Interview with Dr Matthew Murray

OEB: Do e-learning courses or modules have to be more gripping or entertaining to reach "Generation Y" employees?

M. M.: Effective e-learning has to be meaningful and engaging. Storytelling techniques are one way to achieve this impact for Generation Y employees. Using entertaining delivery devices can be an effective way to generate interest and hold attention. But it’s counter-productive to pull in your learners through visual appeal or catchy teasers and then deliver learning through uninspiring methods. The primary objective for us as e-learning designers and developers is to merge the mode of delivery with the learning content in a way that is seamless, engaging and reinforcing. The key challenge is to create storytelling that is not purely entertaining or high impact, but also helps to convey and reinforce the learning objectives.

OEB: What role does storytelling play in this context?

M.M.: Storytelling is an ancient method of communication, but new forms of storytelling are especially relevant to today's learning community. Stories are typically about people acting in realistic situations and making decisions that have effects. This is what makes them so potentially powerful in a learning context, since we typically want our target audience to be able to improve their performance by acting effectively in workplace situations and making decisions with positive impact. E-Learning can learn a great deal from media and narrative forms in particular. The parallels between an engaging learning experience and a compelling media experience are very evident. Well-designed stories can keep e-learning relevant, meaningful and connected to learners' lives. 

OEB: Why has digital storytelling become so important to e-learning developers?

M.M. : Gen Y employees gravitate towards highly visual and media-rich forms of storytelling in general, and this correlates nicely with today's high-bandwidth
e-learning delivery modalities.

So the truly promising use of storytelling techniques for this audience is driven by a number of overlapping trends and developments: the ability to include multimedia in e-learning at relatively low costs; the move away from lecturing and presentation to more realistic, learner-driven, immersive learning contexts; the popularity of contemporary media genres such as reality TV and mockumentaries that lend themselves well to e-learning vignettes; as well as the savviness of Gen Y learners to jump quickly into new technologies and situations without much build-up and to piece together diverse elements without the need for an overarching narrative arc. 

Digital storytelling is an efficient way of framing complex situations and helping audiences to make sense of what otherwise may be highly challenging connections in a rapidly changing workplace. This is especially true since the work-life distinction is breaking down for Gen Y.

These are often mobile employees who are accessing e-learning and entertainment media in the same location at home, on the train, in an airport and through the same devices like computer or mobile device. Just as they no longer work 9-5 schedules, their consumption of "entertainment" and "training" is no longer as separate as it used to be.

Increasingly, e-learning and social media are side by side in the same technological landscape: online, through smart phones, through podcasts, using wikis and networking tools, etc. When e-learning engages with this landscape effectively, it generates interest and a willingness to learn. Our use of stories and storytelling devices feels natural and compelling, not forced or heavy-handed.

OEB: What does your company do to engender effective storytelling in e-learning? Could you please give us some examples?

M.M.: Much of our training involves highly complex technical content and processes. Our learners are very young, intelligent and busy – we need to get to the point quickly in a meaningful way.

Some of our stories place our learners in a true-to-life situation where they are presented with a scenario and learn through the narrative, making decisions along the way. We've used short, episodic video vignettes to generate realistic characters and situations that can be referenced and analysed in the learning in addition to learner-driven simulations that require the learner to react on behalf of a "character".

For example, The Firm, a series of 3-5 minute intranet videos shot "docu-comedy" style, with recurring characters played by PwC employees, involved in informal coaching situations.

These broadcast-quality videos were released firmwide on a weekly episodic basis. Like Gen Y employees, our stories don't take themselves too seriously, but are forced to confront serious situations and make ethical and professional choices. The tone is ironic and somewhat self-reflexive; we avoid preaching and clichéd characters.  

OEB: Thank you very much for your time.

 

Matthew Murray will speak on Thursday, December 4, 14:15 – 15:45, in the session "What’s in a Story".

August 27, 2008

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