Learning through Story

Which can you recall more easily: the plot of Die Hard or all the capital cities of Canadian provinces?

Stories help anchor information in a learner’s brain and promote greater engagement with the content. Most instructional designers I meet are eager to add more storytelling to their courses, but they’re unsure how to do it. Larger-than-life blockbusters make storytelling seem complicated. I thought so too before I did an MFA in Screenwriting. Let’s walk through the four sections of basic story structure.

In the first section, we meet our main character. Our main character is often a representation of us: average (if airbrushed) with someone to talk to: a mentor, sidekick or volleyball named Wilson. The character has a goal and takes on a challenge, often with some reluctance.

In the second section, our character pursues the goal and learns lessons along the way. At roughly the halfway point, something changes: the goal becomes more difficult or more urgent to achieve, an unexpected obstacle is presented, a T-Rex escapes from its compound. It can also sometimes be a good thing that happens, and the character is now eager to embrace this new challenge.

In the third section, our character continues to tackle the challenge but becomes discouraged after several failed attempts. This goal seems impossible to achieve, like when Joy falls in the Memory Dump. Through failure, the character learns something and is forced to change part of his/her/their character.

Much like when you cut into a homemade apple pie, the final section is the smallest. Our character has embraced change, vanquishes the opponent, triumphs over one final hurdle or puts Ilsa on the plane. The harder the hurdle, the greater your audience roots for them.

Story structure can be used for learning the periodic table of elements or the value of corporate compliance. It can be used in case studies, in little snippets, like callouts, throughout the course content, or the entire course can be enfolded into story structure. Here are three ways to apply story structure to your courses right now.

1)    Create a student character whose challenge is to navigate the course content. The student character can struggle with sections of the course or with study skills. Your SME could help identify particularly challenging elements of the content, which could help structure your story. For example, the student doesn’t understand the relationship between the beginnings of democracy in ancient Athens and Canada’s first-past-the-post political setup. Firstly, the student doesn’t think it’s valuable to learn this information, but it’s necessary for a passing grade. Secondly, the student begins to study the subject. At the halfway point, the student decides to run for school council, so understanding governance has an added importance. In the third section, the student learns more about the history of democracy, but there’s a lot to learn, and it really doesn’t seem that learning history will help the student win the student council election. However, with only a few days before the election, the student discovers a little detail from the course content that leads to election victory. Huzzah for learning!

2)    Create a character who makes mistakes. Maybe you’re working on a course that teaches how to write public policy. In the first part of your story, the character writes fifty pages of text and submits it just within deadline. Perfect! Except there are a few small errors, and the character covers them up. In the second part, the character continues covering up the problems. At the halfway point, your character could try to solve the problem without admitting to their errors, only to have the problem double in scope. In the third part, what started as minor errors have now become major roadblocks to success, not just to the character but to the larger organization as well. Finally, your character admits to the errors and fixes all of them, ready to take responsibility for their actions.

3)    Look at the course learning objectives. Can that provide the basis for a story?

a.     Is there a sequence to the learning? Could you build a story about the problems of learning the information in the wrong sequence?

b.     What could happen if the learning isn’t achieved? Yes, the student needs to pass the course, but maybe the course is about ethics in the workplace. Could you build a story about a world in which workplaces existed entirely without ethics?

c.     Are there elements of transformation in the course objectives? Can you present a futuristic story based on successful integration of this course learning objective into daily life?

Our brains are hard-wired for story, and connecting facts to story helps fuse that information in your learners’ memories, creating a richer learning experience. Sharing this information with your SMEs will make their content richer. In the comments, let me know your ideas about how to incorporate basic story structure into Brightspace courses. Looking forward to the conversation!

PS: Did you catch all the film references? The volleyball named Wilson comes from Cast Away. Jurassic Park features many run-away dinosaurs, including a T-Rex. Joy falls in the Memory Dump in Inside Out, and Casablanca’s ending features Ilsa getting on a plane.