believes in exact, long-drawn and often, stringent systems of measurements and time-tested scientific methods. As a result, the ROI reports tend to be historical, like a financial accounting process. They tend to be less adventurous and adaptable in their approaches.
The Agnostic uses anecdotal data to gauge learning impacts. This allows for quick information gathering. Jeff Beck of Knowledge Advisors says that anecdotal data are valuable ROI measurements. They are faster to collect. They attribute a deep value to the link between rapid and applicable learnings to job performance. See my related blog - Proof of Direct Link between Learning and Performance.
Don’t bother tracking learning completion
I am familiar with a division within CISCO that does not bother to track learning or training completion. This is the work of an Agnostic. The Principled will insist on tracking completion because it is part of the delivery process.
In the case of CISCO, the change and demand for new content is rapid. Systems engineers need the knowledge in a matter of minutes. For example, there are hundreds of anti-virus and malware patches released each day that it does not make sense to track if the learner has completed the lesson. The ultimate test is how well they apply the ideas on the spot.
Train learners on the essentials and let them learn how to find solutions
One large online retailer I worked with, reduced their two weeks on-boarding training to two days. Initially, the Principled insisted that the 10-day on-boarding program should persist. However with 100,000 products, the Agnostic realized it was impossible to train or even begin to orient workers on all these, during on-boarding classes. As a result, workers’ orientation centered on the basic policies of the company and trained them on the usage of the Wiki Product and Customer Management System to find answers to questions and provide solutions.
Twitter that impacts immediate performance
Mark Oehlert, in one of his presentations on Social Media mentioned about how a company applied a Twitter-like application to help engineers deal with electrical transmission line emergency responses. Engineers found it faster to send a tweet to alert other engineers of problems in their area that would impact other aspects of the electrical grid. The Agnostic found a practical way to use Twitter. The Principled would have been stuck with the question-how do I apply Twitter to learning and training instead of asking “where can this tool impact the performance of people?” Just-in-case and just-in-need training and learning – very costly impact
The Agnostic uses eLearning beyond its traditional definition - from just-in-case-knowledge to a just-in-need learning. Knowledge and skill requirements are changing so fast that the Agnostic focuses on immediate “working knowledge” rather than “full competency” training for ongoing learning on the job. The Principled continues to focus on compacting all knowledge in one training because of the fear that learners may miss the knowledge. Unfortunately, most learners can only retain so much in one sitting. Consequently, investments in long and elaborate courses are wasted. See related blog on How Much Training is Enough Training?
“They don’t know what they don’t know”
This is my favorite because it continues to be a training professional meme. It is so well-accepted that many use the statement without much thought.
I often hear “the Principled” say …
“If we don’t train learners on the content, they will be unable to do the job” or “learners cannot be trusted since they don’t know what they don’t know.”
Many of the “Principleds” adhere to the notion that people lack inherent wisdom to perform their jobs. The truth is, it’s pretty much the opposite.
Reversely, the Agnostics believe that the learners have a certain amount of experience, regardless of quantity and quality. Their approach aims to help the learners build on these experiences and connect them to the learning environment. This understanding of the learner’s wisdom is the foundation of social and informal learning. People can learn and contribute while they share with others. The job of this learning professional is to multiply this capacity. Please see Jay Cross on information learning.
Conclusion
Whether one is Agnostic or Principled is often a reflection of our growth process as learning professionals. We tend to be Principled when we stick to rituals from principles and practices we are accustomed to. In the process, we have ceased to question them or assess its efficiency especially in performance applications. The Agnostic is that part within ourselves that awakens to the realization that learning environments and its learners are evolving, sometimes faster than we can change our mind sets and outlook with a willingness to adapt better performance results.
Perhaps, the Agnostic is the unbounded innovator in us and the Principled is the traditionalist in us.
Synthesis: Scenario- based learning should take learners through a journey of discovery ; involving them in the events that take place at various points in your scenarios. It propels learners to think about the choices presented and not merely determining the right or wrong answers. Join me on a train ride to gain a better understanding of how to create a more engaging scenario for your next SBL challenge. _____________________________________________________ I conducted an informal survey of 20 workshop participants asking them this question: How do you know if your scenario-based elearning program works? The responses were: •Learners pick the right answer or options. •Learners do trial and error until they find the right answers. •Learners reflect on the choices provided. •Learners were engaged.
