Audio is a powerful tool

Training resources are moving into sophisticated, intuitive virtual worlds that cost more and more to produce. The 'reality' of these worlds is said to simulate real life and provide real life opportunities to learn.

I believe what these virtual world creators ignore is that power of the mind to create its own 'virtual world', and that sometimes putting too much reality in front of the eye shuts down that powerful mind tool. I had this brought home to me when we were developing resources for a New Zealand level 2 national qualification - that's the training aimed at people who have just left school and are moving into a technical trade at minimal skill level.

The industry we were working with also identified literacy as a problem for some workers, and there were 'work cultures' that glorified the macho male, heavy drinker or soft drug-taker as heroes. Our brief was to try and make a change in that culture - lol!

To make things even more challenging, the budget was tiny compared to that required for a virtual world project. The best we could do was to adapt existing video and use voice-over and supplementary group activities directed by a worksite trainer to get across these concepts.

I even wrote a 'soap opera' following a team of workers through some real life issues. This was recorded by students at a local radio training centre. So you can see how budget the project was!

Anyway, I was invited to see the material piloted with a group of workers drawn from several worksites and the 'soap opera' was duly played, while I cringed in a back seat, dreading what their reaction would be. And that's when I learned the value of the individual's imagination to personalise training.

The story was about Gary whose personal circumstances had gone down hill dramatically. His behaviour at work and towards his team mates had deteriorated, but one team member bucked the trend (which would have been to retaliate and further alienate Gary) and enrolled the team in trying to find out what was going on. The result was a positive team solution, naturally.

It was the reaction and discussion that this generated among the team of men in the training room that astounded me. One guy in particular had linked parts of the story to his own circumstances and opened up frankly to the others. It was a truly memorable moment.

Pondering it later, I realised that NOT using video, so that the story was 'out there happening to someone else' had enable this guy to internalise the story and put his own cast of characters into what he was hearing and 'seeing'. The lessen for me was that pictures may sometimes get in the way of the message. - Heather Sylvawood - EdutechKM Ltd