Real-Life Experiences

Overview

Real-life Experiences:

1. Create a sense of belonging and engagement
2. Help users to learn and remember information

General

1. Why Real-Life?
   1. We connect users to our own personal experience
   2. Develops trust between the user and the storyteller
   3. Provides a personal “touch”
2. What do we mean by “Real-Life”?
   1. Real-Life experiences are storytelling opportunities
   2. We use storytelling to convey connections to concepts
3. How does it help?
   1. Storytelling is associated with multiple studies in connecting concepts to short and long term memory
   2. Improves the engagement to the content
   3. Helps to make connections
   4. For many students, it helps to take a theoretical concept (something that exists in the real world, but they may not see) to a realistic concept (something that is tangible)
      1. For nursing students, they like to know that it does happen in real patients
      2. For non-nursing students, storytelling can simplify complex topics
4. How to use Real-Life Experiences in your lesson
   1. Add stories to keep movement in the lesson
      1. This keeps the user engaged during potentially complex, confusing, or uneventful concepts
      2. Helps to add diversity into the lesson
   2. Use it to connect concepts
   3. Make it fun and lighthearted, when you can

Review & Lesson Integration

Think about your own experience. Is there a story that’s relevant to your lesson to really convey your experience? What about friends or family? Take a moment to incorporate these ideas into your first lesson.