The What, Why, & How of Scenario-Based Learning: A Conversation with Shalini Merugu

CommLab Podcast with Shalini Merugu

1:32
Hey there. Thank you for tuning into the e-learning Champion pod. Welcome to our podcast today on the what, why, when and how of scenario-based learning. Sounds interesting, right? It is being presented by Commlab India. Our speaker is Shalini Merugu, Director for Learning Solutions at CommLab India. She has over 18 years of experience in customer consulting, instructional design, including ILT, VLT and e-learning.

Now let's dive into today's agenda. We'll start by examining what exactly is scenario-based learning and why it is so effective, followed by the types of scenarios and the training types they are ideal for.

We'll also look at branching scenarios and when to use them. Finally, we will conclude with when not to use scenario-based learning and a few best practices.

To kick off our discussion, I would like to ask a question to begin with, what makes scenario-based learning so popular?

2:33
Thanks, Tanushree. I'd like to respond to your question by throwing a question at all our listeners to picture this. You hear a sudden noise behind you, and a masked stranger tells you to step away from your laptop and do what he says and give the keys to the house. And he warns you against trying to escape or seek help. What will you do? Imagine that you're alone in your house for the next three days.

So your options are do what you're told because the stranger has a gun.

The second one is to try to escape through the balcony or some other exit when the stranger is off guard. Or somehow slip a help note from under the main door and hope that somebody sees it.

Or wait for the rest of your household members to return and hope that they will think of something.

So while this is not likely to happen to any of us, I'm sure all of you immediately engaged with this challenge and your minds were actively involved in coming up with the best course of action in this given scenario.

That’s the power of scenarios for you. They transport us to a different world and provide a very immersive experience. When we use scenarios in our training, we're giving an opportunity to learners to use their imagination to help them learn. That is precisely what makes scenario-based training so popular. Because if done right, they engage the learner from the word go. Better engagement results in better comprehension and better retention, which in turn translates into better application of the learning on the job and improved performance, an objective that all of us as L&D professionals look forward to achieving. So, that is a little bit about why scenario-based learnings are so popular.

Now, I'd like to just throw a question for our listeners today.

What do you think scenario based training is ideal for? I'm just going to read out a couple of options. Of course, you may have an answer which doesn't fit into any of these options. That's fine, but do think about it.

What do you think scenario-based training is ideal for? Compliance training, process and procedural training, behavioral training, product training, new hire training.

That is just something to think at the back of your mind as we go through the rest of this podcast.

I'd like to just quickly define scenario-based training for those of our younger learners who are new to this. It's a way of teaching or practicing a skill using a virtual interactive problem-based context. The idea is to provide the learner a very safe environment. So you provide them realistic challenges in a risk free and close to the real world environment.

The next thing is to remember that the emphasis is on learning.

So as learners work their way through the problem, they're given feedback as they progress, which in turn helps them re-evaluate their choices in a given scenario. And finally, it also gives learners a chance to call on their prior experience, their existing subject knowledge, and their critical thinking skills because unless we provoke critical thinking in a learner, they're not likely to engage with the content that is presented to them.

7:05
Shalini, we got to know a lot of ways of how the scenario-based training is defined. Now, can you share some of the benefits of this approach?

7:23
Sure. I think I touched upon them incidentally as I was giving the definition. But some of the added benefits are that it's engaging, it's fun for the learner because it pulls them in. They're not passive learners just turning pages in a course. It's fun and it pulls them into a different world. And because it does so, it's memorable and it is experiential.

We hear so much about immersive learning and there are all kinds of very expensive technologies that enable you to create an immersive learning experience for learners. But for those of us in organizations that may not have those kind of budgets, the biggest and the quickest and the most popular way to provide an immersive learning experience is through storytelling and scenarios.

And of course, the benefit is that if done right, and we mirror the realistic situations that the learner is likely to encounter at work, then it becomes entirely application based because that's the goal of our training.

