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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Scenario-Based e-Learning Scenario-Based e-Learning offers a new instructional design approach that can accelerate expertise, build critical thinking skills, and promote transfer of learning. This book focuses on the what, when, and how of scenario-based e-learning for workforce learning. Throughout the book, Clark defines and demystifies scenario-based e-learning by offering a practical design model illustrated with examples from veterinary science, automotive troubleshooting, sales and loan analysis among other industries. Filled with helpful guidelines and a wealth of illustrative screen shots, this book offers you the information needed to: * Identify the benefits of a SBeL design for learners and learning outcomes * Determine when SBeL might be appropriate for your needs * Identify specific outcomes of SBeL relevant to common organizational goals * Classify specific instructional goals into one or more learning domains * Apply a design model to present content in a task-centered context * Evaluate outcomes from SBeL lessons * Identify tacit expert knowledge using cognitive task analysis techniques * Make a business case for SBeL in your organization Praise for Scenario-Based e-Learning "Clark has done it again--with her uncanny ability to make complex ideas accessible to practitioners, the guidelines in this book provide an important resource for you to build your own online, problem-centered instructional strategies." --M. David Merrill, professor emeritus at Utah State University; author, First Principles of Instruction "Clark's wonderful book provides a solid explanation of the how, what, and why of scenario-based e-learning. The tools, techniques, and resources in this book provide a roadmap for creating engaging, informative scenarios that lead to tangible, measurable learning outcomes. If you want to design more engaging e-learning, you need to read this book." --Karl M. Kapp, Professor of Instructional Technology, Bloomsburg University; author, The Gamification of Learning and Instruction
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Seitenzahl: 354
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
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CONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: What Is Scenario-Based e-Learning
Scenario-Based e-Learning: A First Look
What Do You think?
Scenario-Based e-Learning Defined
Scenario-Based vs. Directive Training Environments
What Scenario-Based e-Learning Is Not
Six Reasons to Consider Scenario-Based e-Learning Now
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 2: When to Use Scenario-Based e-Learning
Consider Scenario-Based e-Learning for Strategic Tasks
What Do You Think?
Situations That Call for Scenario-Based e-Learning
Eight Scenario-Based Learning Domains
Scenario-Based Multimedia Interfaces
Meet the Scenario-Based e-Learning Samples
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 3: Design of Scenario-Based e-Learning
Overview of a Scenario-Based e-Learning Design Model
Modes and Media in Scenario-Based e-Learning
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 4: Defining Scenario Outcomes
Outcome Deliverables for Learning Domains
Assess the Complexity of your Outcome Responses
What Do You Think?
Translate Your Learning Objectives
Scenario Outcomes and Multimedia Interfaces
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resource
Chapter 5: Designing the Trigger Event and Case Data
What Do You Think?
Planning the Trigger Event
Defining Case Data
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Chapter 6: Building Guidance in Scenario-Based e-Learning
What Do You Think
What Is Guidance?
Option 1: Fade Support from High to Low
Option 2: Move from Simple to Complex
Option 3: Consider Open vs. Closed Response Options
Option 4: Consider Interface/Navigation Design
Option 5: Add Training Wheels
Option 6: Incorporate Coaching and Advisors
Option 7: Embed Worksheets
Option 8: Adjust Feedback
Option 9: Make Learning Collaborative
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 7: Putting the “L” in Scenario-Based e-Learning
What Do You Think?
Integrating Knowledge and Skill Resources
Tutorials
Reference
Examples
Instructors
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 8: Designing Feedback and Reflection
The Power of Feedback
Learning from Mistakes
Instructional vs. Intrinsic Feedback
What Do You Think?
Feedback in a Nutshell
Feedback and Reflection in Learning Domains
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 9: Evaluation of Scenario-Based e-Learning
What Do You Think?
Focusing Your Evaluation
Back to the Basics: Test Reliability and Validity
Test Items for Scenario-Based e-Learning
Did I Pass the Test?
Testing with Online Scenarios
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 10: Does Scenario-Based e-Learning Work?
Does It Work?
Is It Efficient?
Does It Motivate?
What Features Make a Difference?
What Do You Think?
