How to use storytelling in learning.

Approximate reading time: 8m 36s

Storytelling

The task has been assigned to you. You need to prepare and deliver e-learning for 1000 people. It's no joke. You need to schedule meetings with the people who understand the subject matter of the training. You need to talk to the managers to define the training objectives. You need to get to know the target audience. You seem overloaded. Why should you bother to rack your brains and come up with a storytelling story? Why should you tell a storytelling  story in an e-learning course?

It is no accident that stories have enormous power over our minds and hearts. They are the way we think, the way we make sense of information, the way we define ourselves, and the way we persuade others. According to some researchers, stories continue to hold power in this digital age because the human brain has not evolved as quickly as technology, and only through stories can we connect with the different digital platforms and media messages of today.

Stories can improve e-learning courses by making them not only more suitable for learning, but also more engaging, and therefore more impactful.

People have great stories to tell. Storytelling is a natural human trait that has manifested itself in every artistic style for thousands of years. Literature, film, music - these are just some of them. But also in the stories we tell in everyday life. In fact, human communication has always taken place through stories. However, although we may have incredible messages to tell, they will not be remembered if we do not know how to deliver them.

Storytelling in e-learning is much more than a simple narrative. It is the art of turning the message into an unforgettable story, using narrative elements worthy of the best Hollywood screenwriters.

Why is storytelling an effective way to make e-learning more successful?

Even in the digital age, stories ( storytelling) are the only way to ensure a connection with the audience. So far, our brains have not evolved at the same pace as technology, and stories have the power to convey information in the same way people think. In this sense, using narratives in e-learning is the same as in great love stories. It is the most effective way to create experiences, establish an emotional connection and therefore increase engagement and understanding. In short, it provides that extra something that turns "unattractive" content into something unique and easy to understand. Because, let’s be honest, repetition, memorization and the use of the thought, “no pain, no gain” "no pain, no gain" is not the best way to learn, and memorizing a large amount of information is not the same as memorizing the essence and lessons of a particular story.

Unlike children, adult learning can be a major challenge, because over the years they accumulate experience, form their own opinions and expect interactive storytelling to be part of the training. In addition, given their professional responsibilities, they want every training to be quick and effective.

Interactive storytelling is the ideal means of delivering e-learning to adults because it can take them out of their comfort zone and motivate them to develop in line with current reality. In addition, it is designed to resonate with the everyday life situations they face, and therefore it is extremely relevant and contextual.

What is interactive storytelling?

Storytelling is one of the most powerful means of influencing, inspiring and educating both children and adults. This is because it creates a connection between ideas and people, thereby creating links that bind and strengthen relationships. Interactive storytelling takes this concept one step further. But first, what is an interactive story?

Simply put, interactive storytelling is a fun way to engage learners by creating an interactive learning experience, using storytelling as the main building block for structuring the course content. In summary, it combines the traditional technique of storytelling with visual arts and interactive elements in order to draw learners into the digital environment, make them the main character of the story, and then continue the narrative to a logical conclusion.

The story presents an overarching theme, and the learners make rational decisions that shape the final outcome.

From a simple online course to a memorable story through storytelling

We assume that you are already convinced of the power of storytelling. Now you just need to put your imagination into practice and turn your content into great stories.

How can you master storytelling in e-learning?

Get to know your audience: Who will listen to your story? It is important to be clear about who your learning content is for, to know your target audience in depth, what they need and what inspires or motivates them, in order to achieve that emotional connection we talked so much about.

Define a message and goal: Ask yourself which knowledge is important for your audience to retain and focus your story on conveying those specific ideas.

Choose a format: Right now you have many storytelling options available. But if you really want to reach your audience, the most effective e-learning style is through interactive online courses, because they offer multiple formats to adapt the content to your needs.

For example, when the content is short and easy to understand, but at the same time you want it to be engaging, such as part of corporate communication, we recommend the vertical format of our express courses. In this way, the audience can follow your story by scrolling down, without having to move from one slide to another.

Content strategies: To create a memorable story in your course, use audiovisual resources such as videos, audio clips, infographics, and games. Content authoring software usually integrates multiple interactive possibilities into each tool, allowing you to tell memorable stories easily and without technical knowledge. In addition, you can use third-party content or materials you have created on other platforms in your training, so integrating your own story into your e-learning courses will be much easier. Some of these platforms or services include YouTube, Vimeo, Canva, SlideShare, iVoox, Loom...

Share the story: Last but not least, use the right channels to share the content you have created with your audience. 

Is everything ready? Then it is time to turn your e-learning content into stories that will captivate your audience from the very beginning. Remember: our instructional designers can help you develop memorable e-learning courses. To learn more, write to us or call us.

How do storytelling stories create emotional engagement?

People are emotional beings. We prefer to ask a friend or colleague for advice rather than rely on a manual. An image of a car does not excite us. But when advertisers claim that the whole family can fit in it (including little Murphy the dog) and picnic accessories, we suddenly start entertaining the idea of buying it.  Our emotions shake us and we feel inspired when we can connect with the main character or the circumstances in the story.