Apart from the concepts, there should be this ability in the learner to be able to apply those concepts into real life on the job. Scenarios are also very popular and ideal for grey areas or sensitive topics, which we will see a little later.

Another thing is that scenarios really give learners a very deep understanding of what are the implications of the wrong choices, what are the consequences.

And when we craft the scenarios carefully, then learners are in a position to identify the potential risks of a given choice and think of risk mitigation.

This happens even if the learner has made wrong choices in the scenario-based training, because through teaching feedback, we reinforce the impact of the consequences, the impact of the decisions.

And I think all of us can relate to stories and we tend to retain stories longer and more comprehensively than we do just a mere reading out of facts. So when we use scenarios which are in a sense mini stories, there is far better retention for the learner and there is better participation, there's more involvement.

Also, for certain topics, we are giving the learner a chance to experiment and to learn in a risk free environment, so learners can really face their fears better. All of these benefits together add up to them being highly popular.

10:29
So scenarios usually can be of many types, right? Can you share some ways in which we can use them?

10:40
I'd say that we can very roughly divide them on the basis of the purpose. You can have exploratory scenarios for instance, where you talk about what might happen. You're giving the learner a chance to explore what are the possible outcomes in a given scenario. And then you have very specific ones where you want them to take a specific step, which can be called normative. So how do we reach a specific outcome? We give the scenario and then it's up to the learner to chart the way forward to reach that predetermined specific learning outcome. And then there are also what one could say predictive scenarios. What will happen in such a situation? So there's more degree of certainty in these predictive scenarios. And I'll touch upon these very briefly.

For instance, if I was to give you an example of an exploratory scenario, I might ask the learner something like this.

What do you think might happen if we don't limit warming caused by climate change?

The rising sea levels could impact 1 billion people by the year 2050. People could be exposed to extreme heat waves every five years. Plants and animals could be at risk of losing more than half their habitats. These are some of the likely effects.

So this is an exploratory scenario which outlines what might happen. And when the learner responds to such a scenario, there is more data that is presented to the learner on why this is very likely to happen.

When it's important to make a learner think of many possible outcomes with more than one correct answer, then this is ideal. Using exploratory scenarios is an ideal format and teaching feedback can be given for each option, as I mentioned. And this works well for behavioral and exploratory training.

So this example that I shared just now on the training on climate change and what is likely to happen if we don't correct our codes now would fall in this category.

And then we have other scenarios like how do you reach a specific outcome, the normative scenario as I mentioned before. When do we use these? When it is important to make the learner know exactly what needs to be done to get a certain result. So this really works well for trainings in which the learner needs to synthesize and process information and put it together to reach a given outcome.

For example, when you think of compliance training, IT security training, for instance, you put the learner in a situation and the goal is predefined. Then the learner knows exactly what they need to do to make sure that that goal, in this case IT security, is met.

It could also be something like, when you're introducing a new paradigm at work and there is a specific outcome you're looking at, and the learner has to rethink their ways of working. And you put the learner in a situation and say, hey, this was the old way. But given that this is the new paradigm that we have at work, how will you reach this outcome? What will you do in this situation? So that is an example.

And then we have of course, the predictive scenario which I mentioned earlier, what will happen?

So when do we use this?

When it's important for the learner to know what is bound to happen as the next step in a given scenario. These kind of scenarios, what will happen, work very well in predicting long term effects of a given situation or a behaviour or an action.

So for example, you could use it in sales training to help the learner learn how by not being consultative early on in the selling process, you're more likely to just achieve a one-off sale and not a longer term engagement.

So again, these are very, very popular for soft skills and behavioural kind of trainings and so on.

16:03
We have all heard about branching scenarios and simple one question scenarios. Are there any specific guidelines on when to use and what and where how to use them?