Limits of Research
Discovery Learning Does Not Work
Guided Discovery Can Have Learning Advantages over “Traditional” Instruction
Learner Scaffolding Is Essential for Success
Guided Discovery Can Be More Motivating Than “Traditional” Instruction
Feedback and Reflection Promote Learning
Visual Representations Should Be Congruent with Your Learning Goals
Can Scenario-Based e-Learning Accelerate Expertise?
Research on Scenario-Based e-Learning—The Bottom Line
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 11: Eliciting Critical Thinking Skills for Scenario-Based e-Learning
What Is Knowledge Elicitation?
What Do You Think?
Three Approaches to Knowledge Elicitation
Which Elicitation Method Should You Use?
Types of Knowledge and Skill to Elicit
Incorporating Critical Thinking Skills into Your Lessons
Guidelines for Success
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next
Additional Resources
Chapter 12: Implementing Scenario-Based e-Learning
What Do you Think?
Four Steps to Project Success
Step One: Present a Strong Business Case
Step Two: Plan Your Project
Step Three: Design Your Approach
Step Four: Develop Your First Scenario
What Do You Think? Revisited
Coming Next: Your Scenario-Based e-Learning Project
Additional Resources
Appendix A: An Introduction to the Scenario-Based e-Learning Examples
Appendix B: Repeated Figures
Appendix C: Reliability and Validity for Learning Measures for Scenario-Based e-Learning
List of Figures and Tables
Glossary
References
About the Author
Index
About This Book
Why is this book important?
This is a book about a new instructional design approach that I call “scenario-based e-learning.” You may have heard other names, such as immersive learning, problem-based learning, or whole-task instruction. What’s important is not the name—but how you design, develop, and deploy a learner-centered instructional environment that can accelerate expertise, build critical thinking skills, and promote transfer of learning. In this book you will learn the what, when, why, and how of scenario-based e-learning lessons, ranging from simple branched scenarios to complex simulated environments.
You can apply the guidelines in this book to design of e-learning lessons intended to be self-study or self-study with online collaboration, or to instructor-led settings that use the scenario-based e-learning lessons as case study resources.
What can you achieve with this book?
The guidelines and examples in this book will help you:
Distinguish between scenario-based e-learning and traditional instructional approaches
Identify the benefits of a scenario-based e-learning design for your learners and instructional goals
Determine when scenario-based e-learning is appropriate in your context
Identify specific outcomes of scenario-based e-learning relevant to your organizational goals
Classify your instructional goals into one or more of eight learning domains that are good candidates for scenario-based e-learning
Apply a design model to your own content and learning objectives
Evaluate outcomes from your scenario-based e-learning course
Apply current research on scenario-based e-learning to your own courses
Identify tacit expert knowledge using cognitive task analysis techniques
Make a business case for scenario-based e-learning in your organization
To help you achieve these goals, each chapter ends with a worksheet in which you can apply the guidelines and examples in that chapter to your own projects. You can find the worksheets online at www.pfeiffer/go/scenario. The password is Professional.
How is the book organized?
The first two chapters focus on the what, why, and when of scenario-based e-learning. Based on examples from diverse scenario-based multimedia lessons, you will see the unique features and benefits of this approach and identify situations in your organization that could profit from it. As you start to consider potential candidates for scenario-based e-learning in your organization, you can review eight knowledge and skill objectives, along with eight learning domains that represent the most common applications and will guide your design process.
Chapters 3 through 8 make up the heart of the book and focus on a design model for a scenario-based e-learning lesson, starting with an overview in Chapter 3 and proceeding with detailed guidelines and examples for each of the seven components of the design. In these chapters you will define the following key elements: general and specific intended outcomes, trigger events, case data, guidance and instructional resources, and feedback-reflection components.
In the last third of the book I summarize strategies to evaluate outcomes from scenario-based e-learning with an emphasis on testing to assess the instructional quality of and learning from your lessons. Although scenario-based e-learning is relatively new, in Chapter 10 I summarize recent research evidence followed by a chapter on supplementing your traditional job analysis with cognitive task analysis. In the final chapter you will find a brief discussion of how to make a business case for a scenario-based e-learning design project to include cost-benefit analysis.
