Scenario Based Learning is within the active learning model and clearly shows an improvement in the development of users’ knowledge and understanding.

This concept may be new to some of you, but it is a highly recommended learning strategy in corporate training to simulate practices that may pose a risk to students or workers in real life.

If this has piqued your curiosity, feel free to continue reading our article. 🧐

What is “Scenario based learning”?

Literally, it translates as scenario-based learning, but to better understand it, we will define it as a learning strategy based on the resolution of real-life situations, but in a digital environment.

In this digital environment, interactive and immersive scenarios are used to pose problems and students apply their knowledge and skills throughout the resolution process by making decisions.

What is Scenario Based Learning for?

Scenario-based learning is highly recommended for simulating unexpected situations or situations that may pose a risk to learners and/or workers in real life, such as a cardiac arrest, a fire or a traffic accident.

In this way, we get people involved in this type of situations and see how they develop, without exposing them to risk, allowing them to acquire or improve their skills and abilities.

When to implement Scenario Based Learning?

There are several situations where scenario-based learning can be useful, such as when users are not sufficiently motivated to undergo training, when we need to train our employees in complex or risky subjects (legal aspects, surgical processes, etc.) or when we want to evaluate the skills and abilities of workers in certain areas such as sales, leadership, etc.

Thus, mandatory compliance training in communication skills, critical thinking, high-risk or procedural tasks are the most recommended for applying scenario-based learning.

Aspects to take into account when creating a LBS:

If we want to create an effective Scenario Based Learning , we must ensure that the following points are taken into account:

• To define the scenario we want to create, we must first identify the problem to be solved or the situation to be presented to the students.
• Once the problem has been identified, we can choose the main topic that the scenario will address. It would be advisable to choose a topic that is related to the company’s sector (for example, if you work in industry, you could deal with risk situations within that sector).
• Decide on the format of the scenario, where it will take place (in an online course, face-to-face, streaming…) and what graphic and interactive resources it will include (videos, discussion forums, activities…).
• Next, the different parts of the problem should be structured so that the students can solve it by making decisions, and therefore, define a feedback according to the answer they choose. A useful resource for this point would be to create a script to define the problems to be posed and the feedback corresponding to the different answers.
• Finally, by “testing” the scenario with some users (experts in the field or with some experience) we will be able to make a more exhaustive review and make the necessary modifications to improve the experience.
  
  

SBL in corporate training

Without a doubt, we recommend applying Scenario Based Learning in corporate training because of the variety of advantages it offers:

• SBLs have a greater impact on the learning process of workers because it is an immersive experience.
• Because it is an immersive experience, workers also become more involved in the resolution of the problem and empathize more with the characters and situations presented.
• It fosters critical thinking, agile decision-making and problem-solving skills, which are especially valued in a company and can be difficult to teach through traditional learning methodologies.
• It allows workers to be safely involved in unexpected or risky situations that may occur in the workplace.
• The feedback provided according to the successes and mistakes made, allows employees to spend more time reflecting on and becoming aware of the consequences of their decisions in these situations.

In summary, we could say that scenario-based learning (SBL) favors learning thanks to:

• Context: as users are involved in real situations and with characters to empathize with throughout a story, learning becomes more effective, meaningful and practical.
• Commitment and responsibility: two skills that will be strengthened by making users aware of the consequences of decisions taken in certain situations.
• The environment: developing these scenarios in secure virtual environments allows users to make mistakes and correct them without risk to themselves or anyone else.
• Active learning: applying this innovative learning strategy, which breaks with the traditional learning model, will favor the active participation of users throughout the development of the scenario.

Examples of Scenario Based Learning

There are several courses in which we have implemented the SBL, so here are some examples that will help you to understand how this learning strategy works:

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Defibrillator Course (Magnore)

In this course we have not only implemented a simulator to familiarize you with the rhythm to follow when applying CPR, but we have also added interactive activities that present unexpected situations in which a correct and timely action can save someone’s life. However, we have also added interactive activities that pose unexpected situations in which the right action in time can save someone’s life, What should we take into account before applying CPR maneuver? Who should we contact? Does it affect the place and age? 🤔 These are some of the questions that students will have to answer throughout the course to become familiar with the protocols to follow in case of cardio respiratory arrest.

Smoking and pregnancy (Promoció de la Salut)

In primary care, health professionals attend all kinds of consultations, and to give a correct prescription it is necessary to consider both pathological, psychological and social factors. Smoking and pregnancy is one in the list of courses we have done for Promoció de la Salut, where we mainly deal with the medical consultations of pregnant women who are also active smokers. What steps should we follow for the patient to completely reduce smoking during pregnancy? How important is empathy in this type of situation?

As you can see, in these two examples we have taken into account the aspects mentioned above, such as identifying the problem to be solved and dealing with the specific topic through interactive activities where a story is developed accompanied by characters, animations and other graphics. All this, reinforced by the theoretical content and additional learning resources.

If you want to see this project in detail or others that we have done, go to the “Projects“section of our new website www.magnore.com 👈

Give a new approach to your business training

It is possible that once you have read this article, you are thinking about how to apply this learning strategy to some of your corporate training courses, so if you want to give a new approach to your courses, do not hesitate to contact us by sending an email to [email protected] or through LinkedIn. Are you up for it? 😉

Magnore e-Learning