Forum Discussion
High-Context Storyline Course Example
Hi David,
I alluded to this but wasn't as clear as I should've been in my previous post. There are two different kinds of up-front "telling": there's the explanation for how to use the course controls, and there's the telling of important facts and principles that a learner must know in order to succeed at a learning activity.
An argument can be made that explaining how to use the course is necessary, and I used to agree with this argument without question. But I am starting to wonder.
The other kind of telling seems more problematic because it can significantly bog the course down in a lot of boring infodumping before the learner has a chance to get engaged in any interactivity or interesting challenges. It's this latter kind of telling that I am mostly struggling to find a way to avoid.
At this year's ATD conference, I saw Ethan Edwards demo some e-learning where there was almost no explanation of any kind. The interface for the interactions had to be very, very carefully designed so that a learner could discover the rules by trial and error if necessary, without even the benefit of Correct/Incorrect feedback boxes. Instead, if an action was incorrect, the object would just move back to its starting point, or shake, or otherwise indicate visually that the learner had made an incorrect action. This is a very intriguing approach because it preserves an element of mystery that I think can motivate a learner to actually want to explore the material more deeply, to satisfy his or her own curiosity, which is aroused by such a minimal interface.
But designing a course this way is still a little beyond my skill level. I am very interested to know if anyone has other strategies for avoiding up-front telling, though. Maybe there's a method that's a little easier to implement. If so, I would like to learn about it!
Cheers!
-Ray
Ray - thanks for sharing the course - I think you've done a great job to simulate the real life tasks. I think we are often critical of our own work, and I thought your guided method was helpful for someone who is not familiar with the tasks. But, if you are looking for ways to push the challenge to the forefront, you could check out Cathy Moore http://blog.cathy-moore.com/. She's got a great way of framing things. There's also a method that Ethan Edwards uses called CCAF https://learn.alleninteractions.com/instructional-interactivity - they might give you some ideas to play with.
Holly
Hi Holly, the CCAFs are a great way to think about designing meaningful learning interactions. They definitely informed the design of this course, as I am a big fan of Michael Allen's books and the work his company produces. I'm somewhat familiar with Cathy Moore's work, but not as much as I probably should be, so thanks for reminding me. I need to check out her blog more often.
Most of the thought leaders in our industry are urging us to
- Put information into context (the first "C" in "CCAF")
- Move beyond the bottom two levels of Bloom's taxonomy (the "Remembering" and "Understanding" levels where so much e-learning seems to be stuck) and instead aim for the "Applying" level or higher
- Get the learner actively practicing (i.e., "Applying") rather than passively reading/listening/watching.
I fully agree with those prescriptions, but implementing courses this way is really hard. I am still learning how despite having been working in this industry for a long time. That means I need to practice thoughtfully in order to get better at it. So in some sense, this course is part of my intentional practice.
One reason (there are many) that a lot of e-learning is stuck in the mode of infodumping followed by fact-based multiple choice questions is that this is the main style that most people have experienced with e-learning, and we tend to build and expect what we've seen in the past. We need a wider availability of model courses that show a better way in order to let people know the alternatives to infodump course designs. So that's part of what I'm trying to do by sharing this attempt, warts-and-all.
Anyway, thanks for taking a look and for your recommendations.
Ray, I think it's great that you shared as part of your intentional practice. I tend to view our work as a craft too. I really liked your 2 step quiz in module 3. Yes/no and then why.
I think you could easily flip a course like yours. What's the consequence of them not following procedure? Use that as the spring board and re-imagine the forms and processes as clues to learn about the same information. You could build in hints and reference along the way using pieces from your existing course.
- There's been an explosion and an investigation has to happen (form has wrong information on it or is not filled out completely, no blue tape on the top of a container and someone overfills and tries to clean it up, etc)
- During an audit someone has uncovered sloppy work
- An injury occurs and we need to get to the bottom of it
- Supervisor finds an error and has to figure out who hasn't followed procedure
- Someone's experiment is ruined due to contamination and they complain
Someone told me that there were several games in the demofest webinar the other day - you can probably do some fun searching here: https://www.elearningguild.com/content/?mode=filter&source=demofest_archive
Also I liked that you used video in your course and saw this example recently that resonated with me: https://de.ryerson.ca/games/nursing/mental-health/game.html#/chart - you could emulate this a little bit instead of having two characters in the frame.
Holly
Hi Ray
Here's my two cents.
There are a lot of different ways of doing things, but a lot of it comes down to what you are trying to achieve with the elearning - you've spent a lot of time on it, so you want it to be as effective as possible.
Have you thought about your objectives in terms of knowledge, skills, attitude and awareness? I find this a really helpful way of breaking things down so as to focus on the most important things for the learners. Here's a blog I wrote about objectives a while back. https://whatyouneedtoknow.co.uk/blog/2014/02/11/objectives-chasing-tail-next-big-thing/
I know objectives are dull, boring, tedious, incomplete and all the rest of it, but the clearer the picture you have of what you want to achieve, the easier it is, in my opinion, to build the learning around it.
This isn't about... by the end of the module you'll be able to... it's about why is this training important and what knowledge, skills, attitudes and awareness should the participants come away with - it doesn't have to be all of them.
You mention below about the consequences not being severe, and it looks like you're training people who probably know quite a bit about what they're doing - so where are the challenges for them?
I'm not sure about discovering the rules by trial and error - personally I find this sort of approach really annoying when applied to elearning. There's a case for a 'discovery approach', but the technique only works, again in my opinion, when it's used for certain types of training - something like role plays. The point is - don't use a technique because someone says it's good - try it yourself as a real learner (not someone with a testing hat on) to see how you feel about it.
Best wishes
Andy