It was intriguing to me that no one mentioned about learners discovering the learning points from scenarios.
On the surface, the responses seemed descriptive of a scenario- based eLearning program. However, on further scrutiny, they were symptomatic of a surface- level or shallow understanding of how scenario-based eLearning works.
The Heart of Scenarios
Although the answers described some characteristics of scenarios, they did not mention the core idea of why scenario-based eLearning works, which is: It is about recognizing patterns from a series of choices leading to the discovery of the ideas.
The emphasis is on PATTERNS and DISCOVERY. •Identify the end idea to be discovered. •Set up different choices leading to the discovery of ideas at the ending.
Signs of Spoon Feeding
After more prodding, I confirmed my suspicion. Oftentimes, scenarios are unknowingly used as extensions of instructivist (telling) methods, rather than the implementation of the constructivist (discovery) methods.
It is spoon feeding when “scenarios” pose multiple choice-like questions. •When it is a memory recall question. •When choices lead to a right or wrong answer. •When feedback is like a lecture ...this is right or this is wrong.
This situation stems from a lack of clarity that scenario-based eLearning is a constuctivist(discovering ) method and not an instuctivist (telling ) method. Due to strong previous backgrounds, many developers or instructional designers write scenarios as if they are writing instructional lessons rather than presenting a series of choices for learners to discover ideas.
Hollywood Vs. Training
In the moviemaking industry, script writers are into discovery writing to allow its audience to experience the unveiling of events and revealing more of the story as the film progresses. They cannot simply shift to just “spilling the beans” and telling everything outright about each scene. That would certainly bore the moviegoers.
In the elearning industry, trainers and instructional designers who have gotten used to the traditional instructional styles would find it particularly difficult to shift from simply instructing or using the telling method to integrating scenarios that will allow the learners to pinpoint patterns and discover ideas, thereby, creating materials that engage their learners. However, in this case, the shift is totally beneficial for a more positive learning experience.
Seeds of Discovery are Like Train Travel
Scenarios are like train tracks. They have metal rails, wooden ties and the ballast.
e-Learning, The ballast is the content which is the foundation of the scenario. The metal rails and the wooden ties represent the story which helps roll the train coaches. The train stops are the events of the story while the final destination is the outcome. The learners are the passengers.
Content is not to be apparent or immediately divulged . Rather, it should assume a story form that draws in the learners.
The story should glide, lubricate and move the train. It ought to allow the participants to get involved in the unfolding of events and solicit insights instead of just telling them to listen in a communication scenario. Use characters to represent the content and let learners discover the idea/s through the actions and behaviors of the characters. This initiates discovery.
We shall look into the story about a character named John, a sales person rejected by prospects. He appears not to be able to understand what the customer wants.
But to illustrate my point just a bit further, do you notice that when traveling a certain distance by train, we begin to enjoy the trip when conversations revolve around the people, the places and highlights of these places along our journey? These conversations are the train stops. Each stop triggers certain questions in our minds. What is this place? What landmarks can be found? The questions vary depending on how the ride goes. Nonetheless, train stops arouse curiosity and interest. In scenarios, the train stops are the events.
The train stops - as events- are natural places to pose questions to the learner. This is where learners choose options. The choices are presented in story form and must be continuous. Using John as our primary character, the events might play out like this... - Event 1- he sent a proposal to the client - Event 2- client rejected the proposal - Event 3- John has to review and redo the proposal - Event 4- John meets with his manager. He gets warned that he needs to get this sale.. So on and so forth.... Each event asks questions of the learner to help them discover what John should do. This becomes an opportunity for deeper learning.
Opportunity to link event discoveries and develop into a pattern
Scenarios are not one-time discoveries of answers. That would be too boring. The gradual discovery of John’s actions and attitudes ,triggers something within us. It sort of acclimatizes us to get more involved in the story and the various situations of its character/s.
Arriving at the destination is a sure thing. But you gradually build a conclusion based on your travel.
Scenario-based eLearnings are like travels
Let’s say we travel from an urban setting to the rural area. We begin to notice new patterns at every stop. The sky gets bluer, more trees dot the landscape, people appear to live in a different way and buildings are less imposing. We now begin to grasp clues of certain patterns. Ultimately we gain better perspectives.
