How clever storytelling boosts learning outcomes in eLearning

Once upon a time, there was a dedicated and highly talented eLearning author, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t motivate some of her employees to learn. Time and again, there had been serious cases of eLearning courses not being completed. So she worked day and night, trying to find a new suitable motivational method that she had not yet tried—and suddenly, when she had almost given up, she found the long-awaited magic tool!

Storytelling is not only an effective marketing tool, but also an unbeatable means of conveying learning content more effectively in eLearning—especially in situations where learners find it particularly difficult to stay on task. In this article, you’ll read how you can easily make dry eLearning courses more exciting, and how you can boost learning outcomes with simple storytelling tricks.

Our brains love stories! It might sound a bit trite at first, but its biological origins lie in our amygdala—the part of the brain that evaluates emotional stimuli. In a way, she is a diva, spoiled by the exciting tales from our evolution about fleeing from the saber-toothed tiger, hunting, pure survival. The stuff of Hollywood. It is directly connected to the hippocampus, which in turn plays a central role in long-term memory formation. So if you want to reach the hippocampus with new knowledge, you first have to convince the amygdala. And what better way to do that than with a new, exciting story, like the ones she is so addicted to? (See what we did there? We gave the amygdala human characteristics and told a little story with it.)

What we’re trying to say here is that stories trigger our emotions and are therefore remembered longer than knowledge that is conveyed without that kind of context. In fact, our penchant for stories extends so far that in one experiment, $129 worth of nearly worthless junk was once sold on eBay for $8,000—just because each item had an emotional story attached to it.

Good stories (almost) always follow the same structure: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution—as simple as it is effective. To prove the effectiveness of this structure, a marketing professor once analyzed 108 Super Bowl halftime commercials. The result? The most popular ads followed this classic five-act pattern. The undisputed winner was Budweiser’s Lost Dog, in which the fluffy Golden Retriever became a selling point that simply could not be ignored.

When telling stories, always make sure you choose a plot that your learners can really identify with. The more learners recognize themselves, the higher they will rate the relevance of the learning content, which in turn leads to higher motivation and better learning outcomes. Also bear in mind that your workforce is more than likely non-homogeneous, so you should always address those who are in the minority, too (keyword: diversity).

Everyone in Germany knows the mouse and elephant from “Die Sendung mit der Maus”. Year after year, the mouse tells new factual and funny stories every day, so memorable that most Germans can probably still recall at least one episode from their childhood. The broadcaster WDR has created a recurring character that has made the show more successful than any other on German children’s television. You are also likely familiar with the principle of fictional characters from other learning contexts. So why not take advantage of this recipe for success and create a character to guide your learners through your learning content? Ideally, you should choose a character that appeals to the emotions and/or with whom the learners can identify.
Just imagine if a puppy like the one in the Budweiser commercial appeared wagging its tail each time learners successfully complete a chapter?

As we have already established, storytelling can be used almost anywhere with enough creativity. However, some parts of eLearning courses are particularly suitable for stories:

A virtual runaway puppy that gets closer to its master with each completed chapter may appeal to our emotions, but it may not be the right choice for complex leadership training. For casual training for small teams on the other hand… 

What we’re trying to say: When creating the story, pay attention to your target group and adapt the stories, examples and characters accordingly so that the participants feel taken seriously enough without losing the emotional connection, and at the same time identify as strongly as possible with the characters and content.

Text, video, audio file, animation, gif… While every story can theoretically be told in any format with a bit of effort, there is usually one that is the most suitable. So first consider how your story can be told in the easiest and most memorable way. Ideally, you should use different formats to take different learning preferences into account.

When you’re first introducing storytelling—perhaps even integrating it into existing eLearning content—learner feedback is worth its weight in gold! Form a small test group or, if there is not enough time, ask your employees how they felt about the learning experience after your first attempts. With specifically formulated questions and a short guide to constructive feedback, you are sure to receive valuable tips on how you can optimize your storytelling in the future.