Last week I made the point that real eLearning has to be about writing better content than AI, and how we have to put ourselves into our writing.
Share what you think, what you learn and how it makes you feel.
Good writing is personal.
When I think back to history lessons at school, I think mainly about learning dates, William the Conqueror 1066 etc. I don’t remember any stories.
Why are they not told?
I have a feeling that I never really understood the reality of history, and how history has shaped who we are today. I thought history was about heroes and villains, not about ordinary people like me.
Clint Smith understands that history is about real people.
He shares that some 50% of the interstate sales of enslaved people broke up nuclear families. The fact comes to life when I read the story of an enslaved adolescent boy named Corey, who worked in Monticello’s nail-making factory. The story demonstrates the rawness of slavery in those days.
“One day Corey’s friend Brown Colbert hid one of Corey’s tools as a joke. Corey knew there was nothing funny about not being able to find his tools, Corey became so angry – an anger likely stemming from a profound sense of fear – that he hit his friend over the head with a hammer, temporarily putting him in a coma. Although Brown Colbert recovered, Jefferson found himself in a difficult position. What was Jefferson to do with someone who had almost killed another member of the Monticello community? Should he be whipped? (… ) Ultimately, Jefferson gave order to sell Corey, as David put it, “to a place so far away he’ll never be heard from again, so that it will appear to the nail makers as though he had been put away by death.” Soon after, slave traders came to Monticello and paid three hundred dollars for Corey. No one at Monticello would ever see or hear from him again.”
As a read Corey’s story, I felt a weird feeling. Corey’s story gives context to the concept of splitting up families; it makes the emotional connection. It makes me think about how I might feel if I was Corey’s parents or sisters. It touches me.
No matter what your narrative is teaching, human stories show the reality of what facts mean.
Learners may be able to brush a fact aside but a story touches them.
Clive Smith’s book is so much more than a series of visits to slavery monuments. It’s a rich tapestry of stories that help us make sense of the world, how history shapes the present.
Smith shares not just the stories about the famous Jefferson. He reminds us of the hundreds of Black people who lived on Jefferson’s plantation. Their stories are worth telling. Their lives are worthy of remembrance. Let’s be more human in our writing for eLearning.
AI invites us to produce a lot of content quickly. But it takes our humanness out of our writing. It disconnects us from who we are and what matters to us.
Let’s be more human in our writing for learning.
Let’s share the stories that matter to us.
Facts engage our brains. Stories speak to our souls, emotions and memories.