Last year I worked on a major project to develop online courses for HR professionals. Most of the content was aimed at influencing behavioural change so, as the principal writer, I decided to major on storytelling as strategy for learning. Over a six-month period, I reckon I must have written hundreds of stories, some no more than simple prompts for reflection and discussion, while some formed the primary means for uncovering ideas and generating insights.
Reflecting on how central storytelling had become so central to my approach to learning design, I thought back to the point at which I really became hooked on this technique. Back in 2003, I devoted a great deal of energy to the design of a new CD-ROM course entitled Ten Ways to Avoid Death by PowerPoint. In blatant disregard of all the usual constraints of time and budget, I set out to design a programme that was both highly interactive and media-rich, engaging as many of the senses as possible.
As the course was nearing completion, I came up with the idea of introducing the programme with a short story, adapted from a classic fairytale. Because the moral of the tale seemed to echo the main message of the course, I added this in, even though I was concerned about starting a course in such a passive, linear manner.
Some time later, I met with a colleague who had been reviewing the course. She had shown it to several managers in her company and got some feedback. I asked if anything stood out that they found particularly enjoyable or memorable - perhaps the games, the multimedia, the illustrations? No, you guessed it, it was the story. It made the point, it stirred the imagination, it stuck in the mind.
You may not be surprised, but I was. Can stories really be more powerful than interactivity in bringing about learning? I investigated further and found a site called storyatwork.com (it's long since disappeared). They said: "We are story-making machines. Cognitively speaking, every experience, every relationship, every object is stored in the mind as a story." OK, but any website that calls itself 'story at work' is going to be biased. What about the science?
Well, Jerome Bruner, the father of cognitive psychology, believes storytelling is hardwired into our brains. The primary reason infants are motivated to learn to speak is because they have stories inside them that they want to share with others. Simple stories like "I fell over" or "I had a bad dream and I'm scared", but stories nonetheless.
In his book Tell me a Story, psychologist and artificial intelligence expert Roger Schank argues that "knowledge is stories" and that intelligence may be more or less equated with the ability to tell the right story at the right time. Even the old-timers agree. According to the old Hopi proverb, "He who tells the stories rules the world". Hollywood already knows that.
When you attend a really good workshop, the one thing you can guarantee is that the facilitator will have some good stories. Perhaps a few are just good jokes, but many will be extremely relevant to the subject in hand. They illustrate a point, they stimulate discussion. That's why it's so much more difficult to run a workshop for the first time - it can take quite a while to come up with all those anecdotes and examples that bring the event to life. It also explains why your average facilitator's guide is never quite enough of a foundation on which to run a workshop - however thoroughly it lists all the steps involved in preparing and running the event, it's inadequate if it doesn't also provide you with a repertoire of interesting and illuminating anecdotes.
There's a clue here as to why so much self-directed learning is dry and boring. The typical designer will work with a subject expert to define the learning objectives and list the important learning points. They will structure this information and support it with visual aids and practical exercises. If they're not careful, what they will end up with is the online equivalent of the facilitator's guide, when what they should have done is spend hours in conversation with the subject expert, wheedling out their favourite stories on the topic - the successes, the horror stories, the amusing incidents.
Even if you don't fancy yourself as a budding chat show host, you are unlikely to encounter much opposition. Subject matter experts will find it much easier to tell stories than to articulate what they know in terms of neat and tidy abstractions. Funnily enough, learners won't be any different. Try as you may to come up with clever mnemonics to help them remember the five stages in this, or the seven elements in that, they're much more likely to recall the tales you have told or the experiences shared by other participants. They'll also waste no time in passing these stories on to their colleagues. After all, they're only human, and if the scientists are to be believed, simply story-telling machines.
Couldn't agree with you more Clive! His article certainly made my blood boil as someone who has seen e-learning gather momentum and traction over those 30 + years! Looking in from the outside I wonder what Rob thinks of the human race!! Come on let's get real - he is so misinformed and if e-learning is such a fad I'm surprised he bothered spending so much time on an inflammatory piece! Me thinks he protests a little too much. And perhaps he's just a little worried about his businesses long term strategy for survival.
