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Students will love to learn about new vocabulary words with this center activity. With the roll of a die, students will investigate new words and deepen their understanding. Perfect for workshop, centers, partners, or independent learning. Use with your

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Think about a movie you've seen recently, or a book you've read. Can you imagine the first scene?

It's been weeks since I've seen The Martian, but I can still remember its opening moments: The howl of the wind, the red dust, and the sound of rockets.

Now think about an eLearning course from your recent experience. If it's like many courses I've seen, it started with an introduction ("Welcome to Ruby's Ravioli kitchen safety training!"), an overview of concepts that are obvious to everyone ("Kitchens can be dangerous places."), and a few bullet points pretending to be learning objectives ("Today, you'll learn about the importance of oven cleaning.").

Do learners remember details from their eLearning as clearly as they recall scenes from recent films or novels? Probably not, but maybe it's not fair to compare the eLearning industry to Hollywood. We're making training, not entertainment, after all.

On the other hand, there are at least two important factors that we eLearning developers share with creators in the entertainment industry:

1. We're constructing an experience for people.

2. The experience requires the person's attention.

Modern storytelling takes many forms, but movies, books, video games, and comic books all draw upon effective strategies for capturing their consumers' attention. That's why I'm always a little bit surprised to see eLearning that starts with flat welcome text, because that doesn't reflect what we know about capturing a person's focus and keeping it.

Here are 4 storytelling principles that can apply to eLearning and capture learners' attention:

1. Offer an interesting problem.

Perhaps the most effective way to grab a person's attention is to ask them to solve a problem. As Dr. Michael Allen puts it:

"When do our senses become most acute? When are we most alive and ready to respond? It's when we are at risk...when we see an opportunity to win and the possibility of losing."

The Martian applies this approach by getting viewers to empathize with a character in a truly unique survival situation.

Fortunately, we don't have to rely upon novelty to make problems interesting. We have access to stories and challenges that are immediately relevant to learners - the situations that they deal with every day on the job.

If you're not sure what challenging situations your audience will find compelling, go out and interview some real learners. Ask questions like:

What mistakes do people make?

What type of restrictions do you deal with?

What tips or tricks would you tell someone new to this role?

What is the most difficult aspect of [specific task]?

How do you know if you've done a good job?

(Additional questions on p. 24 of Leaving ADDIE for SAM: Field Guide)

2. Start with the action.

The Martian didn't start by telling the audience that Mars is very dangerous (duh). Nor did it begin with a primer on Martian geography, soil chemistry, and atmospheric science (yawn).

Instead, the film begins with the NASA crew making an emergency departure from Mars and leaving astronaut Mark Watney behind, injured and millions of miles from his home planet.

Starting with the action doesn't mean we have to present learners with life-or-death choices from the very first slide, although that might be appropriate for certain audiences. It means we get learners to the action as soon as possible. It's the power of "test-then-tell".

3. Details are important...

Mark Watney's fictional commander loved disco music. NASA sent potatoes for a Thanksgiving dinner that the Martian astronauts never got to eat. Nuanced details like this make a fictional situation come alive. They send a message to the viewer: "This is real. This is important. You should pay attention."

Here's an example of how we've applied this approach in a recent prototype we made for a client. Note: This is draft/sketch media and content. I've removed some elements of the interface so you can more easily see the environment.

4. ...but don't overdo it.

The Martian included a lot of interesting character detail, but it omitted a lot more. We don't learn anything significant about Mark Watney's family. We don't see into the personal lives of the fictional NASA management. These things weren't relevant to the story.

For eLearning, it's an issue of balancing engagement against return on investment. Be cautious of adding features and minutiae that don't enhance learners' performance. A rich and realistic learning context is important, but after a point, each extra detail might add cognitive load and make it harder for the learner to focus on what's important. The cost of developing an intricately imagined world may not be worth the boost in engagement, as measured by your organization's mission or bottom line.

Don't Leave Your Learners Behind!

Sometimes, eLearning design can feel a little bit like a NASA mission, with tight deadlines and tighter budgets, eventually leading up to the moment when we launch our course onto the LMS. Just like a Martian dust storm, high-level stakeholders can blow in unexpectedly and whisk away our initial efforts at analysis and design.

We can't always control or predict the variables that affect our eLearning. What we can do is design so that learners have the best shot at succeeding. Don't leave your learners' attention up to chance - real learning can't happen without it!

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4 Storytelling Strategies To Capture Learners' Attention - eLearning Industry

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Think about a movie you've seen recently, or a book you've read. Can you imagine the first scene? It's been weeks since I've seen The Martian, but I can still remember its opening moments: The howl of the wind, the red dust, and the sound of rockets.

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Vocabulary Bingo | Activity | Education.com

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Looking for a way to make vocab practice a little more engaging? This easy twist on the classic game is a great way to build your child's vocabulary.

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You can make some really fun spelling games using repurposed old games you have at home. Create new games for free using board games that are just sitting around so your kids can practice their skills and have fun at the same time. Teach them that learning can be fun.

I love repurposing, especially with my kids toys they are not using anymore. My kids were tired of their connect 4 game so I began to think about what they were learning at school and how I could create a fun game using this sad game that was sitting in the corner.....I found it, enjoy these spelling games! (originally published 3/14)

Both my little ones (7 & 5) are practicing spelling on a weekly basis, so I began there. I had some sticker name tags in the drawer so I just traced the markers on to the sticker and cut out circles to fit (cut inside where I marked to fit just inside the lip of the markers). Easier still, you can grab the circle stickers you use for garage sales and marking items if you have them or can grab them at Walmart or the link above.

I wrote the most used letters on them and created this game!

You can make it really easy with the words they know how to read and only

You could use this for spelling games such as this one, write their sight word on each piece and practice those, or even write small words and have them create a sentence across using these pieces....she loved it!

When you begin put a row of empty markers across the bottom so that the letters show up well through the upper holes, and have fun!

This is what you need for this Connect 4 Spelling Game

If you are looking for other educational games and activities, here are a few.

Here are some more fun spelling games you can play with your kids to give them more practice at home

For more easy recipes, tips and crafts please LIKE The Typical Mom on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest! You can also sign up for my free weekly newsletter which is packed with goodies I know you'll love. 😉
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Free Spelling Games Your Kids Will Love!

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You can make some really fun spelling games using repurposed old games you have at home. Create new games for free using board games that are just sitting around so your kids can practice their skills and have fun at the same time. Teach them that learning can be fun.