Giving Your Scenarios Some TLC
Scenario's are a great way to teach, much like traditional storytelling, it works as a great way to show the point you are trying to get across; you don't want your child to talk to strangers? You read them Hansel and Gretel. You want to teach a class about addition? You introduce Sally who has 3 sweets and then brought 3 sweets, so how many sweets does she have?
Story telling dates back to the beginning of time and has always proved a successful way help your listener to envisage what you are telling them. The same concept works with corporate training, its an opportunity to take part in the decision making process without or before being vulnerable to real risks.
They encourage the learner to put the information you have given them into practice, or to make the information relatable to a real life situations that they might have been involved in.
Here are some tips that we have found that have really helped us create amazing scenario based learning, and we thought we would share them with you:
Let the learner be the decision maker!
A well known concept with this type of scenario is the three C's model - Challenge, Choice and Consequence. The scenario will usually have a challenge that backs up the information that the learner will have picked up throughout the course, it will then give the learner a choice - or if it's not an interactive scenario it will show the character making a choice and then show the consequences. This works really well at putting the learner into the decision making position - which is effectively testing them on what you have been trying to teach them throughout.
Motivate the Learner!
eLearning is like any training in the sense that it is somewhat a compulsory task for all employees to take - chances are they haven't choice to do it in their spare time. However by benefiting the learner and making the training relevant to them it can really help them to see the advantages of completing the course to best of their ability. Using scenarios achieve this as it shows the learner real life scenarios that could effect them personally if they make the right or wrong decision. Don't want to get a disciplinary? Don't respond to a customer like that again. Want a promotion? Keep making them choices and it's in sight. These two examples are very black and white and obviously it isn't quite that straight forward in real life, but you understand the concept, right? At the end of the day, all learners want to know 'What's in it for me?'
Don't get carried away, it's not a movie!
Although it is extremely tempting to go wild with the scenarios and make them gripping and exciting, you are not up for a Oscar! It is important to focus on the actual relevant content. The learner doesn't need to know the background story of each character, they just need to know the relevant details. You don't want to distract the learner from the point and it's easy to get carried away.
Keep things straightforward and let the learner absorb the relevant subject matter.
