When you think of scenario-based eLearning, what comes to mind?
You probably reflect on what branching scenarios you will create as you consider realistic workplace problems and choices for the learner?
Where does instruction fit in? This is an excellent question, especially since most scenario-based eLearning won’t follow the traditional eLearning format of presenting instruction, practice, and assessment.
Scenario-Based eLearning, essentially, immerses the learners in real-life or situational simulations or learning experiences that allow them to gather skills or information that they will recall for future use.
eLearning Industry
When eLearning fails to translate to the desired job performance, who is to blame? The learners or the poor instructional design? The goal of eLearning remains unmet if it fails to equip learners with the skills they need to perform well.
Instructional Strategies in SBeL are techniques designed to teach knowledge and skills at the right time to help the learner make a decision or take action.
An instructional designer’s greatest arsenal against unmet performance goals is the right instructional strategy.
A scenario-based learning approach aims to promote the acquisition of specified knowledge and skills in the context of solving a problem. To accomplish this goal, you should consider your instructional strategies carefully.
Instructional designers will likely give you different answers when it comes to the best instructional strategy. This post’s purpose is not to promote one particular strategy but rather to discuss how they can be seamlessly integrated into SBeL without resorting to traditional eLearning models.
In this post, I’ll focus on the strategies Clark discusses in her book: Scenario-based e-Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Online Workforce Learning
Use Tutorials
These are great for teaching procedures and concepts connected with work and relevant facts. It is important to consider how the learner will access the tutorials when making design decisions. You will have to decide whether learners will access tutorials on demand or if a coach or advisor will recommend them based on their choices. If you decide to incorporate or link to tutorials in your design, ensure that the tutorial supports the knowledge and skill the learners need to resolve the scenario.
Tutorials can be expensive and time-consuming to create from scratch to you will want to consider time and cost and the relevance to instructional goals. Examples of when to use tutorials in your design include software installation, troubleshooting car problems at a car workshop, Installing electrical appliances. Etc.
Use References
References are a good resource to refer learners to for specific information. If the organization you are designing for already has references available, you can use them. If not, you might have to develop something for the project. You can either embed them in your scenario interface or link to specific information if the references are too heavy for your design. You can see an example of a reference I created for a scenario-based course below.
Examples of reference material include compliance books, company policy, brochures, job aids.
Use Examples
Examples are a powerful tool to use in performance support. Good examples demonstrate the type of behavior that learners are expected to perform. Learners can see how to respond to a problem and apply what they’ve learned to similar problems they encounter. Examples could be short and specific or more protracted step-by-step demonstrations of how to solve a problem. You will want to make your examples engaging. Examples in the form of stories can draw in your learner and make them more likely to review the example if the stories are interesting.
Here is a sample example I created.
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Use Instructors
It is impossible to incorporate this instructional strategy into your design. How you do this will depend on the role the instructor intends to play in the course. Instructors could play a role in the scenario. They add a layer of guidance for learners to minimize the flounder factor in very complex subjects. Instructors can play the role of experts or critical thinkers that prompt learners to reflect deeply on their problem-solving skills and encourage them to follow an optimal path to resolve the scenario.
Instructor’s roles in SBeL are not to be confused with the role of instructors in traditional learning environments engaging in didactic activities. Instructors in SBeL follow the model of discovery-based learning. They only intervene in the moment of need.
Examples of how instructors could play their role in SBeL include project manager, client, an inanimate object such as equipment relevant to the scenario. Etc.
Applying Instructional Strategies to Your Design
Keep it Simple
When designing instruction, you want to make it as easy as possible for the learner to understand the information without taking distracting actions or processing more information than is necessary. It is too much work for a learner to try to connect the dots in poorly delivered instruction.
Scenario-based eLearning is not the place for pages and pages of information. You want to keep what learners need to make decisions or practice their skills short and straight to the point.
In order to reduce cognitive overload, limit how much information the learner must process at once. In summary, the information you present shouldn’t be hard to process.
Give the Learner Options
As often as possible, provide multiple ways in which the learner can access knowledge. This doesn’t have to get too complicated. For instance, if there is a video, provide the option to watch the video or read a transcript. Also, consider providing more than one way to demonstrate their new potential to apply the skills they have learned.
It requires a lot of planning and creative thought, but it can help reduce cognitive load, increase engagement and provide a more satisfying learning experience.
Choosing Your Strategy
The strategy you decide on will depend on the content, context, and the learner. Assessing the learners, learning environment, and determining effective learning strategies is an integral part of ID work.
When planning your instructional strategies, you can’t create unique content suitable for every learner’s preference, so you need to refer to your learners’ characters such as age, gender, prior experience, expertise level, cultural background, etc.
Also, the type of learning you are designing may require different instructional strategies. What works well for a module about technical skills might not work as well for modules on soft skills, products, and services, quality control, or safety training.
Bear in mind that no strategy is inherently better. If the strategy you rate as best is violated badly enough, it won’t stand a chance against a lower-ranking well-executed strategy.
Also, two instructional designers might decide on completely different strategies for the same module with great supporting rationale.
Your design, instructional, and performance goals and available resources will influence your decisions and vice versa. For instance, you might choose to incorporate video tutorials in your design but realize you do not have the budget for it.
There is no need to fixate on any particular strategy. When budget constraints prevent you from using the strategy you want, you will have to focus your best instructional efforts on making your next best strategy work. In the end, all instructional techniques can be used to enhance the learning experience, create equitable accessibility and utilize best practices in instructional delivery.
Regardless of what options you chose, you want to ensure the learning strategies engage the learner and increase their connection to the material. And truly, what matters is that the choices you make are aligned and intentional.
For more strategies for informing your designs, check out my post – Using Sound Assessment Strategies in Scenario-based eLearning Design.