Comments on: Why Instructional Designers Must Be Good Storytellers? Any Say

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:22:22 +0000

Stories are powerful because we all learn from example and empathy. Also, I disagree with Mousumi, at face value it seems that you can not teach people how to use applications with story… but could you not tell a ‘user’s’ story of how they used an application right, wrong or in a new or innovative way. I do agree that this isn’t the best way to teach all skills all the time, but it still is possible.

By: Rupa

Rupa — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:46:36 +0000

Hi Mousumi

I think you can weave a story around anything, if u are a good story teller

By: Mousumi

Mousumi — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:24:25 +0000

Hi Rupa, yet another interesting post. But I would like to differ. I guess you can’t use story-telling technique across any and every elearning course that we design. Say for instance in an application training where the learners need to familiarise with certain tabs, buttons, and how to use the application- there we cannot fit in a story right? What do you think?

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:27:36 +0000

I try to use the story telling approach, too. A tool that I find helps me is Celtx, http://celtx.com/, a free scriptwriting program. It has a structure that keeps me on track.

By: Rupa

Rupa — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:05:56 +0000

Thanks for the reference Jacob

You are right… not all can tell stories well. You have to work to gain this skill.

By: Jacob Everist

Jacob Everist — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:54:34 +0000

Rupa,

Stories are the way our brains are hardwired to accept new information. That’s the way it’s been for thousands of years, and that will never change.

I want to tie story-telling into everything I do. But here’s the thing: I don’t know how to tell stories very well. This is a skill I’ve been wanting to improve for a very long time, but I haven’t really had the time to search for resources.

Read Dan Pink’s book, “The Whole New Mind“. He lists story-telling as the 2nd sense of the Six Senses of the coming Conceptual Age.