Appendices
Please take a look at Appendices A and B, as they will guide your understanding of the examples in the book. Appendix A introduces the main samples used throughout the book, giving you a little background on each lesson. Appendix B is a repeat of all of the screen-capture figures in the sequence shown throughout the book. Because of space limitations, I refer back to many figures appearing in previous chapters. To make your access of these easier, you can bookmark Appendix B and look there to quickly find a specific figure. Note that all screen capture figures also appear online at www.pfeiffer.com/go/scenario.
Appendix C is adjunct information related to Chapter 9. It summarizes guidelines on ways to evaluate your scenario-based e-learning project. To measure learning outcomes, you will need to construct reliable and valid tests. In Appendix C you will find a review of test reliability and validity, essential concepts to any test development process. Review Appendix C if you plan to develop tests to assess knowledge and skill gains from your scenario-based e-learning course and if you need a refresher on these concepts.
What’s Online
To supplement the book, you can find the following at www.pfeiffer.com/go/scenario. Password: Professional:
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clark, Ruth Colvin, author.
Scenario-based e-learning: evidence-based guidelines for online workforce learning / Ruth Colvin Clark.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-12725-4 (pbk.); 978-1-118-41645-7 (ebook); 978-1-118-41900-7 (ebook); 978-1-118-43370-6 (ebook)
1. Employees—Training of—Computer-assisted instruction. 2. Problem-based learning. 3. Instructional systems—Design. I. Title.
HF5549.5.T7C58824 2013
658.3’124—dc23
2012032814
Acquiring Editor: Matthew Davis
Director of Development: Kathleen Dolan Davies
Production Editor: Dawn Kilgore
Editor: Rebecca Taff
Manufacturing Supervisor: Becky Morgan
FOREWORD
To young adults across the world, learning to drive a car is a rite of passage. A long-awaited milestone to be celebrated. A ticket to independence and freedom.
To those tasked with teaching a young adult to drive, it is a burden to be feared. A milestone to be avoided at all costs. A test of patience and fortitude.
Driving a car is among the most complex activities that human beings learn in their lifetime, as it involves the simultaneous physical mastery of vehicle handling, intellectual mastery of traffic rules, and emotional mastery of everyone who stands between you and your destination. Anyone who has ever survived the ritual of driver education has likely started out by breaking down this mind-bogglingly complex activity into a series of simple steps. For example, anytime you enter a vehicle, one driver education resource suggests following the procedure:
Let’s be honest with each other: How many times have you followed these steps above (or a procedure like it) when getting into the car for your morning commute or quick trip to the corner market? One hundred times, ten, once, perhaps never?
As in the case of this driving procedure, instructional design 101 has traditionally taught us to break down tasks into learning objectives, decompose complex objectives into smaller ones, chunk them, sequence, and simplify. We must first teach learners requisite facts and concepts. We should offer them a small, manageable number of basic procedures and processes: the ten steps to quit smoking, seven habits of successful people, five phases of developing training, or nine steps to drive a car.
The reality is that providing simplified steps like these is indeed useful when we first endeavor to master a complex activity. However, as we build expertise, two things become clear: (1) procedures that helped make us proficient as learners aren’t always comprehensive or even correct and (2) it’s not always easy or possible to decompose certain behaviors into steps or a simple checklist.
As we gain mastery within a domain, we also develop the ability to identify steps that are truly necessary, ones that can be reordered, steps that are just situational, and the tasks that can be skipped entirely. In short, we begin to question whether the best practices that were bestowed upon us are really . . . well, the best. For example, adjusting the seat and mirrors in a car is really only necessary after someone else has recently borrowed your vehicle. Perhaps it’s best to secure loose items in the back seat before buckling in rather than afterward. Prescription glasses may only be useful when it’s dark out, adjusting the air conditioning only when it’s hot. On a day-to-day basis, it’s only necessary to fasten your seat-belt and then race to enter the crawl of rush-hour traffic.
