Learning through Story (part 2) Many instructional designers (IDs) and instructors know the...
Learning through Story (part 2)
Many instructional designers (IDs) and instructors know the value of learning through storytelling. Stories engage us on both an intellectual and emotional level, and that combination leads to better retention of information.
So perhaps you’ve decided to incorporate storytelling elements in a course, but you’re not sure where to start. You should consider story structure and format. Format options include a personal anecdote, case studies or segmented stories sprinkled throughout a course leading to a whole story by the end.
Stories need both a character and a plot, which can be broken down into motivation + complication. The following table, which I like to call “The Table of Possibilities” (exclamation point optional), provides a basis for potential stories to enhance your content.
Let’s try some combinations.
1) The stressed supervisor wants to thwart a hostile takeover because the supervisor knows this takeover is bad news even if no one else does (only the main character knows there’s a problem). The supervisor knows someone who can help, but it’s the difficult client, and the supervisor wants to avoid interactions with this client. However, the company is worth it, so the supervisor digs deep and practices good communication skills and emotional intelligence to connect with the client and prevent the takeover. This story base works well for business, leadership, psychology or communication courses.
2) The experienced mentor is ready to retire but needs someone to carry on their work (leave a legacy and share knowledge with the world). The only person available (lack of resources) is the worrywart. The experienced mentor presents vignettes from their past and coaches the worrywart through those former decisions, avoiding the temptation to do the wrong thing and growing in knowledge and confidence (attitude adjustment needed). This story base works well for a variety of courses and can include the fun element of time travel for history/politics courses.
3) The naïve newbie wants to prove their skills in the lab outside of class hours and brings along the funny sidekick, who perhaps cracks content-related jokes or riddles. Chemicals get mixed up, and suddenly the funny sidekick is sick, and doctors need to know what combination of chemicals were used to accidentally poison the sidekick (a tight deadline). The newbie (or your learner) must now identify various chemicals to inform the doctors in order to save the funny sidekick. This story base works well for safety/WHMIS, chemistry or medical courses.
As an ID or instructor, you know your content and you know your learners, so hopefully some elements of the Table of Possibilities! jump out at you already. If they haven’t, take time to reflect or collaborate with colleagues and remind yourself that breakthroughs in your area of expertise took time and patience. Developing stories to help your learners connect with their content may take time and patience as well, but like the breakthroughs in your area of expertise, they will be well worth your effort.
Some content in this post is excerpted from a D2L Brightspace Community course “Learning through Story”.