Forum Discussion
High-Context Storyline Course Example
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