In addition, we encounter situations in which different approaches to the same problem can lead to the same outcome. For example, if you provide two cab drivers with the same destination address, it’s possible that one may take a longer route via the freeway while the other takes a shorter route using surface streets, and both could arrive at the same time. One salesman may prefer to use a consultative approach while another is a master of the “hard sell,” but both could ultimately be successful at closing a deal with a treasured client. Two instructional designers given the same performance problem will likely design and develop learning solutions that are markedly different. In short, many problems that we encounter are difficult to deconstruct and simplify, as the right and wrong way to do something is not always black and white.
Enter scenario-based e-learning.
Scenario-based e-learning (SBeL) acknowledges that the world is not black and white but rather shades of gray. It enables learning professionals to design training that accommodates the fact that there may not be a wrong way of doing something, but there may in fact be good, better, and best ways. It allows us to immerse learners in real problems, provide them with guidelines and principles to deal with those problems, and show them the consequences of their choices in a safe, efficient manner.
SBeL is not at all new. In fact, proponents of scenario-based and, more broadly, problem-based learning (PBL) have been actively espousing its benefits for almost thirty years. However, we have entered an exciting period that makes scenario-based e-learning both timely and relevant.
Just a dozen years ago, it would have been cost and time-prohibitive (but not impossible) to build an e-learning course that presented the learner with real problems, adapted to their choices, and gave them targeted feedback on their performance. This has changed over the years, and now several rapid e-learning tools have emerged on the market that make the creation of robust scenario-based e-learning courses as simple as building a presentation. The upside is that, more so than at any point in the training industry, it is easy for learning professionals to design and develop scenario-based e-learning that is effective and efficient. The downside is that it is now easy for learning professionals to design and develop SBeL that is neither effective nor efficient.
The other reason that this is an exciting time for us is that Ruth Clark has added to her tremendous legacy in the learning industry with her latest contribution Scenario-Based e-Learning. I can attest first-hand that Ruth has a tremendous and unique gift. She is unparalleled in her ability to consume volumes of published research, see patterns and trends across the research, and distill these into concepts and guidelines that are easy for you and me to apply when solving our learning problems. In the book that you now hold in your hands, Ruth helps you to identify situations in which SBeL should be applied, to design effective scenario-based e-learning, to best provide guidance and feedback, and to evaluate and assess learning.
For those who know me, it is no secret that I like cars. It would come as no surprise then that I recently decided to take a class on high-performance driving. In short, after driving an automobile for about two decades, I decided to go back to school and relearn how to drive.
In many ways, this book is like making a very similar choice. You may be a seasoned learning professional who has designed hundreds if not thousands of courses. You may be new to the field with some recent introduction to instructional design. Whatever the case may be, I challenge you to let go of your existing paradigms and relearn how to design effective and interactive learning.
Frank Nguyen
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A book like this one demands plenty of diverse examples to make it meaningful. I could not have written the book without the lesson samples generously provided by many instructional colleagues. Here is a list of contributors and the examples they provided:
Contributor
Organization
Example(s)
Dale Bambrick
Raytheon Professional Services
Automotive troubleshootingOptical lab
Andrew Corbett
Veterinary Information Network
Cat anesthesiaDog blood loss
Gary Klein
Klein Associates
Cognitive task analysis example
Susanne Lajoie
McGill University
Bioworld
Nancy Michael
Moody’s Analytics
Bank loan underwriter lesson
Mark A. Palmer
Mapgraphs
Graphic design for Bridezilla and pharmaceutical sales
Sharon Sloane
WILL Interactive
Gator 6Beyond the Front
Carol Wideman
VCOM 3D
Customer service demonstration
What you are about to read is clearer and better organized thanks to the advice of reviewers who dedicated the time to read through an unedited manuscript and make detailed and helpful suggestions for improvement. My thanks to:
Reviewers
Editors
CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS SCENARIO-BASED e-LEARNING?
Imagine Corey, an apprentice automotive technician. He’s had basic training in the fundamentals. He’s completed a year on the job. Still, when an unusual work order shows up, he can’t help feeling a little uneasy. He sees the confidence and efficiency of the journeymen technicians and wishes he could get there faster. . . .
