Five Best Videos on the Story-Based Design Approach – Tip #63

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I am thrilled to present you five of my best videos, each one providing you with a sneak peak, as well as helpful tips, on how the Story-Based eLearning Design can transform your courses into high-impact learning events.

Must Learn – Does Your Learner Need 1,500 Pages?

  • How many percent of 1500 would a learner require in order to start working at their new job? It depends on the content, but never all 1500 pages.
  • Why do we expect our learners to go through all 1500 pages as if we expect them to master the massive information?
  • Must-learns –  important information we want learners to learn quickly because they need learning competencies and skill sets they can build on the job quickly so that they can perform.
  • Mastery or full competency – these are learnings they can only learn over time so they can become masters of it.
  • We don’t want to train a master in just one hour or even a 5-hour eLearning course.
  • Focus on separating the must-learn from the working competency to the full competency content so we can focus our energies.

 Extreme Stories

  • In selecting stories, we tend to select those that show extreme emotions.
  • There is a science behind it – our minds no longer respond to typical situations.
  • Sometimes, we get so used to typical situations on routine, we go on autopilot but when something particularly eventful happens, we tend to remember that for a long time.
  • When you tell a dull story, nobody will pay attention to it.
  • When you design stories you need to infuse these with new information so you tend to exaggerate the details.

Embedding Content in Stories

  • Sometimes you encounter participants who have no experience or idea about embedding technical aspects of a module into a story.
  • Add more elements into the story so learners will see information that he may not have known ahead of time, or skipped through.
  • If it’s the first time for a learner to encounter a policy, a good strategy would be to have one of the characters explain the benefits and the impact of the policy to help learners gain a better understanding.
  • Allow learners to discover the facts and learnings embedded in the story. As they go deeper into the story, the more they will discover.
  • The more you embed, the more you will be providing them with a more enriching experience.

I would love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments section.





Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
“Helping Learners Learn Their Way”

3 thoughts on “Five Best Videos on the Story-Based Design Approach – Tip #63

  1. Ray, I'd like to let you know that you're doing a good job – your tips are spot on. You made me realize how good of a technique exaggeration is, it really does make people learn and remember more.

  2. Thank you John! I'm glad that exaggeration works for you. Keep reading the blog for more tips that might be of help to you.

  3. John, Thanks. Sometimes, trainers and designers shy away from exaggeration because it seems to be too commercial. But people pay attention. Best, Ray

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