Adopting Haji Kamal’s Strategy to Deliver an Engaging E-Learning Experience

If you look at the flowchart of the Haji Kamal strategy, you will notice that there are 12 different paths which a learner can follow. Out of 12, the learner would fail to meet the objective in three ways, four of these lead to a poor approach, three are acceptable, and two are good. This approach is something more realistic and closer to human nature where there can be more than one correct approach to do a thing. Also, there can be other acceptable and poor approaches between a right and incorrect one.

To adopt this strategy for effective workplace learning, you would need to focus on the four major components

Branching Strategy- Microsoft excel can be a useful tool to create the layout of the branching. Various branches cross each other at multiple points and therefore provides an option to the learner to take corrective action if required.

Decision Making- You would need to identify the good approaches and the various decision-making milestones to achieve it. At each decision-making milestone, commonly made mistakes or incorrect choices also need to be determined. Results of each decision would then lead to a next decision-making milestone until you would reach the outcome. Wrong choices would not necessarily lead to a total failure and would connect to the next sign which might be an acceptable path. For instance, if you are creating a flowchart in PowerPoint would and select shapes rather than a smart-art, would not mean that you will fail.

Cathy Moore has used two additional characters to highlight available options at each decision-making milestone. You can do the same or even follow a traditional approach by just mentioning it as text (which would be less engaging though).

Choice of Media- The choice of media can be made based on the topic, timeline and budget. Although using a rich media approach can undoubtedly enhance the whole experience, a simple comic strip approach can still make an impact.

Surprises- Cathy Moore has used the following experimental wonders as a strategy to make the scenario more engaging and challenging:

• Rogue lieutenant: In a particular situation, the main character takes his own decision and ignores the recommendation which unfortunately is not a good one. The learner now must do damage control and take corrective action. You can also add an unfavorable situation due to a specific unforeseen circumstance which will stimulate the decision-making ability and also make the whole exercise more challenging.
• Defend your choice: Another surprise involves you to justify what you have recommended to the main character. If the justification is strong, you will go the right path, but a weak one will lead you to a common way. The approach is effective in making the learners think more about the choices and understand the situation rather than just clicking an option. You can use it by asking for more information or statistics about the decision that has been made.

Once you have drafted these components, you can then proceed to the storyboarding phase. Haji Kamal strategy is specific to a particular set of learners and content.

However, its elements can be used to make learning exciting and engaging.