Next consider the situation of a new combat officer. He’s been on several deployments, but this is his first time in charge of the entire company in a combat situation. He looks forward to the challenge but also realizes that he will be making life-and-death decisions. Everyone has to start somewhere, he thinks. But he wishes he had a little more experience to fall back on.
Finally, consider Linda. As a software development team lead, she spends a lot of time with customers, team members, and contractors. Linda groans as she sees all tomorrow morning blocked out for the annual mandatory compliance training. Just like last year—staff from legal and HR lecture on everything from taking gifts from clients to insider information laws and penalties. And this year there is a new policy—NO mobile devices on during the training! “I really could use the time to review the latest project plan revision! How can I get around this time-waster?”
If any of these situations sound familiar, you may find a solution in scenario-based e-learning.
The complexity of 21st century work is rooted in expertise. And as the word implies, expertise grows out of experience. In fact, psychologists who studied experts in sports, music, and strategy games like chess have found that people require about ten years of sustained and focused practice to reach the highest levels of competency in any domain. However, today’s organizations don’t have ten years to grow expertise. And some skills such as reacting to emergencies demand practice before the situation arises. Are there some ways to accelerate expertise outside of normal job experience? Are there some training techniques to turn a compliance meeting into a more relevant and engaging experience? One answer is scenario-based e-learning.
SCENARIO-BASED e-LEARNING: A FIRST LOOK
Let’s begin with a couple of examples. I will draw on seven main lesson examples throughout the book and you can see an orientation to these lessons in Appendix A. In addition, you can find color screen shots from these lessons at www.pfeiffer.com/go/scenario. One set of online screen shots is organized in the sequence in which they appear in the book. You can refer to these as you read the book. A second set shows multiple screen shots from several of the main lessons in their logical instructional sequence to illustrate how an intact lesson might flow.
Figure 1.1 illustrates a virtual automotive repair bay. After reviewing a work order, the student technician can access the various on-screen shop tools to run virtual diagnostic tests. The results are saved on his virtual clipboard. As he works through the problem, he can access the company technical reference guides on the online shop computer as well as expert advice through the telephone. When he is ready, he can select the appropriate failure and repair from a list of ten failures. After making a selection, the automobile functions normally or continues to show symptoms associated with the failure. At the end of the lesson, he can review his sequence of testing activities, which have been tracked by the program. He can compare his decisions, shown in Figure 1.2 on the right, with an expert solution shown on the left.
FIGURE 1.1. A Virtual Automotive Shop.
With permission from Raytheon Professional Services.
FIGURE 1.2. Learner Actions (on Right) Compared with Expert Actions (on Left).
With permission from Raytheon Professional Services.
For contrast, let’s take an introductory look at a second example from a demonstration lesson called Bridezilla that Mark Palmer and I designed for newly hired wedding planners. This course uses tabs to navigate to each of four main resources: (1) worksheets where client data is entered and stored, (2) an album that includes examples with financial data for different types of weddings, (3) advisors, and (4) a notes section. In Figure 1.3 I show the menu to access advice on religion, design, negotiation skills, and finances—each a major knowledge and skill domain required for successful wedding planning. Each advisor provides basic information with additional links to various reference sources. Unlike the troubleshooting scenario, the goal of this type of lesson may not be so much to arrive at a single correct answer but to offer a context for learning basic knowledge and skills about wedding planning. Most of the wedding solutions will involve tradeoffs, and the scenarios offer the opportunity to build experience around those tradeoffs.
FIGURE 1.3. The Learner Can Access Virtual Advisors for Wedding Planning.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We’ll see more of these lessons as well as some different examples throughout the book. Remember that you can see a set of screens organized either by course or in the same sequence that they appear in this book online at www.pfeiffer.com/go/scenario. However, based on just these two examples, check which features below characterize scenario-based e- learning:
You can see my answers at the end of the chapter. Take a look now if you can’t wait—or find most of the answers by reading the next few pages.
SCENARIO-BASED e-LEARNING DEFINED
I know it’s not too exciting to start a discussion with a definition. However, our training field actually needs more definitions because we routinely use the same words to mean different things and different words to mean the same thing. No point in moving forward until we make a good attempt at a common understanding. Here’s my definition:
Let’s look at this definition in more detail.
