Key elements of effective scenario-based training
Effective scenario-based learning isn’t just about telling a good story. If you’re going to maximize the impact with immersive learning scenarios, you need some key building blocks in place.
- Realistic context: Establish scenarios and characters that are relevant to your learners. Present realistic challenges that put their skills and knowledge into practice.
- Decision points: Give learners the freedom to make choices. Let them explore different paths, experiment with their choices, and see how things play out.
- Consequences: Make sure each choice has clear, immediate consequences. This is where the learning happens – feedback is key for improvement and knowledge retention.
- Moments to reflect: Encourage learners to pause and analyze. What worked? What didn’t? What can they do better next time?
How to build a scenario-based elearning course
If you’re going to incorporate all these elements, you need a robust scenario process.
Like any digital learning project, there are 4 steps you can’t go without.
1. Capture – Start with a clear plan
Rather than diving in and risking rewriting your elearning scenarios later, take the time to make a plan.
- Understand your learning needs: Start with a clear understanding of the problem you’re solving and who you’re training. This insight will help keep you focused and shape your scenario approach to deliver maximum impact.
- Explore critical situations: Talk to your learners to uncover their key challenges and pain points, as well as what good looks like in reality. The situations they highlight will be the foundation of your scenarios.
2. Conceptualize – lead with a prototype
With the learning needs clear in your mind, you can set about generating some ideas for how they can be met with scenario-based learning.
- Determine your approach: From simple linear situations to complex, branching experiences, there are different ways to approach scenario-based learning. Choose the format that best suits your learners and training goals. Make sure your authoring tool provides the functionality you need for the approach you’ve chosen to take.
- Prototype: Whether it’s a simple wireframe or an interactive elearning walkthrough, prototyping a small piece of scenario-based learning allows you to check that you’re heading in the right direction.
3. Create – Build with confidence
Once prototyping has confirmed your thinking, it’s time to get stuck into developing your full learning experience. When designing your scenario, make sure you’re including the key elements:
- Realistic context: Select a setting, characters and situation or task that will resonate with your learners and deliver the greatest impact.
- Decision points: Map out the situation and pinpoint key decisions your learners need to make.
- Consequences: Identify the common mistakes, the impact these have and the feedback that learners will need to get back on track.
- Moments to reflect: Highlight where there’s opportunity for your learners to reflect on their own experiences and how what they’ve seen relates to their work.
For simple linear scenarios, work straight into your authoring tool. With more complex branching scenarios, it’s important to map out how this will work. It will save time in the long run and avoid headaches later.
4. Cultivate – Improve and refine
Once your scenario is built, test it with a small group of learners. Gather comments on everything – from the context to the feedback. Then refine your scenario based on their input to ensure it delivers the best results.
Explore more practical tips in our blog on designing branching scenarios.