Another Way

I have found that when technical professionals are tasked with developing instruction, the hardest thing for them to do is learn how to write learning objectives. In this post I suggest a method for communicating what the learner will be able to do without writing those dreaded objectives. Even better, using this method will allow you to translate the end result of this exercise into objectives that are painless to develop.

Rather than beginning with writing statements of objectives, begin by writing questions that you want a person who took your training module to be able to answer. These questions should ask something about every area that you plan to cover in the module. Keep in mind as you do this, that we are now talking about covering small, discrete units of training in an instructional product.

 

https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/numbers-dont-lie-why-bite-sized-learning-is-better-for-your-learners-and-you-too

 

“According to the Journal of Applied Psychology, learning in bite-sized pieces makes the transfer of learning from the classroom to the desk 17% more efficient. Here’s why microlearning is more efficient than traditional longer-duration courses:

When bite-sized learning content is easily and readily accessible, learners can take it at their own pace, wherever they are, and most importantly, when they are “ready.”

Because bite-sized courses are more focused, learners don’t have to clutter their memories with irrelevant information. This makes retention easier.

Learners have to digest only small chunks of information. This makes comprehension easier without spending too much effort.

Because microlearning content addresses only 1-2 learning objectives, courses, on an average, yield 4-5 learned takeaways.”
…….

“Cut to the chase. Do away with the history, the background information, and the theories. Deliver the “how-to” right away. Remember, your learners are looking for just-in-time solutions.”

 

If however, you are not developing a small unit then I suggest you partition out each area that you will be covering and develop questions for each of them. You may want to develop questions for just the first section and proceed as I recommend below before moving to the next segment of your learning product.

Develop a list of all the questions that you want somebody to be able to answer when they complete the training. In some cases your training might require a demonstration rather than an answer. For example if you are training someone in how to drive a car there are many questions that you will want to ask them to answer but you will also want them to demonstrate their ability to drive the car. In this case questions can be developed that say something like show what you will do when you get into the car, show what you will do when you want to turn left, show what you will do if someone darts out into traffic unexpectedly, etc.

The end result of developing these questions will provide you with an outline of what you should include in the learning materials.

You may find as you develop the learning materials that you think of additional questions. That is OK; add them to your list. Keep at this until you believe you have listed all the questions that someone will need to be able to answer and you are ready to begin to develop the instruction. It is at this point that you can stop and translate the questions into objective statements.

Examples:

• Describe how to develop learning objectives from a set of questions designed to cover the content of a learning module
• Explain what needs to be done to make a legal left turn

Hopefully this technique for developing objectives will help both you and your learners.

Welcome 2019!

In the last several years there have been many new discoveries in the field of learning as well as some old ones rediscovered. As I continue to say, this is a very exciting time to be a learning professional.

Below I present some quotes from two posts. However, I would also like to recommend that you read the full text of Josh Bersin’s article below. I often quote his publications, but in this case there is so much in this post that I want to share that I’m suggesting that it be read in full. I believe it would be worth your time to do so.

https://joshbersin.com/2018/06/a-new-paradigm-for-corporate-training-learning-in-the-flow-of-work/

In addition to what Josh Bersin’s article covers; the post below talks to research findings which show that better retention continues to be attributed to learning in small segments. Hopefully during 2019 practice will align to what the research has been telling us for a long time. It is time to move learning out of the classroom. It is time to move learning events from passive to active participation. Let’s forgo asking learners to sit in a classroom, or remotely at their computers, listening to a lecture augmented by multiple slides. We now know that passive participation leads to poor retention.

As learning professionals, it isn’t enough to develop and deliver training events. In my opinion, we must also keep up on the research and then apply what has been validated by research findings. In many cases this involves working with management to make them aware of the latest research and how it can be applied within your organization.

https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/15-surprising-discoveries-about-learning/

“A learning technique that maximises the brain’s ability to make and store memories may help future students, say UC Irvine neurobiologists.

Christine Gall, Gary Lynch, and colleagues found that mice trained in three short, repetitious episodes spaced one hour apart performed best on memory tests. The mice performed poorly on memory tests when trained in a single, prolonged session–which is a standard K-12 educational practice in the U.S.

It’s been known since classic 19th century educational psychology studies that people learn better when using multiple, short training episodes rather than one extended session. Two years ago, the Lynch and Gall labs found out why. They discovered a biological mechanism that contributes to the enhancing effect of spaced training: brain synapses encode memories in the hippocampus much better when activated briefly at one-hour intervals.”

https://www.edgepointlearning.com/blog/future-of-corporate-training-2019/

In this blog, the author Corey Bleich, presents 10 emerging trends that he sees for the coming year and beyond. Here are two that are in line with what I have seen in other professional publications.

“Adaptive content delivery

Artificially intelligent content delivery that adapts to your employees’ corporate training needs is also emerging as a way to personalize and individualize training.

This type of training (gamification being a good example of adaptive content delivery) predicts learner behavior to keep training relevant, interesting, and fresh.

……

“Microlearning

Microlearning continues to play a huge part in the future of corporate training, providing employees with easily-digested bites of information or instruction that can be immediately applied to a task or project.

This trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down or going anywhere any time soon.”

I look forward to seeing how these trends play out in the coming year and what other new trends will help us all to learn and grow.