The Learner Is an Actor Responding to a Job-Realistic Situation
By actor, I mean that the learner is placed in a realistic work role and takes on-screen actions to complete a work assignment or respond to a work challenge. Because the environment is highly learner-centric, a key feature of scenario-based e-learning is high engagement learning. In traditional instructional environments such as a slide-based presentation, the learner is an observer and listener—primarily playing the role of a passive receiver. I call these learning environments receptive or “show and tell.”
In directive environments, the learner observes and listens and periodically responds to some questions or a short exercise based on what she has heard and seen. In these moderately engaging environments, the learner is a receiver and an occasional responder to highly structured questions. Procedural software training often reflects this type of design. In contrast, in scenario-based e-learning, the learner assumes the role of an active respondent from the beginning and continues in that mode throughout the lesson.
The Environment Is Preplanned
Like any well-designed training, there are defined learning objectives and desired knowledge and skill outcomes which are the focus of the lesson design. For example, in the automotive technician training, the objective requires the learner to follow an efficient and accurate process to perform and interpret diagnostic tests in order to identify the correct failure and repair action. In Bridezilla, there is no single “correct” answer. Instead, the objective is to help learners make decisions during wedding planning consultation that reflect the religious, financial, aesthetic, and social values of the clients. As the learner works with different virtual clients, she has the opportunity to learn about diverse cultural, religious, aesthetic, and financial aspects of weddings as well as to apply problem-solving skills in negotiating discrepancies in client resources or opinions.
Learning Is Inductive Rather Than Instructive
In inductive environments, the emphasis is on learning from a series of progressively complex experiences by taking actions, reviewing responses to those actions, and reflecting on the consequences. For example, the automotive technician student has the opportunity to try a diverse sequence of tests (some more relevant than others) and to learn from the results of his choices. Contrast this approach with a directive design that emphasizes learning from a structured series of explanations and short practice exercises. For example, a traditional course design teaches the five stages of a troubleshooting process along with associated tools by presenting steps, giving examples, and assigning structured practice activities.
The Instruction Is Guided
One of the most important success factors in scenario-based e-learning is sufficient guidance to minimize the flounder factor. A recent meta-analysis summarizing more than five hundred studies that compared a discovery approach with either directive or guided discovery, found significantly better learning among the more guided versions (Alfieri, Brooks, Aldrich, & Tenebaum, 2011). There are a number of ways you can provide guidance, ranging from case complexity progression (low to high), amount of support provided (high to low), and interface and navigation design. Chapter 6 is devoted solely to techniques and examples for guidance in scenario-based e-learning environments.
Scenarios Incorporate Instructional Resources
Unlike most games that rely solely on inductive learning, scenario-based e-learning environments embed a number of resources for explicit learning, including virtual coaches, model answers, and even traditional tutorials. As illustrated in Figure 1.3, the scenario offers a number of virtual coaches as sources for diverse perspectives on wedding planning. Like a game, scenario-based e-learning presents a challenge. However, competition to achieve a particular score or out-play others is not an essential feature and can even be counterproductive. In Chapter 7 I will illustrate different approaches you can use to embed instructional opportunities in your learning environments.
The Goal Is to Accelerate Workplace Expertise
By working through a series of job scenarios that could take months or years to complete in the work environment, experience is compressed. At its core, scenario-based e-learning is job experience in a box—designed to be unpackaged and stored in the learner’s brain. Unlike real-world experience, scenario-based e-learning scenarios not only compress time but also offer a sequence and structure of events designed to guide learning in a controlled manner. The automotive technician and the wedding consultant would most likely eventually learn the skills needed on the job. However, rather than months and years, the multimedia compressed experiential environment shrinks the learning experience into a matter of hours.
You will discover a wide range of design options that reflect these six features that I designate as key elements of scenario-based e-learning. One of my goals is to help you adapt these features to meet the specific goals, learners, and resources available in your organization.
What’s in a Name?