Conclusion...
One way you can test how SBLs work is to imagine yourself in this scenario.
Let’s say you and other learners are hauled in enclosed carts ...no stops...no windows...destined for somewhere ... seemingly regarded like cows for delivery. No alternative options.
Sounds stifling , right? No chance to discover ideas along the way. I’m not sure what experience that is but I don’t think I would like to take that route or even attempt to go there.
Click to play these example that may help inspire you in your scenario building efforts:
How to Embed Learning Goals in Stories _____________________________________________________ Workshops Join Ray's work on Scenario-based Learning and recieve a $150 discount. Use the code: tctrj
To instantly grab e-Learners, remember embedding content into stories.
Embedding Steps
Relate
Interpret
Apply
_________________________________
Which statement grabs you instantly?Life is full of trials and tribulations
or
I started work at 3:00 am and finished at 11:00 pm, exhausted.
The fist statement is a technical content, whereas, the second statement is a story.
Many experts agree that in e-Learning, storytelling is a good approach to instantly grab learners and help them relate the content to real life situations, hence, helping them to retain and apply the content. Thus stories carry with them the emotional aspects of learning.
Emotions as integral to learning
According to Rosenfield (1988), emotions have important connection to memory; Caine and Caine (1991): stories add and help in storing information, thus triggering its recall.
"The emotional depth and range that learners have affected their actual capacity to grasp ideas and procedures. Similarly, content that is emotionally sterile is made more difficult to understand. ... To teach someone any subject adequately, the subject must be embedded in all the elements that give its meaning. People must have a way to relate to the subject in terms of what is personally important, and this means acknowledging both the emotional impact and their deeply held needs and drives. Our emotions are integral to learning. When we ignore the emotional components of any subject we teach, we actually deprive learners of meaningfulness."
Stories and storytelling as carry learning ideas
Furthermore, stories and storytelling are the carriers of emotional content. Stories, which I call organics, have different forms: narrative stories, anecdote, example, metaphor, demo, illustration, and other forms that bring the emotional and real-life aspects of content.
Two types of content
There are two types of content: technical which are factual, objective, mechanical content and the emotional which are real-life situations, personal context and understanding of the content.
The technical and emotional content work hand in hand. However, we discover that in designing e-Learning pages, there is even a greater need to magnify the emotional side. There is practical reason to this. In classroom or facilitated sessions, the good instructor or facilitator can successfully relate the technical and emotional content. Unfortunately, in e-Learning, the facilitator and stories are absent and we oftentimes find the lessons to consist more of technical or mechanical content. Something is lost in the conversion. The emotional content is “lost in the translation”. Embedding content into stories
Embedding content into stories is the technique of relating mechanical content into engaging stories. The technique is valuable when you wish to instantly grab and engage your learners.
Essentially there are three steps.
Embedding Steps
Relate
Interpret
Apply
Relate the technical content to real-life situations
Relate refers to adding meaning to new mechanical content by presenting or translating them into emotional and real-life experience. The experience might be events, people and conversations. Furthermore, it is not sufficient to relate real-life situations. The real-life situation must have emotional aspects to them.To relate the technical content to real-life meaning involves one or more of these methods:
Citing unresolved problems – helps learners to focus on specific, meaningful and real-life conditions. Example: “John lost his left eye due to a furnace blast. He used the wrong protective goggles.”
Using familiar and personal experience – helps learners to understand the content by finding a relevant meaning in their personal lives. Example: “When was the last time you had to work 24 hours to meet a timeline?”
Using visualization and emotional experiences – helps learners imagine and picture in their minds and capture the emotions of the content through a story, metaphor, examples, illustrations and other organic methods. Example: “He touched my shoulders, leaned on me, whisper in my ears and sad ‘you smell great’”, she sobbed while telling her story to the lawyers.”
Brainstorming questions:
What is the mechanical and technical content? What is a real-life problem situation that depicts the content? What can learners easily relate to? What familiar events are familiar to the learners? What stories and other form of organics help the learners visualize and feel the emotions of the real-life situation?
Ask learners to interpret the story
While the learner is relating the story, it helps the learners when they are asked to interpret the story. Interpretation is a mental process that allows the learners to connect the story and the content in their own lives and their own create their meanings. The story and the content becomes part of learners’ experience. And therefore helps the learner to personalize and own the story and content. This is similar to the learner discovering the answers for themselves.
