2019 - 10 - 16 - The Heros Journey Phase 5 Through 9

As we consider how much the learner's journey and the hero's journey overlap (which makes sense because our learners are the hero of our stories), how can we as instructional designers leverage what the hero's journey can tell us to better help our learners. Today I want to share how we can apply the five stages of the hero's journey that typically fit into Act 2 in a 3-Act structure. Those stages are: 5. Crossing the Threshold 6. Tests, Allies, & Enemies 7. Approaching the Innermost Cave 8. The Ordeal 9. The Reward or "Seizing the Sword" Crossing the threshold refers to when our hero, either willingly or being pushed commits to the adventure. And in our case, since our learner is our hero it is when they commit to our program. Tests, Allies, & Enemies refers to the array of escalating challenges to overcome that our hero is faced with. As instructional designers this can be interpreted as the sequencing and scaffolding we need to put into place to ensure that our hero has the proper cognitive struggle to ensure learning but is still able to meet the challenges. Approaching the innermost cave represents when our hero is faced with doubt regarding just how big the overall goal is. As instructional designers, we should anticipate this moment of doubt and build in clarity regarding our overall learning goals and offer support as our hero gets ready for the next phase in their journey. The "Ordeal" in the hero's journey refers to the "Supreme Ordeal" where everything is on the line and it often parallels the summative evaluation in a learning experience. While I'm no a fan of a "test" as a summative evaluation I do think that this analogy with the hero's journey works well. Our summative evaluation should indeed test our hero. Finally, act two concludes with the "reward" often referred to as "seizing the sword" and in this phase of the hero's journey, our hero is transformed. She has learned a secret knowledge, new insight, and has been transformed by obtaining some treasure. As instructional designers, we need to ensure that there truly is a treasure at the end of Act 2 for our learners. If we fail to attend to this critical stage in our hero's journey we miss the whole point of the journey.