Before we leave this section on definitions, as I mentioned previously, in our profession, we have few consistent terms. What I am calling scenario-based e-learning has also been labeled problem-based learning, whole-task learning, guided discovery, immersive and goal-based learning, to name just a few. Almost every time I do a workshop, I hear a new term. I know that some experts have precise definitions for these various instructional designs. And if your organization has a different term, feel free to stick with it. For consistency I’m going to use scenario-based e-learning. However, my goal in this book is to provide some guidelines and examples to help you to design learning environments that are task-centered, engaging, and designed to accelerate expertise, regardless of what you want to call them.
SCENARIO-BASED VS. DIRECTIVE TRAINING ENVIRONMENTS
Let’s contrast a scenario-based e-learning design to a more traditional approach, known as a directive or part-task design. In Table 1.1 and the discussion to follow I summarize some of the main differences.
TABLE 1.1. Scenario-Based e-Learning vs. Directive Training Environments
Feature
Scenario-Based
Directive
Role of Case Study
Lesson begins with the caseThe case serves as a context for learning
Lesson ends with the caseThe case serves as culminating application for learning
Lesson Organization
Holistic—Variable chunks Knowledge and skill components integrated into the case assignment
Hierarchical—Small Chunks Knowledge and skill components build from simple to more complex culminating in case assignment
Role of Learner
An actor to resolve challenges and tasks in the scenario
A responder to frequent and structured questions designed to build knowledge and skills
Role of Instruction
Provide a realistic engaging scenario accompanied by resources to support learning
Provide highly structured content, examples, and practice with feedback to support learning
Instructional Approach
Inductive—Learning from experience and reflection on the consequences of actions taken or decisions made
Instructive—Learning from a structured, organized sequence of exposition, examples, and frequent content-specific practice exercises
Interactivity
High overt learner activity in an environment of moderate to high levels of learner control over actions
Moderate overt learner activity during periodic structured interactions
Feedback
Consequential in which the learner takes actions, makes decisions and experiences the outcomes as well as corrective in which the learner is told whether the response is accurate and why
Corrective, in which the learner responds to structured questions and is told (usually immediately) whether a response is accurate or not and why
Best Uses
Building critical thinking skills and experience in strategic tasksAccelerating expertise when on-the-job training is unsafe, impractical, or too slowMotivating learners through job-relevant scenarios
Building procedural skills to learn relatively routine tasksOffering efficient paths to learning knowledge and skills associated with procedural tasks
Target Audience
Often best suited for apprentice workers who already have relevant work background experience
Often best suited for learners who are new to the knowledge and skills included in the training
If you have designed, taught, or taken a beginning software course, you are familiar with a directive design. Traditional procedural training, also known as part-task or directive, typically follows a “rule-example-practice-feedback” sequence. Directive training based on behaviorist learning psychology emphasizes learning based on stimulus (question)-response (response to the question) and feedback (immediate knowledge of results). Typically, the job role is parsed into a number of small tasks, each to be taught in a lesson that states and demonstrates steps, assigns practice, and gives immediate corrective feedback.
Take an Excel class, for example. The goal of using a spreadsheet is broken into a number of small tasks, each with associated key knowledge topics. For example, topics such as What is a cell? What are cell references? or What are formulas? are explained and demonstrated by the instructor using a simple spreadsheet. Next the students practice constructing and inputting several formulas following step-by-step directions. When they make a mistake, they receive immediate feedback and correct their responses. After completing several lessons, a small business case study gives students the opportunity to consolidate and practice the component skills in a holistic context.
In contrast, in scenario-based e-learning, the lesson kicks off with a case assignment. For example, in an Excel lesson, the learner is given a simple spreadsheet for a small business and asked to calculate weekly sales totals. Rather than receiving a series of structured lessons and demonstrations, the learners are free to try different actions and also to access reference and guidance resources as they proceed. Learning and reference resources are embedded or linked into the scenario environment.
Learning from Mistakes
Compared to directive designs, scenario-based e-learning assumes quite a different attitude toward mistakes. Rather than viewing errors as negatives to be hopefully avoided or at least immediately corrected, in scenario-based e-learning mistakes are seen as learning opportunities. As Neils Bohr said: “An expert is someone who has made all of the mistakes that can be made in a limited domain.” In some scenario-based e-learning designs, as in the real world, learners may not realize they’ve made some poor decisions until they are near the end of the case. In the automotive example, only after the learner selects the correct failure and repair activity, does he see the consequences of his choices by comparing his process with that of an expert. In other scenario-based e-learning lessons, feedback is provided with each step. In Chapter 8, you can review much more detail about the what, when, and where of feedback in scenario-based e-learning.