ReplyDeleteWell...I've struggled with ILT/trainer types for many years, trying to get them to see the benefits of technology...but I think it does help occasionally to have a challenge from somebody like Rob. So...although we've a 30 year history, and heaps of bucks are being pushed into e-learning (whatever that is), does this mean it works? I'm not sure. On the contrary, I'd suggest the great majority of what we know as "e-learning", hastily put together, badly considered, solitary, ignoring most of what we know about how people learn (which is something Rob does know about - give him some credit), is a waste of money. It's neither signficantly cheaper, nor sufficiently differentiated, to offer real value. I think we need to focus ever more clearly on what technology really does offer...and put as much effort we can into proving that what we do is worthwhile. So - well done Rob. More challenges please!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Clive. He would appear to have not really understood what the rest of us are doing - successfully. It's no fad,it's evolution.
ReplyDeleteWell said Clive!
ReplyDeleteClive, it's been a great one to follow and although I like you put in my two pennyworth, I had to bite my tongue very hard not to get mad..... All those eLearning anger management courses I made, knew I would find some use for the material!
ReplyDeleteI fear that Rob is only one of a very small number of classroom training companies feeling the current pinch in the downturn, where many eLearning companies such as yours and mine are struggling to keep up with the increase. It's always greener on the other side, thankfully this time we are on the right side.
I think he like a number of others could do a far better service to their clients if he were to embrace the very technology he is trying to 'teach', rather than trying to make t sound a bad thing.
I remember the ASTD conference in about 1997 in Atlanta, where every trainer was terrified they were going to loose their job to this new disk based learning...... Maybe next year.
Neil
Well said Clive - I was speechless when I read the article (and that doesn't happen often to me as you well know!). Sure, by all means challenge the use and value of e-Learning but only do this with a factually argued article, not by a whole load of unsupported, fictional claims. However, I suspect that if Rob had tried the former he would have given up ... No, for him the only way to repel this nasty and threatening invader is to attack it for reasons which I guess only he, Rob, knows. Hey ho!
ReplyDeleteJudith Christian-Carter
I Completely agree with you Clive and what Neil has commented. in-fact we should thanks Rob to raise this; now all of us are openly aware of this!
ReplyDeleteHi Clive,
ReplyDeleteI just discovered your blog and am happy to hear someone that understands the nature of necessity of e-learning. My only issue with most e-learning is how boring it can be in some application. For the large and small business community it is a useful tool too often neglected!
Sue
No matter what he says, the important thing is to do what you think is the best for everybody. He can't feed his thoughts to just anyone. Let him do the talking and just shrugged everything off.
ReplyDeleteWithout a proper definition of `elearning' and without appropriate reference to the current literature, Rob makes some startling claims. `elearning' is as much about the way humans learn as any other pedagogy and the success or failure of it will depend on how we utilise the tools available. (Think lecture hall with 200 students as opposed to small classroom with les than 12 students and an active & engaged teacher)
ReplyDeleteWell, as someone who has spent his entire career as an ID in elearning, let me also take issue. Mr. Chapman seems to have made a statement in the spirit of the old saying: "Whatever can be invented, has been invented." That foolish quote finding utterance in the public square more than 100 years ago, it's obvious the speaker in question was ill-aware of the degree of his foolishness. I would say this comment by Mr. Chapman fits rather similarly, if not totally. To counter him, I don't see how elearning WILL fail. It extends capabilities for companies and individuals, empowers people, and makes agile what once was an entrenched system of education and development. Elearning is education evolved. It's not the solution to all learning ills of course, but I cannot see how it is a tool that will disappear. After all, is not the pinnacle of human learning that model seen in The Matrix, where one need only jack into the system, flutter their eyelids for a few seconds, and come away with a degree in rocket science? Elearning certainly enabled that particular visual. ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you for that post!I have referred to your post in my own response to Chapman.
ReplyDeletehttp://kernlearningsolutions.wordpress.com/
Kia ora Clive!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd put my weight behind what you're saying here too. Whatever elearning is, it's not a fad.
One thing though, and I'm sure you'll agree with this, elearning has to be planned right, developed right and delivered right, with proper follow-up and support. I have a hunch that the real faddy part that, perhaps Rod Chapman misinterpreted is that it's an easily swallowed panacea. It isn't that either. There is no easy option to learning.
Done thoroughly, elearning can be efficient, effective and long lasting.
Catchya later
from Middle-earth
Clive,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree!
One of the best things about learning things online are the communities. Whatever you want to learn, from knitting to rocket science, there is probably an active community, with forums, blogs and more!
Anybody who sees e-learning as a lonely, isolated activity is completely missing the point!
My goodness.
ReplyDeleteLet's let the research speak. Here's something from Inside Higher Ed.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/online
- Doug Flather