Storytelling is a really powerful tool that can be used to teach adult learners and help them retain information. 1. Stories help the learner see the relevance of the topic. Adult learners need to know the reason for learning something and are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their work or personal lives (see andragogy by Malcolm Knowles). By telling a story you can demonstrate how your subject matter relates to their job and why they need to pay attention. 2. Stories allow you to emotionally connect with your learners. Emotional responses help persuade learners to engage in the training and perform desired behaviors. 3. Stories make facts easier to remember. There is a lot of research to support this (see David Ausubel and Donald Norman) but most of us have experienced this phenomenon for ourselves. This is why mnemonic devices like “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” work so well. It’s a short story, but a much better story then “Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply or Divide, Add and Subtract”. 4. Stories make learning more fun. Carefully crafted stories can teach and entertain leaners, thus making learning a fun experience and increasing attention spans. 5. Brains listening to stories are more active. When you tell someone facts, you active the language processing section of their brain. When you tell someone a story, you active any part of their brain that they need to experience the story, including emotion, motor, sensory and frontal cortex. In some cases the brains of the storyteller and the listeners actually begin to synchronize

1. Tips for Trainers
How to Increase E-learning Retention

2. Dave is a Corporate
Trainer, aspiring
to make it big in the
world of e-learning.

3. Dave used to design
his courses like
most trainers...

4. Facts and examples,
presented in
a clear outline with
quizzes and polls to
ensure
understanding.

5. Sometimes he would
spice it up with
charts,
graphs and images.

6. But this approach
would sometimes
bore or confuse his
on-line learners.

7. Dave knew he had
important things
to say and wanted to
be successful.

8. So Dave looked for a
better way.
Dave discovered
storytelling.

9. Dave now structures
each of his
lessons in short story
sequences,
with an introduction,
a problem,
a solution and a
conclusion.

10. Dave links together
his various
points using the
storyline. It takes
more time, but is well
worth it.

11. Storytelling allows
Dave to connect
with his students on
an emotional level.

12. The stories Dave tells
helps his students
relate course
materials
directly to their jobs.

13. When Dave tells a story, he
activates more of the
listener’s brain. They
experience the story as if it is
happening to them, thus
becoming more meaningful.

14. His students are now
much more engaged and
they better understand
and remember his e-
courses.

15. Dave’s boss notices an
improvement in his
courses’ performance.

16. Dave is well on his way
to ‘making it big’ in the
e-learning world.
Welcome
to my new
office!

17. The End
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