Storytelling in e-learning is known to enhance engagement. The medium of conveying stories may change through the ages but their purpose remains the same. Stories impart knowledge in an engaging way that creates emotional connections. Through stories training professionals are able to explain complex concepts in simpler ways.
Multiple regions in the brain activate when listening to a story. The motor cortex stimulates actions. The sensory cortex processes sensory information. The frontal cortex processes higher-level cognitive functions. The hippocampus processes narrative information and is crucial for memory consolidation. Activation of all these areas in the brain creates an immersive experience for learners and leads to better information retention.
Stories evoke emotions which makes them more memorable. Emotions release neurotransmitters such as dopamine and oxytocin which encourage social bonding and motivation.
Overall, storytelling is a very powerful tool to create more immersive and impactful learning experiences. Using stories in e-learning videos creates a multisensory experience that facilitates understanding and memory retention.
Key elements of effective storytelling in e-learning videos
Relatable characters
Learners need to relate to the characters you create. A protagonist that learners can relate to is one that mirrors their experiences and challenges. Placing characters in realistic scenarios and giving them appropriate dialogue can help to create a connection.
A compelling narrative
Your story needs a beginning, middle, and ending. Each part must progress the narrative and keep learners engaged.
Real-world scenarios
Relatable situations and examples provide context that makes content more meaningful.
Effective stories for e-learning are succinct and don’t contain extraneous details. You should find out more about how to use microlearning in employee training.
Best practices for incorporating storytelling into e-learning videos
Integrating storytelling in e-learning videos is about more than adding a couple of stories to e-learning courses. You need to integrate narratives seamlessly into educational content for video-based learning.
Identify clear learning objectives
Before you craft a story, you must identify what you want learners to take away from a video. This ensures that your narrative aligns with what you want them to learn.
Know your audience
Consider the background, interests, and preferences of your audience to create narratives that resonate with them. Video messaging can help you to build connections with your audience so you can learn more about them. It will help you to find out more about their desires and interests so you can create compelling stories that have an impact on them.
Create a framework
A popular framework for instructional design is “The Hero’s Journey”. It follows a hero who embarks on an adventure, overcomes challenges, and goes through a transformative process. For L&D professionals, this formula is often effective. The learners are the heroes who go on a journey to gain new knowledge.
Incorporating interactive elements
Find out more about how technology will shape online education in the future. Incorporating interactive elements in videos is a trend that’s likely to keep growing. They enhance engagement because they turn learning into an active experience rather than a passive one. Some interactive elements include quizzes, surveys, and branching scenarios. For example, learners can decide on which path a protagonist takes. Each path leads to different outcomes.
The Cincopa video hosting platform offers many interactive features including quizzes, video chaptering, and branching scenarios.
Use animated characters, scenarios, and role-playing
Animated characters can work very well as protagonists in e-learning videos. Every obstacle the character encounters can represent a learning objective learners need to master.
For a story to be engaging it needs conflict and resolution. You can create scenarios where the characters in your story face challenges. You demonstrate how to navigate the situation by applying certain knowledge or skills.
Role-playing that simulates real-world situations encourages learners to solve problems in creative ways.
Leverage multimedia
Multimedia elements like images, audio, and video bring stories to life. They add depth and cater to different learning styles.
Cincopa is a multimedia platform where you can use images, audio, and video. It offers live streaming directly from a Cincopa account. You can convert a live stream into video on demand (VOD). This gives learners access to synchronous and asynchronous learning. Learners who miss the live stream can watch later at their own convenience. All your e-learning videos can live together in custom-branded video libraries.
Examples of storytelling in corporate and academic e-learning
Zingerman’s – using storytelling for employee training
One of the core components at Zingerman’s Deli in Michigan is its employee training. It has even turned its training philosophy into a new business, ZingTrain, which offers workshops to other companies who want to use narrative learning.
- New employees learn how Zingerman’s began as a single deli and grew into a community of 10 businesses in the Ann Arbor area. The training emphasizes the struggles and successes of the company so employees feel they are part of an evolving story.
- Zingerman teaches customer service through real stories. One of these is when an employee drives for hours to deliver a missing ingredient to a customer.
- Employees create personal visions for their career growth. Shaping their own stories helps to empower them.
- Treating business as a game helps to explain business finances in a way that’s easy to understand. Employees gain a better understanding of concepts like profit and loss.
Harvard Business School (HBS) – using storytelling to teach complex topics
HBS uses case studies to immerse students in real-world business scenarios. For example, in its leadership and crisis management courses, it uses the story of the 2010 Chilean mine collapse where 33 miners were trapped underground.
Students have to examine the actions of key characters like the Chilean president, the rescue engineer, and the mine shift leader. They have to assess how leaders made decisions with high emotional stakes and incomplete data. The students also have to look at the roles of the private sector, government, and international collaborators. By engaging in the case study on a human level, abstract leadership concepts like ethical dilemmas and collaboration become more tangible.
Measuring the impact of storytelling in e-learning
To measure the impact of storytelling in e-learning, you can analyze various metrics.
Learner engagement
How much time learners spend watching a video and their interactions while doing so can help you assess how engaged they are. Do they watch and then rewatch certain sections? Do they tend to drop off at a certain point?
Knowledge retention
Quizzes can help you to test knowledge retention. By including questions within a storytelling video, you can get immediate feedback.
Qualitative feedback
Surveys and polls can give subjective feedback from learners about factors like whether they could relate to the characters in a story.
Group discussions
Conversations in groups can explore learner’s perceptions of the storytelling elements.
On-the-job performance tracking
This monitors if learners apply knowledge gained from a story to their work practices
Cincopa’s video analytics give you in-depth insights into learner engagement with videos and key KPIs. An analytics dashboard shows you a graph of aggregate video stats within a selected timeframe. A Live Feed gives stats of each learner who watches a video. This includes a viewing heatmap and engagement rate. This can help you to assess whether your storytelling videos make an impact and how you can improve them.
Conclusion
At a time when technology allows for instant communication, human connection can suffer. Storytelling is a powerful tool that corporate trainers and online educators can use to bridge the gap. Integrating storytelling into video-based e-learning can drive knowledge retention and boost learning outcomes. On Cincopa’s home page you can sign up for a free trial and find out how the platform helps you to create, host, manage, and deliver storytelling e-learning videos.