Here is how stories make an e-learning course more interesting:

Make them interested in your content

There is a child in each of us. Human beings love stories. When we read or listen to the exploits of heroes, we stare wide-eyed in wonder. We rejoice in the hero and hope for the villain’s defeat. Our inner child is emotionally engaged with the story. When you weave stories into your e-learning courses, you can connect emotionally with your audience. When you create an emotional connection with your learners, you are one step closer to making them believe in the value of your content; you make them want to learn even more.

Keep inviting them for more - storytelling stories awaken our curiosity

A good story - whether in a book or on television - keeps us awake at night. We keep turning the pages of the book or forget to surf through the channels because we want to know: "What will happen next?". When you weave your e-learning content into an engaging story, your audience will devour it. Add a pinch of suspense and polish a few hooks to make your content dramatic. Your audience will be curious to learn more. A well-told story engages more areas of the brain, since the learner deals with it and tries to understand what is happening in his or her head or to anticipate the hero's next move. This leads to active learning, which is more effective than rote learning.

Use natural curiosity - curiosity helps us learn boring things

Make the content more relevant to the learners' current lifestyle - stories help learners feel empathy
People connect with other people, so make sure your stories focus on characters, life situations and problems that mirror the learners' reality. Stories are more vivid and real than charts and statistics. When learners can connect with the content, the learning experience becomes memorable.

Inspire them to take action!

Facts alone cannot help you persuade people. Stories do that, and good stories are a very powerful tool in the art of persuasion. They keep people engaged and interested. They provoke strong emotions and are easier to remember than facts. When your story resonates with the audience and its hero is likable, you can inspire learners to change their behavior and reshape their thought patterns and attitudes.

How do storytelling stories make the course an effective learning tool?

Explaining content through stories is an effective teaching strategy, and not only children learn better this way. Stories engage the brain and make it work in a way that statistics and dry facts cannot achieve. In fact, stories provide adult learners with a welcome break from the daily dose of presentations and charts and make them curious to explore and engage with the content.

Here is how storytelling stories make e-learning courses more informative:

Modern learners seek relevance
Your adult learners are practical, results-oriented individuals. You cannot charm or impress them enough to make them spend their valuable time in your course if they cannot understand what is in it for them. By mirroring the learners' reality in the plot, the story provides context and relevance to the course. Learners know how the course will help them solve their workplace problems or teach them skills and behaviors that will allow them to advance in their careers.

Help them remember your content!
We remember the stories - fairy tales, animal tales and superhero comics - that we read as children. Do we remember in such detail what we studied in secondary school? We do not. This is because, according to research, 63% of people remember facts if they are presented within a story, compared with a mere 5% when information is presented to them in a conventional format.

Simplify complex and abstract concepts
The scenarios you create within a story and the hero's actions not only give instructions. They provide a roadmap for learners, actually demonstrating how they should act in certain situations. Stories make it easier to explain complex and abstract concepts using anecdotes and analogies.

For example, using visual metaphors to tell stories is a powerful technique that helps people learn. Visual metaphors nail down abstract ideas and present them in tangible graphic forms that are easy to understand. They reveal hidden connections and point out the main patterns and trends.

Avoid boredom and monotony
There is nothing better than a little surprise to catch people’s attention, so start your e-learning courses with a story that will surprise readers and make them wonder "what happens next?". Stories train our grey cells. Stories engage multiple areas of the brain. There is no denying that stories entice you and completely captivate you. During the course, you are fully aware and present the whole time, so you do not miss critical information and instructions.

Think about experience: connect theory with practice
We have been listening to and reading stories since time immemorial. You need to learn how to read charts and interpret different types of graphs. But do you need to be taught how to make sense of a story? No. This is because you are familiar with the structure of a story. You can intuitively process the information in a story. You just keep reading. Teaching through narratives is useful because the learner can focus on absorbing the material instead of burdening their brain by trying to understand how a story works.

With storytelling stories, we can become empathetic toward the situation, the characters and the emotions they evoke. The more relevant the narrative, the characters, the struggles, the achievements, the greater our empathy and emotional connection with them.

Successful interactive storytelling in e-learning helps evoke the same empathy and emotional connection with the learning goals, creating excitement to explore new ways of acting and leading to significant behavior change.

In this way, interactive stories transport learners from the real world into a virtual or simulated world, where they can explore new knowledge without much fear of serious consequences. The immersive nature of this interaction leads to better learning outcomes and transfer of knowledge to the workplace.

Storytelling is one of the oldest arts and a means of sharing information and directing desired thinking and behavior. Even in this modern world, they have not lost their charm or their ability to absorb, engage and provoke a strong emotional response. They can help when using andragogy and adult learning.

Although storytelling continues to attract, technology has taken it to a new level. What we have today is interactive storytelling, in which there are no spectators, and each person is the main character with the freedom to create their own narrative.

The modern workplace has embraced interactive storytelling to upskill its employees, provide them with new knowledge and trigger the desired changes in their behavior. Interactive storytelling in e-learning is woven around a central learning theme and offers several conflict areas that resemble real-world problems.

Another interesting article: Student motivation: praise for effort or intelligence

Every learner is a hero, who learns to resolve conflicts with appropriate solutions and thus brings the story to a successful end. This form of immersion and contextual experience leads to deeper learning and transfer of new knowledge and behavior to the workplace.