The trainings prepared should have a certain flow and be interesting. Otherwise, education can be painful for students. Trainings that are not well planned, simplified and not tied to a scenario can be complex. The important thing here is how productive time the student spends while receiving this education. At the end of the day, the student should complete the education more equipped and skilled without encountering a complex content.
The trainings contain a flow, whether you do it consciously or not. Through these flows, the more closely we can learn the information that education wants to give us, with examples that are close to real-life situations, the better learning will take place. Therefore, the most efficient form of the trainings will be using situations that are close to real life as a scenario. This will also increase the visualization of the theoretical information and the level of interaction between student and education. In this way, the training you prepare will convey its content to the other party more actively.
Creating scenarios for eLearning
Training contents are generally gathered under two roofs. The first of these is to convey the information in the education directly to the students. There is no different goal here. Another one is training to improve behavior and current performances. Both are methods used and used in the eLearning environment.
Evaluations of trainings aimed at improving students' current performance are always much easier. Because it is much simpler to determine the performances before and after the training.
It is more difficult to make an evaluation in education methods that are based on direct knowledge transfer compared to the first method. Because it is difficult to determine whether the person receiving the training and using the information or not.
Why should we use scenarios in eLearning?
Give a new perspective
eLearning scenarios enable students to comprehend education more easily. In addition to this understanding, it is also aimed that the student will have a different experience from classical educational contents. The examples in the educational content give the student a different perspective, with the closeness of the education flow to real life. The student is the manager of the e-Learning content in the scenario flow. Makes the choices in the scenario and decides the training flow. The student has the biggest say.
Make learning permanent
Scenarios provide realistic experiences in educational content. The decisions and reactions the student makes here are very close to the reactions and decisions he would give in a similar situation in real life. Therefore, the student's experience in the scenario is also very realistic. This will make the feedback about the student permanent in the content of the training. Encountering the problems that students may encounter in real life in the educational content will enable them to receive the information more permanently. In addition to all these, such scenarios will also affect people's decision-making mechanisms in daily life.
Provide motivation
When students encounter situations similar to those they encounter in scenarios in real life, they are motivated towards training. Because this allows them to see that the trainings are beneficial. At the same time, students will feel more motivated because there is no winner in such training and the main goal is to educate the student.
Make feel the current problem or choice
eLearning scenarios create space for students in education. In this way, the student has time to think, unlike classical trainings. He waits to choose the best decision and course and chooses an option he thinks is more accurate. This is much healthier than the student making quick decisions. Because the deeper we think about something, the more our success rate will increase. At the same time, the student will be aware that he has made a choice and will make a more conscious choice.
Enrich content with interactions
Compared to conventional trainings, eLearning applications containing scenarios increase interaction. Because it is innovative and attracts attention. Therefore, thanks to the interactions in the scenarios, it enables students to find real life parts in education. This makes it easy to relate experiences between real life and education.
Design a more active learning environment
Scenarios are dynamic. It contains a thought and a telling of problem. The scenario is integrated with the student and a common path is found and a solution or solutions are expected to be produced. Therefore, there is an interaction to activate the unused areas of the brain. One of the biggest reasons for this is that a scenario that will not confront the student in real life appears as an example in education. In this way, it will be easier for the student to imagine an experience that he has not experienced.
Improve decision making
Scenarios help students solve potential problems that may arise in their daily actions. Because with scenarios decision-making mechanisms develop and become much more experienced about what to do in similar situations.
How to create a good eLearning scenario?
How do you think a good scenario should be? Let's talk about this a little bit.
Realism
Your scenarios should primarily attract students' attention. An education that attracts the student's attention will also be the source of a successful education process. For this reason, the closeness of the scenario to realism plays an important role. A very realistic scenario will make the student feel close to education and will be interesting. Therefore, the scenarios should be as close to reality as possible and provide the students with the necessary information.
