They just need to be aware of it

I am always looking for ways to improve the eLearning courses I create. My main concern at the moment is creating solid courses that help my colleagues work more efficiently and effectively.

This starts with goals.

Good training isn’t about dumping information on learners, it’s about ensuring learners can use the new information. Michael Allen and Julie Dirksen, two leaders in training, write that instructional designers should see red flags when they hear these objectives:

Red flags

“They just need to be aware of the changes.”

“We just need people to know about the policy.”

“We want to inform them about…”

“We want them to understand…”

If you see these kinds of red flags, Allen recommends that you drill deeper. It can be difficult, but he recommends the perseverance of Columbo–the ever-patient T.V. detective who always had just one more question–to get to the truth.

Be confident, and take Dirksen’s advice to keep asking, “What do they actually need to do with this?”.

Eventually, you should get an answer. That’s the theory. In practice, the answers may seem to never come. It can seem rude to keep pressing, especially if the person you are trying to convince is your boss or a respected Subject Matter Expert.

Why are information dump style courses still so firmly ingrained in training departments?

Here is some of what I found and I would be happy to receive any feedback or comments you might have.

• Creating courses focused on improving performance is harder

  The planning stages is longer. Most people want to jump in and get creating content. But courses focused on performance or business objectives have the advantage of being easier to measure success and later improve.

• Our society has an underlying assumption that education (read: new information) changes behaviour.

  But studies in behavior and habit show that’s not the case. The best training leaves the learner, not only with an awareness of the new information, but enough practice and feedback to carry training outside the course.

• We have to prepare mini-trainings on good training for collaborators

  Too often, our collaborators are focused on the information itself, and not the learners. We have to convince them effective training does more than simply introduce the information. It provides the information in a way the learner can use it and incorporate it into their work. But I am preaching to the converted here, right? The important thing is convincing the SMEs and other stakeholders.

We need to encourage them to think seriously about the real objectives of the training. When people cling to the “they-just-have-to-be-aware-of-it” objective, we need to help them realize the difference between telling someone a better way exists.

Convincing people can be hard though.

Here are 4 approaches to course creation that hopefully circumnavigate the information trap when you are being roadblocked:

• Understand your audience.

The advice goes to ask questions to managers, recent learnets etc. and to observe people doing their job. However, if there is resistance to moving away from information based courses, there is probably resistance in the organization to observing people doing their jobs and the answers to the above questions might be vague. Sometimes it will just take time to better understand what they do. Think: A slow observation and a slow revolution.

• Make up desired outcomes and don’t share them with anyone, subtly incorporate them.

  Ask yourself: “What do you want the employee to do with this new information?” and “Is the gap between the current performance and our desired future performance only due to the information the audience has (or has access to)?” Create the information based course your organization expects but add a couple questions that link the material to their jobs. Or if it’s a information access issue, make some flashcards or an instant messaging image to remind them later. Usually these can slip through easily.

• Try to get out of the training department as much as possible.

  This goes hand in hand with the slow observation. Keep it casual and make notes of what people tell you. It will help finesse objectives and your knowledge of the audience. Keep a journal. Trainers should be fully connected to others within the company including, the executives for vision and values; management and supervisors for needs, context, and goals; subject matter experts to define and understand the information; and recent successful learners for insight and feedback on the training.

• Repeat to yourself: My job is of critical importance to the company’s success

  It can be hard when no one wants to follow your advice for how to design a training. Trainers are on the front line of communication a company’s values, visions, goals and objectives to its employees. When employees talk about job satisfaction they talk about learning opportunities available.

• Start by imagining activities that help learners practice. Use these to guide questions or activities that you can add on to the information. See if you can slip some in. Prepare for pushback that it requires too much student work from the student. Remember they are expecting information and next buttons. So make the questions have little friction at the beginning. One or two fantastic questions or one amazing practice activity is all you need to start.

This all seems like solid common sense. The real key to making memorable, effective eLearning courses is to be able to communicate and convince everyone else involved that this is the best option. It might be a scarier, time-consuming option so it takes powers of persuasion and a track record to implement.

Adding elements of the course you hope to create to the information dump they expect, might help slowly convince everyone to adopt a new style. These microchanges are a way to show them there is another way.