Conversational Tone in eLearning?
1st, 2nd, or 3rd person? Which style of writing better “connects” with the learner?
I’ve worked on a lot of courses and this question comes up quite often. Some organizations want to be formal and think that a conversational tone is unprofessional. My thought has always been that self-directed learning is a “personal” activity. It’s just between the computer and the learner. So to me it would make since to speaking conversationally and directly to the learner.
In a recent Learning Solutions article Ruth Clark touches on this topic:
“Based on the work of Reeves and Nass, Mayer and others have established that learning programs that engage the learner directly by using first and second person language yield better learning than the same programs that use more formal language.”
Another interesting finding was that conversational audio had more of an effect than text.
“Learning was better when the agent’s words were presented in audio rather than in text and in a conversational style rather than in a formal style.”
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Nice spark for thinking, Andrew. Daily I experiment with “live learning labs” and just-in-time learning in the learners’ work environment. It makes so much sense from an application stand point to use the tone of our work environment to envelop our learning. As I begin my eLearning journey with my business I will keep this idea of tone in mind. Thank you for the share.
Andrew,
Great point about learning being a personal activity, and the value that comes from being spoken to like a person
I’d add that we often feel vulnerable when learning, adding to the importance of the personal tone.
I often think of this as “the instructor’s voice”, and I wrote about it a bit more here:
http://andytilia.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/an-instructors-voice/
I’m new to your site, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit.
Thanks
Andy
I’ve believed this for a long time, but have been inconsistent in its application. Good to know there is research supporting the idea.