The important thing is; student
In the scenarios, the priority is who the student is. There should be a closeness between the scenario and the student so that the student can feel close to the story. Therefore, it will be an advantage for us to have information about the target audience, our students. Using this advantage, we can prepare the scenarios we will create specially for students. Knowing what they are doing, their skills, current knowledge or their perspective on events will help us develop scenarios. If we are not familiar with them, we can also get help from a subject matter expert, someone who is knowledgeable about the student body.
With a scenario created by gathering all these student features together, students will be able to feel a relationship with the scenario and will not have difficulty in integrating themselves into education. Thus, it will be easier for them to understand and follow the subject.
Interaction in the scenario
As we mentioned before, one of the important points in the scenario is that the students get caught up in the scenario and get involved in the story. One of the important points that will ensure this is that the scenario contains many interactions. Thanks to the high interaction, students will be completely absorbed in the scenario and will achieve success by internalizing the learning much more. Student-scenario interaction within the scenario will also help in transferring theoretical knowledge to the real world.
The power of the characters
Include characters that students can find and relate to in your scenarios. Leave it to the students how this character will produce solutions to the problems he encounters in his education flow. In this way, students can draw their own path through the characters in an imaginary scenario and see the results. In this way, your education will be both more interesting and more engaging.
In addition to the characters, scenarios containing realistic dialogues will also strengthen the relationship between education and real life and increase the permanence of education on the student side.
Finding balance
While the scenarios try to attract the student into the education, they should not be too far from being an educational feature. Therefore, scenarios should be both close to real life, informative, but also not overly informative. Over-informative scenarios will distract students from the flow and distract the student from education. A simple and understandable scenario that does not contain excessive information will benefit students much more and contribute to their development.
Now let's design a sample scenario considering all these. Our topic is earthquake education. Step by step, we will determine the details of our scenario using which rules, let's examine it.
Make your scenario realistic
Keep your scenario close to the real world. For this, either feed on events happening around you or you hear from others. Scenario these stories according to the format of the training you will prepare and turn them into an experience. In this way, your education will be more unique and students who receive education will feel closer to the event.
Here, we decided on earthquake education as the main subject. But let's start our scenario like this; Let our main character be a child, the youngest in the family, and there was an earthquake last week. The family should want to inform the child about the earthquake to overcome the fear of earthquakes. However, it turned out that the family also did not know about the earthquake. According to the scenario, the family should conduct earthquake education together during the training. A child with a fear of earthquakes and a family with little knowledge about the earthquake… It looks close to real life.
Students can find something of themselves in your scenario
Provide your students with real-life snippets of the scenario as possible. Thus, students will enter the scenario much more easily. He will be able to put himself in place of the story and make the decisions within the scenario by thinking himself.
We have all experienced concerns about earthquakes. This idea of a scenario will therefore come close to many students and will draw their attention to the story. At the beginning of our earthquake education, let's talk about the story of our child character. Here, let's tell about the child character's experience and what kind of action plan his family has prepared.
In addition, if we also provide information about what students should do during the actual earthquake within the scenario, it will be much more permanent for the students.
Start with simple choices
It is good to warm the students to the scenario. A simple choice students may come up with at the beginning will affect their getting used to the scenario and the story. At the same time, these simple choices will make the student familiar with and adapt to the selection logic in the eLearning content. You can also use these simple choices in one of the beginning parts of the scenario to guide the student to key points in the story. This method will be a simple and effective method of tying.
Here, let's divide our earthquake scenario into 3 parts. These 3 parts; Let there be precautions to be taken before an earthquake, what to do during an earthquake and what to do after an earthquake. These 3 options appear before the student at the beginning of the training, in a way that you can choose. Let's direct the student who will choose one of these 3 options to the department student has chosen.
Allow time for choices
We will leave many choices in eLearning content to students. In these choices, it is important to leave selection times for students. During this period, students will be able to make in-depth analysis of the subject they need to learn and make better decisions.