16:17
Yeah, that's a good question, Tanushree, because scenarios can be as complex as you want them to be, which is when branching scenarios work. Sometimes a branching scenario can be an overkill for a given learning. This is where simple non-branching one question scenarios work best.

16:40
I would like to start with the simple scenarios, this one question type of scenarios. When do we use these?

16:48
These are very useful when it's not important to demonstrate the consequences or the impact of the learner's actions or their choices. In such simple scenarios, it's enough to just let the learners think through the correct answer. Typically these non-branching scenarios are used only when there is one right answer. For example, in compliance training in which the learner has to take the right decision and anything other than that results in non-compliance, this could be just a simple non-branching scenario where the learner takes an action, and they are given feedback for each of their choices.

I think we're all familiar with these kind of scenarios and they're very easy to build and very popular in simpler kind of courses.

When it comes to branching scenarios, the level, the complexity of a branching scenario depends on how many levels down a certain path you want to take the learner through.

Do you let them explore the impact of their decisions for a couple of levels or do you stop at level 2 and let them know what's the correct answer?

Or do you let the consequences play out until they reach the very end and then you loop them back to the original question so that they get a chance to correct their responses.

Now, these branching scenarios, although they sound a little tricky, they are very effective.

And if we have a simple mind map in mind, we can plan them out carefully and make sure that it's not confusing either for the learner or from the development point of view.

There are all kinds of templates available in the latest authoring tools, templates for branching scenarios, which actually make our job easier.

Coming back to when should we use branching scenarios, they are very effective when it's important to make the learner learn the consequences or the impact of each possible decision they might make in a given situation, by allowing their choices to play out at least after 2 levels of decision making.

So I select the wrong answer, I'm not told it's the wrong answer. As a learner, I go on to the next step and I'm sure to select the wrong answer again because my starting point was based on the wrong response, my subsequent decisions will also be not fully accurate. Even if they're accurate, probably they result in a lot of other things like loss of time, rework, things like that.

But typically we use branching scenarios when more than one correct response is possible, but when there is an ideal choice to be made. We've used this effectively in leadership training where we give learners good, better and best possible choices the learner can make in a given scenario.

As I mentioned earlier, sometimes the good and better choices are not wrong per se, but they may result in added time and effort for the learner to reach the same outcome. So when there's the most efficient way of doing something, that is what we would encourage the learner to learn.

The branching scenarios in this case work.

One thing we need to keep in mind is to always allow the learner to loop back to the original question once the choices that they're made have been played out up to two or three levels.

21:09
That is useful. Can you share something about how to get started with building scenario based training?

21:18
As with any other instructional design piece, we can broadly divide it into planning, design and development.

And as with any other course content, first we need to analyse the learning objectives and then decide on the type of scenarios that we will use.

Will we use branching? The content, is it complex enough? Is it nuanced enough to call for branching scenarios or do we use non-branching?

Another best practice we have is use branching scenarios only for learning objectives which are at Blooms Level 3 or higher. Because for objectives which are simpler and at a lesser Bloom’s level, it could be an overkill to go in for these kind of branching scenarios.

And we have to take a call on what kind of scenarios are we using. The exploratory ones or the predictive ones or are we driving our learners to select only the best possible outcome?

One thing what I mentioned about branching and non-branching and these types of scenarios, exploratory, predictive, and so on. These two categories, these two types of scenarios are not mutually exclusive.

We need to just decide what we want, and we can develop branching scenarios for any of these other categories, for exploratory kind of scenarios, for predictive kind of scenarios, for normative kind of scenarios.

Another thing we need to decide is are we going to use scenarios written in the first person or in the third person? Are we going to address the learner directly or make it a story about a third person?

One of the best practices we found is that for sensitive topics such as sexual harassment, it's always better to use the third person when we are crafting our scenarios.

That was the planning phase.

