Techniques for presenting content

Prepared by: Beatrice Ghirardini, Chiara Nicodemi, Fabiana Biasini Instructional Designers, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)September 2013

Techniques for presenting content

When creating storyboards for e-lessons, one may choose among diverse techniques for presenting content, according to the type of content and the desired instructional approach.

THESE TECHNIQUES ARE:

Storytelling;

Scenario-based approach;

Toolkit approach; and

Demonstration-practice method.

Techniques for presenting content

STORYTELLING

Storytelling provides information through a story narrative which places content in a realistic context and illustrates actions and decisions of one or more characters. It can use illustrations, pictures or video sequences.

Techniques for presenting content

STORYTELLING

When should storytelling be used?The storytelling technique can be useful when you need to:

provide job-specific knowledge; describe complex processes, where different actors perform different actions.

The story can clarify who does what, and helps learners follow the flow of events;

add a human aspect to the lesson, since learners can follow the stories of real people; and

show how the knowledge acquired can be integrated into a real situation.

TIPS

Create a realistic and credible context. Characters don’t need to be present in every screen. Be careful about gender and cultural issues when

developing your characters. Try to make dialogue realistic by keeping sentences

short and using informal language.

Techniques for presenting content

SCENARIO-BASED APPROACH

Lessons using this approach are built around a scenario. Typically, the scenario is a challenging situation in which learners are required to make decisions by choosing among different options. Learners are provided with all the information required to make the right decisions.

Techniques for presenting content

SCENARIO-BASED APPROACH

When should a scenario-based approach be used?When learners need to apply strategic principles to a concrete situation and observe the consequences of their decisions. For example, when they need to:

Develop problem-solving or interpersonal skills;

Learn strategic principles rather than conceptual and factual knowledge; or Apply what they have learned during the course to a real-life situation.

TIPS FOR USING STORYTELLING

This type of approach requires strong collaboration between the ID and the Subject Matter Experts (SME), as the ID needs to have enough information to design a realistic situation, provide learners with the information for the decisions they have to take and provide appropriate feedback on their choices.

While creating a scenario, think about how learners will use the information in the lesson.

Work with the SME to understand which decisions a person would make in that scenario.

Provide learners only with the information required to make decisions Define possible choice options for each critical decision. Each choice generates a consequence; provide detailed feedback for

each option by showing its consequences.

Techniques for presenting content

TOOLKIT

An e-lesson can take the form of a toolkit, which allows learners to select from a set of independent topics, rather than follow a sequential approach. Learners can choose the topics that interest them the most.

Techniques for presenting content

TOOLKIT

When should you choose a toolkit lesson?

When you have to present short pieces of content that belong to the same category, but are quite independent from each other, such as: descriptions of tools, steps of a procedure, stages of a process, or frequently asked questions on a given topic.

TIPS FOR USING STORYTELLING Provide an introduction before the menu page with an overview of the various tools to orient learners in selecting the menu options.

Present each tool in a systematic way, such as by providing the same categories of information (e.g. description; purpose; example; strengths; weaknesses) for each tool.

Techniques for presenting content

DEMONSTRATION-PRACTICE METHOD

The demonstration-practice method is used to teach a procedure. You first demonstrate the procedure, and then you ask the learner to practice the procedure by interacting with the system.

Techniques for presenting content

TOOLKIT

When should the demonstration-practice method be used?

When you need to teach procedures, typically software procedures.

TIPS FOR USING STORYTELLING

You can use an animation (e.g. a flash animation) to demonstrate the procedure.

Allow the learner to control the animation by providing play, pause, stop and reload buttons.

Develop an operational simulation to have learners practise the procedure.

The operational simulation allows the learner to perform a number of actions (e.g. selecting options or typing text).

Adding examples

Examples ensure that learners can better understand and retain the concepts illustrated in the lesson.

to stimulate thinking and reflection before providing definitions and principles.

Examples can help bridge the gap between theory and practice.

They can be used in two ways:

to illustrate a concept or show the steps of a procedure after the concept has been introduced (or in a scenario-based approach).

Adding examples

Example: Selecting livelihood indicatorsLet’s consider a lesson that provides guidance on how to select livelihoods indicators in specific contexts.

First, a sample situation is provided. Learners can open the PDF and read the situation of the Nias mountain people.

Learners also are provided with a list of indicators that an expert analyst has selected for that situation.

Adding examples

Example: Selecting livelihood indicatorsLet’s consider a lesson that provides guidance on how to select livelihoods indicators in specific contexts.

Then, the underlying principles used by the expert to selectthose indicators are presented.

Adding examples

Example: Selecting livelihood indicatorsLet’s consider a lesson that provides guidance on how to select livelihoods indicators in specific contexts.

Now, three new examples are provided, together with the list of indicators selected in each situation and an explanation of the reasons for that selection.

Adding examples

Example: Selecting livelihood indicatorsLet’s consider a lesson that provides guidance on how to select livelihoods indicators in specific contexts.

Finally, using a new example, learners are asked to answer a set of questions regarding the selection of indicators in that specific situation.