In this scenario, we will raise questions before the student about what he / she should do before, during and after the earthquake. At one point in the education, the student asked "What object in the room during the earthquake you can create a triangle of life next to? We will ask the question. With this question, the student will be given the necessary time. For the student who will choose the question carefully, without haste, this will allow him to absorb the issue and choose the options he believes more. This proposition can be assumed for all similar questions except this example.
Don't forget your scenario goals
Align your scenarios with your original goals. Not aimed at your educational goals,
Education with a scenario that does not provide students with target competencies will be a waste of time. Target-oriented, realistic scenarios that students can choose from will always be more successful. The main character's goal in a scenario should generally reflect the goal of the scenario. Using your main characters to reflect the goal of your scenario will enable you to create a successful scenario.
As you can see our main character in earthquake education, the target here is to inform students about the situations before, during, and after the earthquake. Here, the main goal of education and the goals of our child protagonist are compatible.
Connect the scenario with the story
When you're writing your education scenario, think like you're writing a movie scenario. Don't start directly with content delivery. Here you should be different from a PowerPoint presentation. Take care when creating characters with which students can become familiar and see something from them. Then get these characters into problems. When entering characters into problems, students will also enter. After solving the problems encountered by the character, the scenario should be linked to the finals depending on the solutions of the problem.
In the earthquake training, we will prepare, let's add points similar to what we have explained. For example, let's not talk directly about the content like a PowerPoint presentation at the beginning of the tutorial. Let our family get in front of the students and talk about what happened to the child protagonist. Like talking about the earthquake the family experienced last week and the child's fear of the earthquake… As we mentioned in the previous titles; For example, we should have students solve problems such as where the family will be located in their homes to create a life triangle during an earthquake and include them in the problems.
Don't make perfect choices
Do not clarify the choices in the scenario that do not have very clear answers. Not every choice has exact consequences and is not perfect. Not all the options you have your students choose are great, but some are better than others. So add feedback to choices in your education. Let these feedback show the pros or cons of the choices.
We can integrate this detail into our earthquake education. Apart from being able to be integrated with all the choices in the scenario, let's examine it through the example of "finding a life triangle".
There can be objects in the house that can make the wonderful triangle of life during the earthquake. However, a life triangle can also be created with a medium-sized seat. The student can also choose a seat while choosing the objects that can create the triangle of life in the house, and they can also choose a washing machine, which is a much better option than the seat. However, it is important to be able to objectively explain the disadvantages or advantageous situations that the student may experience when choosing a seat.
Get help from subject matter experts if needed
Whatever subject you are preparing a scenario for, if you do not have enough information about the subject, getting help from subject experts will help you. In addition, getting help from subject matter experts will add to the originality of your scenario. The subject matter expert will have much more experience and exemplary story on the subject, as he is more exposed to the scenario topic.
Here, you can consult experts and get information about earthquake education.
Make your students feel the "need to know"
Adding mysteries to your scenario will always be of interest to the student. It would be better if you did not give some information clearly and directly to the student. Students will want to overcome their lack of knowledge in education and focus on the mysteries related to the subject. It is important for the screenwriter to focus more on what happened and why it happened.
If we want to use it in earthquake education in a simple way, we can use it in the post-earthquake things to do section. Buildings that were damaged but not collapsed after the earthquake come to the screen. The buildings were not destroyed, but there was a fire. Through this example, an uncertainty can be created through the student and the student's opinions on the subject can be asked with the questions to be asked. As an answer, the valves that are not closed during evacuation from the building after an earthquake can be given as an example.
Let your students see results
One of the most important points in scenarios is realistic feedback. Especially in scenarios involving branching, there is not a very correct answer as the student's choices determine the flow of the story. There, the student will choose the option that is close to his opinion and the story will continue according to the option he chose. Therefore, it would not make sense to give very sharp feedback on such choices.
Besides, in earthquake education; For example, each student can choose different objects while choosing the objects to create a triangle of life. While a much more solid object is a more successful choice here, a bed or sofa that you will be positioned next to during an earthquake can also save your life. So some students will choose such options as well. It would not be correct to give a clear feedback about such choices as you selected a successful or unsuccessful object.