And coming to the design part of it, we need to identify believable situations and characters, realistic ones, characters that the learner can identify with, characters and situations that resonate with the learner. And then we need to identify where we need our SME’s inputs. Because sometimes scenarios can be extremely specific to an organization, even if the topic there is very generic. In which case you would want to flag or identify the areas where you feel it makes better sense to check in with the SME about what is a realistic scenario.

When it comes to branching scenarios in the design phase, review the content you have and identify possible decision gates, decision points, and all the alternate outcomes based on the choices that the learner makes. And map out your scenario flow. Something like a blueprint.

I remember those days when we used to actually plot this visually. But now with Excel templates available, it's very easy to set it up in Excel. So that even when we are talking to SMEs and having these conversations with them, it's easier to explain to them how the scenario will play out, what is the kind of feedback we want from them based on the incorrect decisions that the learner is making, and so on.

So a well-defined Excel template will really help you design these scenarios efficiently and effectively.

Now coming to the development, we can develop the scenarios in the tool of our choice, whether it's Rise, Storyline, Captivate, or whatever be the tool you're using.

One important thing to keep in mind is, when it comes to the development, test, test and test, because sometimes branching scenarios can be tricky.

So while we may have the branching set up fully in a PowerPoint presentation, for example, with the hyperlinks which take the learner to where they should go, when it comes to the actual developed product, it's always a good idea to check this very thoroughly. Because despite our best effort, sometimes there could be instances where the learners are being directed to the wrong page, to the wrong follow up, to the wrong next step.

So as with any other instructional design initiative, it's very important to be very meticulous about the planning, the design and the development.

Now, I'd like to very quickly talk about some types of trainings and how scenarios can really make them come alive.

I think all of us have experienced legal kind of training, compliance training, training on policies.

And typically these can become very dry and boring if the learner fails to see real life application on the job.

So how do we use scenarios?

Put the learners into thought provoking situations. This helps them apply what they know to various contexts. And then they can see how standard compliance rules apply. We can use feedback to teach the implications of the wrong choices or consequences of the wrong application to help change the learner's attitude towards compliance.

Because there is a motivational aspect to most trainings as well, even though the content may be very technical or very subject specific.

However, what scenarios do is they help you see the consequences and that makes it come alive and that in a way changes the learner's attitudes, which is really the most difficult part of any training, as all L&D professionals know.

So this is one way in which you can really change the motivational levels and the attitude of a learner towards compliance training, for instance.

Now coming to soft skills training, something like behaviour and communication. These kind of subject areas typically involve understanding nuances and sometimes there is no single correct answer. By putting the learner into various situations in which they have to first interpret the situation correctly and then take the best step forward, this is what enhances learning.

So use branching scenarios to mirror how learners might respond in a situation and how it also influences the responses of the person that they are interacting with. Typically in behavioral training, these tend to happen in a two-way communication setting. So when you show the learner the impact of their decisions on the other person, then it comes alive.

This is why I think branching scenarios especially are very useful in soft skills training.

Now when it comes to trainings on critical thinking skills, these kind of things are not easy to apply without lots of practice. Basically these are areas where the learner has to analyse the situation and determine the best response or course of action based on the very broad principles that they have learnt. And in these kind of trainings, you really want to challenge the learner's assumptions and clear misconceptions, if any, so that they can move towards the desired outcomes.

So basically for these kind of trainings, we can help our learners understand how to take the right decisions by using the correct criteria.

And scenarios, as I mentioned earlier, at the at the very beginning, they give you a safe environment, a risk free environment to experiment, to fall, to get up and try again.

So when we have areas of training which are expensive to implement or risky or not feasible to train learners on in real life, that is where scenario-based training can do wonders because we can expose learners to likely situations and explore various possible outcomes in an entirely risk-free environment.

So these are some of the areas in which you can apply scenario-based trainings.

30:39
Thanks. So where should scenario-based training not be used? Can you share something on this too?

30:54
That's actually a good question, Tanushree, because sometimes in our zeal to get going, we may end up spending too much of effort on something which is not really required.

