Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, “What does his voice sound like? What game does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?” Instead, they demand: “How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?” Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him. (de Saint-Exupéry, 1943, p. 17-18)

When an individual lacks any relevant prior experience to reference, they can be provided curated stories from a database (called a ‘case library’) to serve as ‘vicarious memory’ (Kolodner & Guzdial, 2000). According to CBR theory, learners read these digital cases and then apply the lessons learned towards the main problem to solve (Riesbeck & Schank, 2013).

However, learning designers seldom have direct experience with the myriad of health-related issues they may encounter in practice. Similarly, the SMEs with whom learning designers might collaborate (e.g., physicians, nurses) may have deep domain knowledge and practice-based experience but be professionally distant from the lived experiences their patients might face.