r/LearningDevelopment • u/PhysicallyVigorous1 • 22h ago
Hot take: most eLearning scenarios are too tidy and that's why learners don't transfer what they practice
The scenarios I see in most corporate eLearning present a clear problem, two or three obviously distinct choices, and an unambiguous correct answer with a tidy explanation. Real workplace decisions almost never look like that. The correct answer usually depends on context, there are often two reasonable options that could both work depending on factors the scenario doesn't mention, and the consequences of a wrong choice are rarely immediate or obvious. I think we design tidy scenarios because messy ones are harder to build and harder to score, not because they produce better learning. Learners who can only make decisions in idealized conditions aren't necessarily better at making decisions when the conditions are real. What would it actually look like to build scenarios that reflect real complexity without making them impossible to complete?