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 three stages of the hero’s journey that typically fit into Act 3 in a 3-Act structure. Those stages are:

10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return with the Elixer

The road back is the opposite of the “call to adventure” this is when our hero decides to go home and to use what they’ve learned there.

The resurrection refers to the final battle the largest challenge where our hero comes the closest to death. And for our learners, this is most often applying what they’ve learned on the job.

And finally “Returning with the Exlixer” is the final stage where our hero returns to their “normal life” but transformed in some way. And this is what we hope for out of our training programs. That our learners return to work having proven that they can apply what they have learned and then having that application just become part of their normal every day.