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 first four stages of the hero’s journey. Those stages are:

1. The Ordinary World
2. The Call to Adventure
3. The Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting the Mentor

In the first phase of the hero’s journey, we see our soon to be hero in their ordinary world. This is where we learn about their true nature, their capabilities, and their overall outlook on life. The lesson for instructional design is that we should get to know our learners just as well. It doesn’t matter how formal your learner analysis is but you need to learn about your leaner.

The second phase of the hero’s journey is the call to adventure where there is something that disrupts the status quo. This can be something dramatic or mundane but whatever it is the call to adventure highlights a challenge to be overcome. As instructional designers, this parallels the needs analysis quite well. We need to identify if there is even a call to adventure and if there is it needs to be presented in a way that the challenge to be overcome is clearly presented.

The third phase of the hero’s journey is the Refusal of the Call. I think this one is clear when it comes to training and development. This phase is where however eager our hero is to undertake the adventure there are still lingering fears or concerns that need addressing. We need to do our best to identify these fears.

In the fourth phase of the hero’s journey, the hero meets their mentor. In this phase, the mentor helps to dispell the fears, addresses any concerns, and gives the hero the tools and resources they need to begin. This is our responsibility as the learning professional in our learner’s journey. We need to help to dispell their fears, address any concerns, and give our learners the tools and resources they need to begin.

Tomorrow we’ll continue with a few more of the 12 phases of the hero’s journey and explore their parallel to the learner’s journey and how we as learning professionals can apply this.