TJ - The Publication for Learning and Development

Laundering learning

By Gilly Salmon (May 2005 Issue)
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Hands up who watches EastEnders? Coronation Street? Holby City? ER, then? No? Really, no soap operas for you? What about the younger generation? They hook into Neighbours and Home and Away every weekday (twice a day if truly addicted). Well, if you’re not watching, you’re an exception. EastEnders frequently attracts more than 9 million viewers – 40 per cent of the audience share. An episode of the Vicar of Dibley, even a repeat, can have 12 million viewers. And many tears were shed across the land when Sex and the City and Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed their final episodes.

Am I tutting? No, I’m trying to learn from it all. Just suppose … in your dreams now … that you could capture and bottle what the authors of soap operas and TV series know about enthralling their audiences and apply it to your e-learning. What is it about these programmes that are so enticing and engaging? Why do 10 million people regularly rush home from work and eat in front of the TV? What sells countless magazines every week so soap viewers can read about their favourite characters, and look at pictures of the latest wedding, newborn infant or disaster?

Even more, take a look at the websites that support the entertainment and education around soaps. The site for EastEnders, for example, is truly an exemplar of form and function – and one many e-learners might give their megabytes for.

Before you think some TV executive paid me to promote Dazzle-Your-Clothes powder (washing soda companies originally sponsored this form of entertainment), let me try to pull apart some of this powerful syndrome in the service of learning and teaching. I’ve thought of three main areas that might transfer: know your audience, reality check, and cliff hangers.

  • Know your audience. One part of the magic of TV is about understanding the audience and its needs. The audience recognises traces of its everyday lives and is drawn in. Day-time soaps are designed to be watched while household chores and childcare continues. The TV events are those that we could all experience and, sometimes, hope we will not: an illness, marital ups and downs, new job, a visit to launderette and shops, and a holiday. Late afternoon offerings are for school returners looking for their ‘veg-out’ fix. Teenagers experience anxieties, first loves, pregnancy, bullying and beach life – you name it, we’ve got it! In the evening, there is more drama with even more complex storylines. The life expectancy in Albert Square is extremely low and the crime rate extraordinarily high. We see murder, rape, divorce, major accident and incidents. And for e-learning? Maybe we can: start where our ‘audience’ is; ensure the level of materials and expectations is appropriate; use short but interesting and relevant case studies; and constantly scaffold and build on existing knowledge and interest.
  • Reality check. In soaps, the storylines and the characters are close enough to reality (if a little more glamorous and groomed than down your street) that the audience feels part of the action. We see them taking part and responding with cool lines and strong emotion to the regular and mundane cycle of life, love, travel and work. We are drawn in to considering what we would do faced with just that scenario, just those choices. Herein lies the e-learning clue. E-learning is not about ‘delivering’ a set of codes for learning but engaging the views of feelings and, most of all, responses of the participants.
  • Cliff hangers. Every soap delivers cliff hangers. Scream at the screen! Will he get to church on time? Will she pull through? Who is the father of this baby? Will they get rescued from the fire? Who pulled the trigger? Sometimes the frustrated watcher has to consider the outcome for a whole week before the next episode. The cleverer soaps offer little reminders during the week through mini-trailers to keep the audience hanging on by its finger tips, and gradually building the tension. There’s a constant sense of continuity and threading from one screening to the next. And for e-learning, we need to do just the same! More e-learning processes fail to entice because of unrealistic time expectations than any other problem. Our challenge is similar to that of the soaps. We need learners to take part each time for an hour or two and to log on not just once, nor twice, but many, many times and in purposeful and joyful ways. They need a sense of anticipation and of each effort being truly worthwhile. What might our e-learning cliff hangers be?
    - A trainer or moderator provides a summary and feedback on a very regular basis (for example, at a named hour two or three times a week).
    - Personal feedback at named times.
    - Personal assessment at named times.
    - Occasional chat sessions within asynchronous learning processes.
    - Surprise events – for example, an online expert, a competition, an award.
    - Release of additional information (keep it short, keep it relevant).

Finally, please note that the most common reason any learner comes into an online group course is to see whether his or her own messages have been read and responded to. Our very own cliffs to climb! Launder that learning now.

Thanks to Paula Claire Brooke for explaining the anatomy of soaps and series to me.

Surf it!
* You have to register, but it’s easy and free. Fantastic access to up-to-date TV viewing statistics. www.viewingfigures.tv/
* It’s a whole industry and a brilliant website.
www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/
* Books by a master of understanding your distance learning audience.
www.iet.open.ac.uk/pp/D.G.F.Rowntree/derek.html


Dr Gilly Salmon is Professor of E-learning and Learning Technologies at the University of Leicester. Prior to this appointment, she worked at the Open University Business School for 15 years. Gilly can be contacted at gilly.salmon@le.ac.uk

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