I would say that scenario based training can be avoided for procedural or process training because we are talking about routine step-by-step process training. It requires learners to learn all the tasks in a sequence. There is no ambiguity there and outcomes are very simple and predictable. There's a right way and a wrong way to do it, regardless of any scenario you might put in. So for such trainings, it is best to use a simple, straightforward approach.

And another area I can think of where it doesn't make sense to use scenario-based trainings is new hire training. The reason being for new hire training, learners are expected to learn their company's vision, mission, culture, practices, learn about their values, the various departments, the standard operating procedures, policies, and so on. This is something that they have absolutely no idea about since they've just joined the organization. And given that they really do need to learn these, there is no point putting them into scenarios where there is ambiguity and asking them what would you do? So using scenarios for new hire training would be somewhat of an overkill.

And coming to another category of trainings where I would avoid scenario-based trainings. If you are dealing with foundational training on any topic, it is best to avoid scenario-based training because scenarios assume that the learner has some level of knowledge for the learner to be able to make the best possible choice in a given situation. But for those who are entirely new to the subject, a structured linear path for learning is best.

And this is backed by science, so that learners can progressively build on their existing knowledge and keep building, adding these building blocks.

So I would say that for foundational learning on any topic, it is best to stick to a simple linear approach, rather a structured linear approach and avoid scenario-based training.

33:45
So coming my coming to my next question, can you share a couple of best practices for the same?

33:58
Yeah, Tanushree, I would say the first thing is keep scenarios manageable. Don't get so lost in a complicated scenario that you can't find your way back. If you as a designer can't find your way back, imagine what how challenging it would be for the learner.

So keep them simple, manageable, capture real problems and decision points learners face in their everyday job and create worst case scenarios where the consequences of not doing something correctly are big. There's an element of risk. So create worst case scenarios for such content areas.

And when it comes to the distractors or the answer options, it's important that we make them believable.It shouldn't be a no brainer for the learner. So make them believable.

Try to capture the nuances, the ambiguity of a situation and craft your risk factors accordingly.

And you can use use-cases for creating decision making scenarios. As you read through the use-case and study what were the various points at which somebody had to take a decision, that gives you great guidance on where to introduce decision making as you create your scenarios.

And again, as I mentioned earlier, use characters that the learners can relate to.

I'd like to reiterate that for customer-specific business scenarios, get your SMEs help because you will end up saving a lot of time and it's much less effort for the SME to give you these kind of inputs.

And even before you get into the design, the development design, you create a blueprint outside of your PowerPoint, to pass on to your development team. As I mentioned earlier, you could use an Excel template. You could first map the scenario flow visually if that helps.

But be sure to put it down in an Excel template clearly so both the subject matter expert and the development team knows exactly what to build, and how, and make a way for the learner to loop back to the original decision point.

If they've reached a dead end, and this is applicable for branching scenarios where there are more than two or three levels, don't leave the learner at the dead end, but give them a chance to try again. Because as they go back and revisit the question, they already know which didn't work. So give them a chance to explore the other ways too, till they come to the correct answer.

And finally, take advantage of authoring tools which have branching scenario templates and vendors who have expertise in using these kind of scenarios.

I'd like to sum up the reasons why scenario-based trainings are popular, and they work. They encourage learners to take bold decisions in a risk free environment and to really apply their knowledge. They let learners see the implications of poor choices and prepare them for a foreseeable future, something that they're likely to encounter at work.

And one thing to remember is do not use scenarios for the sake of using them. Make sure that our effort is well spent only on three decision points.

37:42
Thanks, Shalini. That was really useful. I would like to conclude the session by asking our listeners a question. Can you spot an opportunity for using scenario-based training in any of your trainings? Do think about it and grab the opportunity to implement this in your upcoming trainings. When done right, the impact is amazing.

38:08
That's a good pointer, Tanushree, thanks for sharing that.

38:11
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