We are told that learners are no longer able to concentrate on content that's more than four or five minutes long. And there's no doubt that, when it comes to consuming information, we'd prefer it concise. After all, we want that information to help us achieve some goal and we don't want to take too long in the process. GIGIGO - get in, get it, get out.
But meaningful learning does not take usually place in minutes; it can take days, months or years of testing ideas out, reflecting and discussing, honing our skills and building our confidence. Our content can play a valuable role in that process, not just by informing the learner of what they need to know and do, but by sparking ideas, generating insights, challenging assumptions and enabling them to take their first steps along the skills journey. But that takes time - four or five minutes will not be enough.
In this last post in the series, we discuss two elements in learning content that can hook learners in and not let them go; that will give you the time to make a more meaningful difference. We start with storytelling.
Slice our brains open and out pour all our stories
A well-told story - whether real or fictitious - will immerse us in someone else's world and make us care about their problems. We can concentrate on stories for many hours - just think how much time in a week you spend reading novels, watching films, catching up on soaps or wading through box sets.
As Jeremy Hsu writes in Scientific American, 'Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history.’ For more than 27,000 years, humans have been communicating by telling stories. I’m sure that if you were to open up our brains and tip the contents onto the floor, what would come out but piles and piles of stories. According to a 1997 study by Robin Dunbar at the University of Liverpool, personal stories and gossip make up 65% of our conversations. That seems like an underestimate to me.
In my post Seven ways in which stories power learning, I explained why I thought storytelling made such an impact in a learning context:
- Stories speak to us as humans
- Stories hold our attention
- Stories engage us emotionally
- Stories provide us with good and bad examples
- Stories provide us with insights
- Stories help us to remember lots of other stuff (when we recall the story, we remember lots of other details)
- Stories are likely to be shared
Stories also provide an escape from the mundane, as this poem by Julia Donaldson reminds us.
I honestly believe that any subject can be made more interesting through storytelling. In fact I'd go further: any subject can be taught using storytelling. Here are two of my own examples:
- The Emperor's New Slide Show: which demonstrates how dangerous Powerpoint can be in the wrong hands.
- No regrets: a short film which provides insights into good blended learning design.
Only one thing beats a good story and that's being in the story
There is one thing that engages people even more than storytelling and that is a challenging problem to solve; something that tests our wits, that allows us to show what we can do; nothing impossibly hard, but not so easy that it insults our intelligence.
Every one of us can think of examples in which we've laboured into the night to meet a challenge; when we've been so 'in the flow' that we have forgotten about the need for sleep or sustenance: solving a puzzle, perhaps, programming a computer, developing a plan, making something, playing a game.
Compelling challenges provide us with the incentive and the opportunity to put our learning into practice and to revisit our assumptions and attitudes. In the context of learning content, these challenges might take the form of practice exercises, case studies, quizzes, scenarios, simulations and games. Challenges require the ability to interact, so you won't find them in content such as podcasts and web articles, but you might find them in a blend alongside these more passive media.
I know the word 'gamification' is a monstrosity, but we should take it seriously, because plenty of people are finding great success by adding game elements to their interactive content: rising up through levels, leaderboards, high scores, time constraints, competitions, winning badges and so on.
There are interesting examples of gamification in these scenarios:
- Lifesaver, an interactive film by Martin Percy, which teaches you cardio-pulmonary resuscitation
- Connect with Haji Kamal, designed by Cathy Moore, which looks at the cultural issues soldiers face when interacting with local people
- Sales Refresher Course (part of the More Than Blended Learning taster course), which provides practice in taking a brief for a new training programme
And that's it folks
I hope you've enjoyed discovering my six characteristics for compelling content, a distillation of hundreds of discussions I've had with learning professionals and media creatives over more years than I would like to admit.
Many of the recommendations I've made in this series require us to challenge convention and not be a corporate drone. You have to be a little brave to break away from the routine of just shoving information down people's throats. It will take a little time to develop the skills but I've seen lots of people make this transformation successfully.
Good luck!
In case you missed it:
The six characteristics of compelling content: It's time to begin your Skills Journey
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