To help the learners’ interpret the story and content, one or more of these methods would work:
Asking the learner to respond – this helps the learners move from an observer to a participant in the story. Example: “If you are Pearl, what would you do?”
Bring the learner into thestory – this helps the learners become a character in the story. Example: “To stop this accident recurring, what would you do as a safety officer?”
Ask the leaner to resolve the problem – this helps the learners to actively offer their personal solutions to the problem.Example: “How would you resolve Nancy’s dilemma?”
Brainstorming questions:
How do you invite the learner to respond? How can the leaner become a character in the story? What and how do you ask the learner to resolve the problem?
Ask the learner to apply in their own real-life situations
To further engage the learner and strengthen the learning process, ask the learners to apply their understanding of the story and content in their own lives. This process is either a thinking or an action process.By applying the solution to a problem or the learning discovery into their real-lives, the learners satisfy themselves that indeed they discovered the meaning of the story and content. If not, learners will go back to interpret the story and will try to understand it further. Applying the ideas helps in retention of the knowledge, but even more important is the immediate usefulness of the ideas. The usefulness of the discovery helps learners recognize the immediate value of the content in their own lives.To help the learners’ apply the story and content, one or more of these methods would work:
Reflecting on the application – this helps the learners reflect on how they can apply the solution in their own lives. Example: “Why is this case useful to you?”
Applying in a personal case – this helps the learners apply the solution in a very specific personal case. Example: “Select a situation at work that you can apply your solution?”
Responding to a similar story – this helps the learners apply the solution in another related or similar story. Example: “In the related story where John and Martha had the same disagreement, but John, in this case, terminated Martha, how would you apply the ideas that you learned?”
Applying in off-line activity – this helps the learners extend the learning into a specific work project. Example: “Go off-line and have a conversation with your boss. Ask him: ‘How would handle this situation?’”
Brainstorming questions:
How do you ask the learner to apply the story, content and solution in their personal lives? What is a related story that you can ask learners to apply the content and solution?
Now, let’s look at some examples.
Example 1 - Sales TrainingThe technical content
To close a sale you need to know what the customer needs. Understanding the customer needs helps you offer the right product or solution. The more you know the customer’s need, the more you close the sale.
The story
Would you buy from a salesperson if he does not know what you need?
What’s the worst thing that can happen?
How would knowing the need of the customer help you close more sales?
Reflect for a moment. Which content helps you immediately relate to real-life situation?
Example 2 - Cashier Training
The technical content
Scan each product correctly to get an accurate record of the sale and update the inventory. A mistake is very costly for the company because of excess inventory and wrong forecasting in production.
The story
The delivery driver complains – “I just delivered 100 cases of product X, but you still have 100 cases available, on-hand? Why did you over-order?”
What likely happened in this situation?
What would you do to avoid the problem?
Reflect for a moment. Which content helps you to immediately relate to real-life situation?
Example 3 - Leadership Training
The technical content
An effective leader has integrity and can be trusted. The leader who is trustworthy builds a bond with his team members.
The story
How do you feel a leader whom you can not confide your personal concerns?
For team members to confide in the leader, what must the leader possess?
How do you build integrity and become trustworthy?
Reflect for a moment. Which content helps you to immediately relate to real-life situation?
In the above examples, we used the common patterns for questions?
Questions are basic technique of engaging the learners.
Example 4 - Leadership Training (A Story)
The technical content
An effective leader has integrity and can be trusted. The leader who is trustworthy builds a bond with his team members.
The story
It has been rumored that Dana was fired because Peter, her boss, reported to HR and legal that Dana had misused her company credit card. “I trusted Peter and I was asking for his advice”, Dana said. Dana was cleared of the allegations and kept her job.
What do you think happened in this case? What happened to the trust between Dana and Peter?
If you are Peter, why is it important to preserve the trust between you and Dana and how would you go about preserving this trust?
Conclusion
To instantly grab e-Learners, remember embedding content into stories.
Embedding Steps
A week before the fight, my family visited Manny at his residence in Los Angeles. I have followed Manny’s career. Admittedly I am not a sports fanatic, but Manny has shared so much of himself to fellow Filipinos and his story interests me. He has influenced the lives of millions of people.
