Tuesday, 19 June 2007
A narrative-based approach to designing e-learning
So - how do you make boring subjects interesting when creating e-learning?
Mandatory training can be dry and boring so there needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake it if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. In a narrative-based approach, digital storytelling concepts and multimedia elements can be combined to create an innovative narrative learning structure. Extensive use is made of humour, imagination, reward, anticipation or drama; topics and themes are chosen as likely to be relevant and interesting to a clearly identified target audience. An interesting context or scenario into which the activities are placed can engage and stimulate the learner, assist the activity to have meaning and help students to contextualize content.
References
Brown and Voltz "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" in The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 6, No 1 (2005),
Brodsky, M., May 2003. E-learning Trends, “Today and Beyond. Learning and Training Innovations”. http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=56219
Gee (2003), What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy,
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In their paper "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" in The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 6, No 1 (2005), Brown and Voltz suggest Scenarios.
There needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake an educational activity if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. An interesting context or scenario can assist the activity to have meaning. In some situations, the context will either be evident or require little explanation, for example, in relevant workplace training situations or in situations where student motivation is known to be high. In other contexts, possibly the majority, where the learning agenda is largely institutional, students are encouraged and assisted by an interesting scenario into which the activities are placed. Scenarios are usually provided by a story, role play, or simulation, within which the activity plays a pivotal role in helping students to contextualize content (Brodsky, M., May 2003. E-learning Trends, Today and Beyond. Learning and Training Innovations. http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=56219).
The scenario will most likely be fictional; however, there is an assumption that the learning or skill gained through the activity will be transferred to future real world situations. This transfer is assisted if the learning scenario raises issues and problems similar to those in the real world; scenarios with this real world correspondence are often referred to as being ‘authentic.’ An interesting scenario will make extensive use of humor, imagination, reward, anticipation, or drama to enhance the activity. It will have topics and themes likely to be relevant and interesting to the target audience. It will make the learning activity seem like an obvious or necessary thing to undertake, given the situation presented by the scenario. Designers of entertainment products have long understood this requirement, and the study of their techniques is of increasing interest to educators such as Gee. In his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, Gee (2003) suggests that “learners participate in extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) ... in relation to a virtual world that they find compelling” (p. 67). For the effective design of e-learning materials, the target audience must be clearly identified in order to develop scenarios that are likely to engage and stimulate the learning.
[One caveat:] ... if a resource is too much like a game with rules unrelated to real world contexts, then teachers would avoid using it. From this feedback, it is clear that authenticity and interest are highly valued aspects of e-learning design scenarios.Labels: e-learning, instructional design, learning design, online learning, scenarios
posted by Helen Whitehead 8:45 AM
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