I imagine most training professionals and instructional designers are quite familiar with the old proverb: “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” Why, then, do so many elearning modules continue to tell content at the learners?
I recently posed this question to several training program managers from large, Seattle-area tech companies. Their answers made a lot of business sense: with so many training modules that need to be created in such a short amount of time, it’s faster and easier to put the content into a PowerPoint presentation, convert it to a click-through elearning module and make the content available to the intended audience. And the program managers report that they’re generally content with the results.
Still, I wonder: just because you can tell your content to thousands of employees around the world via a PowerPoint-based elearning module, is that what training departments should do?
I decided to conduct my own, not-so-scientific test of this theory. While I was in an airport on a layover, I gave myself 45 minutes to create a PowerPoint-based elearning module, and then I gave myself 45 minutes to create an elearning module using Articulate Storyline.
The Results
PowerPoint:
I put together the PowerPoint module in less than 45 minutes. I probably could have spent a little more time on the actual graphic design of the module, but you’ll get the point. Slideshare is my make-shift LMS for this…
[slideshare id=25943098&sc=no]
Storyline:
I took just over 45 minutes to put this together. I’m not an expert at Storyline by any means, but I’ve found it incredibly easy to transfer my PowerPoint knowledge into Storyline proficiency. Here are several screen captures of the module:
Exit Question
It doesn’t take much more technical savvy to use Storyline than it does to use PowerPoint. It doesn’t have to take much more time to create something in Storyline than in PowerPoint. And while you can tell and show people using PowerPoint, Storyline adds a dimension allowing learners to be involved.
Going back to the old proverb: would you rather have your learners forget by telling? Would you rather have your learners remember by showing? Or would you rather have your learners understand by involving?
