The Seductive Power of Story
- Posted By Super User
- Learning Design
by M. Carolyn Miller
How to trigger learning at a deep level.
Our lives always have revolved around stories. Throughout time, we have sat around campfires and kitchen tables listening to stories that made us laugh and cry and make sense of our lives. In the old days, the tales we heard were magical—about a prince rescuing a princess, about a hero slaying a dragon, about a maiden slipping into the Underworld and returning years later.
Regardless of the language used or the images evoked, these tales offer timeless themes about the human condition and our resiliency in the face of often-overwhelming odds. Often unbeknownst to the audience, embedded in these tales are lessons or morals. In the "big" stories of a society or a culture, these morals carry rules about how to live, what to believe, and how to belong. The "smaller" stories, passed down through our families, places of worship, and classrooms, do the same but at smaller levels.
Collaboration is more than an activity. It is a process with associated behaviors that can be taught and developed—a process governed by a set of norms and behaviors that maximize individual contribution while leveraging the collective intelligence of everyone involved.
In the framework of the current VET Reform, the Hon Ian Macfarlane, Minister of Industry intends to put the VET Sector in the driver's seat. "The era of training for training's sake is over" the minister stated.
