Post on 15-Apr-2017
The Power of Stories in Learning
© 2015 Nimble Narrative
Jennie Fennelle ATD-Cascadia Learning Leaders Forum
May 13, 2015
Today’s Discussion
The science of stories
Story framework that works well for training
Practical design tips
A couple paired activities
Resources
Disclaimers!
Story-based design is only one type of tool for engaging training.
Stories don’t work for every type of training.
Story-based learning doesn’t replace traditional approaches—it enhances them.
Tell Us About a Time…
…when you learned something through a story.
Human beings master the basics of storytelling as young children and retain this capability throughout their lives.
Stephen Denning!
Why Do We Train People?
…to influence a change in behavior
The Power of Stories
in Learning
Learning Equation
Connection + Cooperation
= Empathy
Leads to a change
in behavior.
Context & Authenticity
If you’re leaving stories out of your training, you’re missing an opportunity for
authentic learning.
Context & Authenticity
Learn From Other Disciplines
What Is a Story?
I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.Flannery O’Connor!
What Is a Story?
Tale of imaginary or real characters, told to inform, persuade, or entertain.
A narrative, either true or fictitious, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct.
A medium we can use to communicate meaningfully with each other.
The Basics: The Story Arc
1. Setup: Introduce characters, setting, and the situation/problem at hand.
2. Conflict: Elaborate on what the problem is.
3. Resolution: Work out the conflict; come to a conclusion.
We experience life as a series of ongoing narratives, as conflicts, characters.
Beginnings, middles, and ends.Dr. Walter Fischer!
Where and when? Who’s the main character? What does he/she want?
What’s in the way?
The Basics: Four Questions
The Hero’s Journey
Hero is in an ordinary world.
He is called to a quest.
He’s reluctant, but he accepts.
He’s tested by enemies.
He goes through an ordeal.
He’s victorious!
He is transformed!
He takes his reward back home.
The Hero’s Journey
Hero is in an ordinary world.
He is called to a quest.
He’s reluctant, but he accepts.
He’s tested by enemies.
He goes through an ordeal.
He’s victorious!
He is transformed!
He takes his reward back home.
Sales Rep = Character.
Reduce theft, increase sales.
Skeptical, but accepts quest.
Major theft occurs.
Uses crime prevention.
Reduces theft 80%!
He’s recognized/rewarded.
Teaches others.
The Hero’s Journey
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler
Try It: Story-based Design Interview
1. Find a partner.
2. Decide who will be the SME,
and who will be the designer.
3. Pick a “how-to” topic the SME
knows a lot about.
It can be anything!
4. Designer interviews SME,
using SBID questions.
5. Together, SME and Designer
answer worksheet questions.
Stories Are In Our Blood
Oxytocin! • Empathy • Cooperation • Willingness to help • Stronger social cues
Narrative Lights Up the Brain
Narrative Form
“The only way [kids] have of organizing the world, of organizing experience.”
- Jerome Brumer, NYU Psychologist
(quoted in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point)
Narrative World
“We live in a story-shaped world…with libraries of plots…that help us interpret our own and
other people’s experience.”
- T. R. Sarbin, Psychologist, UC Santa Cruz {Quoted in Third Update on Adult Learning Theory)
How Do Stories Engage?
1. Build emotional connections.
How Do Stories Engage?
2. Construct knowledge.
1. Build emotional connections.
How Do Stories Engage?
3. Improve recall.
2. Construct knowledge.
1. Build emotional connections.
The ID Role in Story-based Design
Change the way you think about your job as an instructional designer.
Reframe some basic vocabulary (e.g., assessments = challenges).
The learner is a main character—a potential hero.
Take your learner on a quest to solve a problem.
How We Learn Through Stories
By hearing stories, we learn what to do…and
what not to do.
How We Learn Through Stories
By telling stories, we make connections with others.
We spread wisdom.
How We Learn Through Stories
By recognizing ourselves in stories, we see patterns.
It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear.
Italo Calvino!
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Conduct interviews.
Interview SME and learners.
Ask “Hero’s Journey” questions.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Create learning objectives.
Base them on interview answers.
Focus on challenge, success, failure, useful tools, and obstacles.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Choose a level of immersion.
Most immersive: Central challenge draws learner in.
Less immersive: Answers add context to training.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Map challenges to objectives.
Each objective should have a challenge.
Create meaningful feedback and opportunities for recovery.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Establish a mood or tone.
Create a setting that
appeals to your learners.
Focus on making it come
to life.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Hook and engage learners.
Throw them into the action.
Focus on something your
learners care about, right
away.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Facilitate connections.
Help learners connect the
links between the known
and the new.
Build in opportunities for
discovery throughout.
There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.
Willa Cather!
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Promote content retention.
Make the narrative cohesive.
Focus on what’s important;
leave out extraneous details.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Design ways to recover.
Include custom feedback.
Allow learners to try again.
Provide resources to
uncover answers.
Practical Ways to Incorporate Story Into Your Training
Reward successes.
Recognize valiant efforts.
Make the resulting
transformation obvious.
Making the Case for Story-based Design
Pitch an enticing “before and after”:
Before: A 200-page manual on how to avoid sexual harassment at work
After: An immersive “day in the life” online training in which the learner is a main character who must navigate sensitive situations, with custom feedback and opportunities for mistakes/recovery
Making the Case for Story-based Design
Share some details on the power of stories.
Humans naturally learn through stories, from the time we’re very young.
There’s no learning curve in stories. We inherently tune in and understand a good narrative.
The universe is made of stories, not atoms.Muriel Rukeyser!
Making the Case for Story-based Design
Encourage stakeholders to collaborate on design.
Story-based design works well as a team effort with multiple points of view represented.
Try It: Pitch Story-based Learning
1. Find a partner.
2. We’ll hand out one of 7 case
studies to you.
3. Read the case study together.
4. One person is the designer,
and the other the stakeholder.
5. The designer should pitch
story-based learning to the
stakeholder, with reasons why
it could work.
Try It: Pitch Story-based Learning
Pitfalls of Story-based
Design
Steer clear of novelty. Remember: Authenticity rules.
Pitfalls of Story-based
Design
Avoid getting carried away. Things can get complicated and expensive, but they don’t have to.
Your Story-based Learning Experiences?
How have you used stories in learning—intentionally or unintentionally?
Connect twitter: @jenniefennelle
www.NimbleNarrative.com © 2015 Nimble Narrative