Narrative in Adult Learning

"To be a person is to have a story.

More than that, it is to be a story."

Kenyon, G. M., and Randall, W. L. RESTORYING OUR LIVES: PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL REFLECTION. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.

Broken Coworker

Before this presentation, you were assigned the eLearning module Broken Coworker

• https://brokencoworker.com/
• This is our case study for today’s discussion

Broken Coworker

• How did you feel while running through this training?
• What was your engagement level with the content?

Broken Coworker is a famous example of how to use a narrative framework in a learning module!

Narrative Tactics: Linking Memory to Emotion

• The relationship between memory and emotion - Helping Sam stay at his job�
• We invest in stories - we’ve been telling them for thousands of years
• Stories engage our empathy, making us more likely to place ourselves in the situation
• Increases memory - “allows for 'elaborative encoding'” which lets our brain link a familiar scenario (ie: our workplace) to new information (eLearning Industry)�

Narrative Tactics: Getting the Picture

• Learning by Example - We get to experiment with different interpersonal tactics in a safe environment�
• How often do we ask for an example when we’re learning a new concept?
• Having concrete examples gives learners something to emulate (good tactics), and something to experiment with (bad tactics)
• Relevant - because they can see themselves in this space�

Narrative Tactics: Getting the Picture

• Persuasion - Telling our learners their WIIFM is good, but helping them discover how a learning affects their jobs for themselves is even better!
• As we roleplay through the scenes, we see how tricky the situations are
• As learners relate this to their job, they’ll see why it’s important for them to know what to do
• Above taken from eLearning Industry

Broken Coworker

Gives the appearance of branching (the first two are different ways to tell Emma to buzz off, but with different tones), and inputs different “points” into the module to determine success.

Broken Coworker

How well you did is tallied up and reviewed at the end of the module.

Broken Coworker

Build Note: No matter what you choose, the module itself goes to the same next slide! But it displays different text, depending on your choice.

Showing participants how their choices made an impact on the story is becoming a popular trend outside of eLearning as well (taken from Detroit: Become Human)

In Detroit: Become Human, a video game in the playable stories genre, the end of each scene lets players see what choices they made, and how those choices branch into each outcome.

Black Mirror also did this for Bandersnatch, a playable episode on Netflix. It doesn’t break each scenario down at the end...Probably because the map is insanely big.

We’re seeing this device appear more in pop culture - it only makes sense that we will start to use it more at work.

WHY is choice in media getting more popular?

• More likely to hold learners’ attention
• The more immersed in the material our learners are, the more focused they are, and the more information they absorb.

Narrative Tactics: Realism

• Contextualizes the material - “...adult learners must see the relevance of something in order to feel persuaded to learn about it...” (eLearning Industry)�
• Gives learners agency - “...interactive narrative implies that the actions of the learner guide the outcome of the story...” (eLearning Industry). This lets learners feel more independent, and more responsible for their education.

Narrative Tactics: Engagement

• Curiosity - Our brains like to “figure stuff out,” predicting what’s going to happen next in a story. This fosters active learning.�
• Above taken from eLearning Industry

What course have you taken that uses narrative? What learning at your place of employment could use more narrative drive?

Closing Activity

How can we use narrative to build a learning module for [place of employment]? What characters could we use? Brainstorm! (or perhaps… Brian-storm?)

Brian, from Articulate 360