Storytelling captures and moves people, which is why it is such a powerful tool for instructional designers and other learning professionals. Great stories prompt action, change minds, and win business. Put simply, stories make people care about the issue at hand.
To achieve their purpose, stories don’t need to be long and involved. Short scenarios can pull in learners and facilitate comprehension, helping them grasp and retain information, and prompting them to act. Stories can be effective in all learning modalities, from digital learning experiences to classroom-based instructor-led training. Whether conveyed orally, visually, or in writing, stories engage learners’ hearts and minds, triggering them to think and respond in engaging ways.
Story elements, when incorporated into eLearning, can improve learner engagement. The before and after examples of the following eLearning excerpts illustrate how elements of a story can enhance learning...
| Before (without story elements) | After (with story elements) |
|---|---|
| What are the consequences of a potential homebuyer’s indecision about where they want to live and what type of home they can afford? |
Sandeep is determined to buy a home and wants to limit his daily commute, but he doesn’t know what he wants to buy or what he can afford. What are potential consequences of Sandeep’s uncertainty? Think about possible answers to this question, and then click the button below. |
| The company forbids corruption of government personnel and payments of bribes or kickbacks in dealings with public officials or persons in the private sector. Continue to learn more about the anti-corruption policy at the company. | Discover how an employee of a Fortune 1000 company, and father of four children—who did not realize he was doing anything illegal—was convicted of corruption and sent to prison. Click the icon to view the three-minute video. |
Do all stories need to have a beginning, middle, and end? Only if it’s helpful to achieve your learning objective; if you’re including story elements to make assessment questions more relevant to learners, then you do not need a beginning, middle, and end. If you opt to make a complete story integral to a substantial learning activity or an entire learning solution, you ought to include a beginning, middle, and end.
In instructor-led training and virtual ILT, instructors can solicit learners’ participation in stories by asking what and how questions. This real-time interaction can make stories a dynamic aspect of the training experience. In eLearning, the stories and scenarios are limited to what you have predefined. Regardless of the training modality in which a story is used, it is important to be clear about the reason for incorporating a story into the learning solution.
Before you create a scenario for an activity or make a fully developed story central to an augmented learning solution, review these seven considerations that can help you incorporate stories (or story elements) to capture and move learners.
Checklist for Storytelling in Instructional Design
Give it purpose. Determine the purpose of the story—know how you want the learners to benefit from the story and what action you want the learners to take.
Make it relevant. Craft a story that is meaningful to the learners. A story, regardless of how well it’s told, will not achieve its purpose if it is not pertinent to the learners.
Ensure it’s relatable. Choose instructional characters that the learners will identify with. Diversity and inclusion are essential. Learners must be able to see themselves in the story.
Aim for clarity. Provide a clear narrative and keep the story understandable. Complex stories are difficult for learners to follow.
Keep it concise. Quickly achieve your story’s purpose. Learners want information fast—they have limited time and patience. A few well-chosen details can draw in the learners and achieve relevance.
Challenge the learners. Build a story that challenges their thinking, nudges them to self-assess, and moves them to act.
Use plenty of visuals. Show and tell. Relevant images can command attention, aid understanding, and make an impression. An image can be as basic as an icon or as sophisticated as a series of metaphorical illustrations. As they say, a picture is worth…you know the rest.
Tips for Building Stories When You're Feeling Less Creative
Not feeling particularly creative? Here are some tips to help jumpstart your story-building creativity.
- Read a case study or success story and recognize how compelling a beginning, middle, and end can be.
- Read the “Telling a Compelling Story” section of Marketing Mindset Drives Learner Engagement, Success.
- Locate stock images that convey the objectives, actions, and emotions, of your learners.
- Use drawings only—no text—to tell a simple story. Not an artist? Stick figures are fine for this activity. Draw six squares and fill the squares with drawings that tell a story.
- Create three digital sticky notes or use paper sticky notes. On each sticky note, write 1–3 bullet points that describe a key portion of a scenario involving a fictitious member of your learner audience. On the first sticky note, write what the learner is trying to achieve. On the second, write the learner’s options—how he/she can approach the task. On the third, write the actions the learner takes and consequences of those actions.
By incorporating stories in your learning solutions, you have the power to capture and move learners to achieve your learning objectives and business outcomes.
Elizabeth Mills is a senior instructional designer with Caveo Learning. She has more than 15 years' experience designing, developing, and implementing global learning and development programs and curricula. Prior to joining Caveo, she spent several years in learning and program management roles with Microsoft. She thrives on making the complex easy to understand and memorable.
Topics: Instructional Design