Scenarios to Lead or to Culminate?
Purists will argue that true scenario-based learning leads with the scenario, which serves as the engine for learning. Various learning resources are linked into stages of scenario resolution. However, I’ve seen several clients switch from using the scenario as a lead-off event to preceding it with a structured series of lessons. I’m not sure of all the reasons, but I suspect that, in some situations, the mental load imposed by learning while resolving a problem was too heavy for many learners. Instead, they have found it more effective to use the scenario as a culminating learning experience. The best solution no doubt depends on the prior knowledge of your learners and the complexity of your instructional goals.
In Chapter 10, which summarizes research evidence related to scenario-based e-learning, I will describe some experiments showing benefits of starting with a scenario followed by directive training and others showing benefits of preceding a scenario-based simulation with directive training. Whether your scenario initiates or follows directive instruction, the guidelines in this book are applicable to your scenario design.
Target Audience
Because learning new knowledge and skills while solving a job-realistic problem can impose quite a bit of mental load, in general scenario-based e-learning is best suited to learners who already have some job experience. For example, the automotive trouble shooting lesson would likely be quite overwhelming for learners unfamiliar with common testing equipment in a service bay. In contrast, a directive approach is well suited for workers with new job roles or assignments. Because the directive approach offers small chunks in a hierarchical sequence, the learner is spared excessive mental overload.
WHAT SCENARIO-BASED e-LEARNING IS NOT
It might be helpful to clarify what scenario-based e-learning is by looking at a few examples that could be misclassified as scenario-based e-learning. Here are some of my favorites:
Not a Game
Clark and Mayer (2011) define games as a competitive activity with a challenge to achieve a goal, a set of rules and constraints, and a specific context. How is scenario-based e-learning different? Like a game, scenario-based e-learning does pose a challenge, and there may also be rules and constraints. However, an element of competition is not the essential feature that it is in games. Second, an essential feature of scenario-based e-learning is a specific context—the context of the workplace. Some games may embed a work context, but many do not.
Although scenario-based e-learning could have a game overlay—say by tracking and showing progress “scores,” there is no solid evidence that a competitive element will lead to better learning. In fact, if you want to wrap your scenario-based e-learning in a game shell, you need to be careful that the activities and rewards associated with game progress are aligned to your learning goals. In summary, while some scenario-based e-learning could be designed with gaming elements, I view scenario-based e-learning and serious games as two separate approaches to learning.
Not a Scenario with Questions
I have seen lessons called scenario-based e-learning that consisted of a work scenario followed by a series of multiple-choice or open-ended questions about the scenario. For example, learners view a customer service interaction. Then they respond to questions such as: How could the customer service representative have responded more effectively? Which of the following principles did the customer service representative apply when she . . .?
While these kinds of scenario-driven exercises have learning value, they fail to incorporate all of the features of a scenario-based e-learning environment. In particular, the learner does not become an actor in the scenario. Rather, he or she is more of an observer reflecting on and analyzing it. Often these types of lessons approximate a directive design more than scenario-based e-learning.
Not a Simulation
Although scenario-based e-learning can be based on a simulation, simulation is not an essential element. I define a simulation as a dynamic model of a real-world phenomena or process often simplified to reflect core principles. Neither the automotive troubleshooting nor the Bridezilla examples I introduced in this chapter are based on a truly dynamic simulation. In contrast, in Figure 1.4 I show a scenario-based e-learning lesson on emergency treatment for blood loss in dogs. In this simulation, the learner has a choice of different treatments for a dog with blood loss. As treatment decisions are made, the student can review dynamic changes in the dog’s status reflected in the on-screen EKG. The EKG responses are programmed with a mathematical model based on known physiological responses.
FIGURE 1.4. A Scenario-Based e-Learning Simulation of Treatment of a Dog for Blood Loss.
With permission from the Veterinary Information Network.