That evening, I learned one of Manny’s philosophies in life.
“Don’t talk to your God and say I have a big Problem. Instead, tell your problem, that I have a great God.”
With crooked English, he says this praise from the heart, simple and true. And this is why he moves me and many others.
I interviewed Manny’s first manager during the early years of his boxing career. I asked him:
“What makes Manny a success?”
“He consistently shows up. He was not even in the first line of my best boxers, but because he was consistent, he was learning and had opportunities”, the manager said.
In the greatness of one person, like Manny, we can see ourselves. Many is a mirror that helps us reflect our own lives.
Ray Jimenez, PhD http://www.vignettestraining.com/ http://www.trainingpayback.com/
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way" "Helping Learners Apply Learning"
Web 2.0 and e-Learning 2.0 succeed partly through conversations and exchanges of stories and scenarios.
Obama's inauguration had millions of people each one with a unique story to tell. Imagine the conversations in blogs, twitters, photo-sharing, etc. Mind-bugling.
Tony O'Driscol talks of a similar example during the post-Virginia Tech event.
Tony Karrer suggests the need for the New Work Literacy. I agree. Though, in my humble opinion, aside from learning how to search or use tags, learners and trainers must re-learn making conversations in e-Learning 2.0 meaningful, engaging, enriching and value-adding.
Jakob Nielsen Alert Box, June 9, 2008, compares Writing Style for Print vs. Web.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Application Points: Participants in social learning are ALL engaged but differ in pursuing stories. Creators are “'ruthless” problem-solvers. The spectators allow others to weave the stories. In Learning 2.0, stories are foremost.
-------------------------------------------------------------
First, I like the way he adds a summary on top of the page:
__________________________________
Summary: Linear vs. non-linear. Author-driven vs. reader-driven. Storytelling vs. ruthless pursuit of actionable content. Anecdotal examples vs. comprehensive data. Sentences vs. fragments.
_________________________________
The summary tells the reader instantly of the "application points." So starting today, I should apply what I preach. Add “Application Points” in my Blogs and comments.
My second observation is how Nielsen connects the role of story telling with web scanning and “ruthless pursuit of actionable content” as opposed to linear, author-driven narrative.
"In print, you can spice up linear narrative with anecdotes and individual examples that support a storytelling approach to exposition. On the Web, such content often feels like a filler; it slows down users and stands in the way of their getting to the point."
"Web content must be brief and get to the point quickly, because users are likely to be on a specific mission. In many cases, they've pulled up the page through a search. Web users want actionable content; they don't want to fritter away their time on (otherwise enjoyable) stories that are tangential to their current goals. "
Nielsen reinforced what I often observed (e-Learning Behaviors). In web scanning, searching and learning, the reader uses the website to support his/her own story (to piece together their own story), while in linear, author-driven narrative for educational purposes, the author leads in the storytelling approach. The author can spice up the stories. The reader allows the author "to creatively construct the experience" for the reader.
Nielsen's ideas helped me connect storytelling, engagement and learning in social learning environments. I continue to wrestle with these issues. Scanning, picking fragments of data is our way of completing “incomplete stories”. In Social Learning, Networking and Collaboration, the learner or user characterized as a creator is goal-driven and takes some action to solve or satisfy his/her needs. The creator writes a Blog, shares video or makes comments on others' Blogs as a way of finding a solution or following a path with the end result of resolving some concerns.
For instance, when I asked others why they Blog, oftentimes, they say:
“I want to be part of a conversation. The conversation adds different dimensions to my thinking process. I always don't rush to write a Blog, but I read (form of listening) what others are saying. I ask questions. I devise my own answers and in some cases, I ask others to comment on my thoughts. It is a very personal process.”
From Nielsen's comment, I infer that scanning information in the Internet and social networking is a “process” of completing one's story. Our needs are our own stories and our stories engage us to action. Roger Schank (Tell Me A Story) says, our minds consist of “incomplete stories.” Seeking to complete our stories in conversations aids us to complete our stories and move along.”
Practical Impacts:
In social learning, participants get more engaged when postings are conversations and storytelling. That is why successful professional Bloggers who blog for a living, use stories and rumors to engage readers.
Can we do the same in business social learning? Do you tell stories?
