Via Mindflash Blog

As we design training and especially e-Learning, we should create opportunities for the learner to make mistakes and learn from their mistakes. All too often, Instructional Designers get too caught up in presenting the right content, that we forget that the most valuable type of learning is experience. Learners should be able to repetitively practice application and make mistakes. They should get valuable feedback based on their mistakes so that they can correctly apply.

Over a week has passed since mLearnCon had come to a close, which has given me enough time to digest all of the new information that bombarded through the conference. Similar to the flagship conference — mLearnCon 2010 — not much progress has been made in the way of corporate training and mobile technology. The medium is still very much in its infancy. More conceptual lessons have been presented rather than true application. If there were any lessons learned it’s the following:

• Easier push of content and information to employees is a very important to organizations
• Mobile devices from organization to organization is very fragmented
• Only specific types of employees will truly benefit from a mobile platform
• Mobile solutions will need to be social in some or every aspect

Perhaps the most well known app in the mobile world is a game called Angy Birds. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Or are already addicted to it? While most think of Angry Birds as a silly game about flinging different types of birds with a sling shot in order to hit green pigs at the other end of the screen, it is lesser known that the game is truly about the basics of Physics.

In many ways, these same elements can be leveraged with good e-Learning design. E-Learning provides ample opportunities for “Leveling Up,” “Unlocking Achievements,” and other measurable representations of progression and motivation.

What other game elements can you think of that can be used well with e-Learning?

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Source: Socialcast

ADDIE, you were great as a design model for linear didactic e-Learning (where next and back buttons are prevalent).

But as far as designing and developing truly dynamic andragogic software that relies on a learner-centric approach with multi-tasked problem solving, application, and simulation – ADDIE, you contain a big flaw.

And that flaw is that you make me assume perfection in my instructional design.  You promote linear thinking, and in many cases, stifle innovation. You are a waterfall method, that by the time the design reaches the hands of the developer or even end-learner, surfacing errors in the design become too costly and time consuming to address.

ADDIE, you have your roots in classroom-led instruction, where measurement of performance and progress (and learner motivation) is substantially different than in a computer environment.

One big issue is that the majority on e-Learning Instructional Designers… well most of the e-Learning industry in general… are only familiar with linear pedagogy and ADDIE. And what that has resulted in is the popular perception that e-Learning is boring and meaningless.

ADDIE, you are great for who you are, but you promote more of documentation and a waterfall model rather than true short iterations of developing an effective product (spiral model).

As far as designing and developing e-Learning that focuses on skill building and effective behavior change rather than information/awareness, I’ve found someone else that is more effective. I’ve found someone else that makes collaboration fun, and less frustrating for Subject Matter Experts, Instructional Designers, and Developers.

When e-Learning is looked at more as software rather than documentation, it truly focuses more on the results rather than presentation. Rapid Prototyping provides a vehicle for the Instructional Designer, Developer, SME, and stakeholder to truly focus on how the learner demonstrates the objectives of the learning rather than how to best present information.

I’ll miss you ADDIE, but I won’t miss you dearly.

Professor Daniel Willingham, a neuroscientist from the Univeristy of Verginia, posted a video on YouTube to debunk that myth, stating that the most important way to transfer knowledge is through meaning.

In the context of e-Learning, I usually notice that a conversation of learning styles usually derails the creation of meaningful training. What are some of your thoughts on this?

Interactive online training is a method of e-Learning that empowers the learner by enabling him/her to develop the desired behaviors or skills through practice and feedback. Gone are the functionalities of a “Next” and “Back” button. Instead of focusing on content and content presentation, interactive training courses focus on the experience of the learner, which results in meaningful and memorable actions. The learner is given opportunities to make mistakes and correct his/her mistakes after being provided contextual feedback. This method of training raises the learner’s motivation to seek information that would advance them further in the training.

Especially effective in a fast-paced work environment, this method of training reinforces the philosophy of “doing the right thing at the right time.” It applies real-world objectives and successfully demonstrates real-world consequences to undesired behavior. Because this method of training is focused on the learner’s competency to develop a desired behavior, seat time is greatly reduced by 50-80% to that of a traditional page-turner method of training. Long-term retention is increased by 30-50%.

You can view exceptional examples of interactive training at Allen Interactions.

Traditional “Page-Turner” Training

Traditional “page-turner” e-learning courses are used as a standard for e-learning design for most companies. Usually template-driven, this method of training focuses more on content and content presentation rather than the experience of the learner. Page-turner courses are commonly modularized through information chunking and knowledge checks. The objective of this method of training is to pass information and knowledge to the learner rather than developing a desired behavior through practice and feedback. The issue with this technique is that it tries to provide as much information about the subject matter as possible to unmotivated learners. The absorption of the majority of the information will not be retained in the long-term, which will inherently lead to poor performance and the development of more training.

The attempts to translate instructor-led courses to an online environment resulted in the popular use of page-turner courses. Many page-turners provide weak learning objectives, such as objectives that begin with the words “describe” and “explain.” Most of these objectives are neither behavioral nor measurable.Complex or advanced page-turner courses can have a seat time of over 1 or 2 hours, and usually results in lower learner motivation and no change in expected behavioral results.

Often times it is easy to forget the true meaning of training, especially in a workplace environment. Training is the acquisition of skills and competency through the method of practice and feedback. Many times when I look at online training courses, I see a lot less practice and feedback and a lot more content. It’s important to understand that the effectiveness of a training course is not based on the amount of content that it has, but rather how behaviors of the learner change based on the ability to practice what is needed. Practice allows learners to make mistakes and presents the opportunity for self-correction.

Giving feedback based on decisions made by the learner should be the most important element in a training course. Practice without feedback is worse than no practice at all.  We have to remember that, as instrucitonal designers, it is our job to take information from the subject matter expert (SME) and utilize it to create robust training activites that measure the competency of the learner.

Sometime around the mid-90′s up to the present day, computer-based training courses have evolved (or devolved) into textbooks people read on the screen. The true meaning of training has been lost and has been transformed into a type of passive form of online reference book. Decision making has been traded for a sea of text made to overwhelm learners by overloading their input capacity. No practice. No feedback. And just to reassure that “real training” has taken place, mindless multiple choice questions are added to “assess” retention of information that was supposed to be absorbed  within two hours of reading. No practice. No feedback.