Create fantastic scenarios for your e-learning in 4 steps

E-learning is still often used primarily to "broadcast" information. The sender transmits information to the receiver. But that is usually where it ends.

The receiver has no opportunity (yet) to actually connect what they have learned online to practice, or even to put it into practice.

Scenarios can change that!

In this blog, we explain why we are fans of implementing scenarios, how you can take the first steps to create your own, and what you need to watch out for.

Why choose scenarios for your e-learning?

Scenarios bring learning material to life. Imagine this: you read an article and watch a video about customer service. In the video, you are confronted with an unpleasant situation: a customer is very aggressive and unfriendly. When you turn off the video, you might have an uncomfortable feeling, but it fades away, and that is where the learning experience ends.

What if you could then test the skills you gained in the customer service training yourself? What if you could respond to that customer yourself? But in a safe environment: in a scenario simulation.

In theory, a scenario looks something like this:

source: https://elearningindustry.com/why-you-should-be-using-scenarios-in-e-learning‍

The learner is thus enabled to test a number of responses in a safe way, until the response leads to the correct result. A low-threshold yet highly effective way to translate theoretical knowledge into practice.

Translating a scenario into daily work practice is much easier than, for example, translating information from a book into daily work practice.

How do you create scenarios and what should you look out for?

Pay attention to these four steps:

1. Make it relevant

Before you start creating scenarios, consult your learning objectives again. What goals do the learners taking your training want to achieve? And how can scenarios contribute to this?

These questions will help you on your way:

• What challenges do learners encounter in their current situation?
• What skills do they need to develop to address or solve these challenges?
• Are there certain steps in the learner's thought process that are currently being skipped?

Once you have clear answers to these questions, you can determine which scenario fits best.

Sometimes a scenario can simply be choosing the right solution, but sometimes it can be more complex, as in the image above—not all people and personalities are the same, and furthermore, not every option the learner chooses, or every decision they make, is automatically right or wrong.

2. Make it realistic

• Keep the learner's work environment in mind
• Consider the average learner: their demographic profile, job roles and responsibilities, professional ambitions, and the challenges they face on the job
• Develop realistic main characters that align with the people the learner actually interacts with in their daily work‍‍‍

3. Make the scenario visually appealing

Ensure visuals are attractive (but realistic). Visuals are engaging and increase learner involvement. You can make visuals realistic by, for example, using the company logo or a real point-of-sale environment.

You can also use photos, videos, illustrations, and Virtual Reality. The better the visuals align with daily work, the more likely it is that the learner will associate what they've learned with their actual job.

4. Appeal to emotions

Experiences that trigger a strong emotion are stored in our brains longer and more vividly than experiences that lack emotion.

Use this to your advantage when developing scenarios.

Don't just convey dry facts; attach an emotion to them. Can you feel the difference between these two?

• “This is the right thing to say to a customer in this situation” or
• “If you say this to a customer in this situation, you’ll feel much more confident and won’t be left speechless”

Your learner will certainly recognize the latter emotions and will naturally want to avoid them: that’s where the motivation to pay attention comes from—this is what you want to learn!

You can use different types of media to engage various senses: video, audio (music, voice), and images.

You can also use real actors to convey the message with more emotion. Role-playing is perfect for this.

When actors react with emotion to an action taken by the learner in the scenario, the outcome of that action sticks with the learner much better.

Just imagine: you click on the next step, choose an action, and a screen pops up saying “incorrect” OR an actor appears on screen who starts crying, yelling, or suddenly becomes much friendlier: which one would you remember better?

In short: adding scenarios to e-learning is an ideal and creative way to bring course material to life.

In Pluvo, you can create scenarios very easily. Create a free account and discover the benefits.