This week we launch an online glossary of
terms.
The list of terms is longer. Podcasts and wikis and
webcasts, to name a few, were not part of our
vocabulary even a few years back, and, given the
continuing rapid rate of technical change, the list is
most assuredly a work in progress. As we worked on
the glossary and revisited our language of work we
were reminded that even though our terminology is
constantly evolving, the purpose of our work —
preparing our learners for success in the workplace—
remains unchanged.
Key to learner success, and decidedly non-technical,
is learner motivation. For its part, motivation is a term
that has been absent from our glossary but certainly
not from our teaching. Revisiting the meaning of
motivation we were both reminded how ‘motivation’ is
the root for Adult Learning Principles and
strengthened in our resolve to demur what we see as
an increasing tendency to reject adult learning
principles—“the Malcolm Knowles approach”—as
dated and increasingly less relevant. Our sympathies
lie more with Euclid, who circa 300 BC, was reportedly
of the following opinion: “Most ideas about teaching
are not new, but not everyone knows the old ideas.”
Tucked away in our Motivation folder was a reference
to the Edmund Sass study, an often-referenced study
on motivation(1) . Sass (from a sample of 700)
reported
that eight characteristics emerge as major
contributors to learner motivation. His list, with our
annotation is presented below. Carry some of these
thoughts into your next design or instructional effort.
The characteristics apply across the continuum of
instructional strategies: from instructor-led through to
live, online instruction.
(1)Edmund J.
Sass, "Motivation in the College Classroom: What
Students Tell Us", Teaching of Psychology, April,
1989, pages 86-88.
1. Instructor's enthusiasm
Our President, Michael Nolan, says about
instructors “You really have to want to be there. If you
don’t it’s the equivalent of having a flashing-neon sign
on your forehead that says ‘I really don’t want to be
here.’” If you’re online in this condition, with only your
voice to project your presence, it’s over ‘real soon’.
So, if you regularly lack enthusiasm, consider the
alternatives. If you truly enjoy being a trainer still be
careful about burnout. While people’s stamina varies,
our internal guideline for trainer platform days is 90-
110 per year. When you get beyond that with a travel
burden on top, your load is bordering on overload and
your learners are being shortchanged.
Change things up with your materials. Look for new
activities, new ways of doing things. Challenge
yourself after each session: what went well?, what did
not go so well? and how can I change that?
Hold high but realistic expectations for your learners.
It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2. Relevance of the material
The big issues are relevancy and immediacy.
Information has to be relevant to our learners’ wants
and needs, and it must feel useful. Most people don't
have time to waste. They want to spend time learning
what will make a difference now. Work as a
design/instruction team to maintain relevant
courseware. In either the asynchronous or
synchronous web environments (where learners are
always but a simple ‘click’ away from leaving your
material) the stakes for relevance increase
exponentially.
3. Organization of the course
Provide early opportunities for success. Success
breeds success. Give frequent, early, constructive
feedback that supports learning. Simulate the real-
world performance to the highest degree possible.
Provide interim summaries and show links between
topics. Revisit performance need and relevance with
each new topic.
4. Appropriate difficulty level of the material
Too easy and it’s boring. Too difficult and it’s
threatening. Figure out: who is supposed to do what?
And under what conditions and constraints? Then
build and deliver training that your learners perceive
as leading relentlessly to success.
5. Active involvement of learners
Focus on the behavior you want to see and involve
learners in activities that lead to that behavior. Strive
for a 30/70 ratio with 30% of the time spent on
presentation and 70% on application/feedback.
Imitate the real performance as closely as possible. If
your content allows, use small group work often, it is
motivating and aids learning.
6. Variety
Kick the PowerPoint dependency! Dig seriously into
your options for presentation and application.
Challenge yourself to be creative. Get to the content in
interesting ways.
7. Rapport between instructor and learners
Care about each individual’s success. Smile often.
Encourage and welcome participation. Use people’s
names. Respect people’s space. Don’t interrupt.
Incorporate learner comments, ideas and
expectations into your course. Build climate and
rapport before presenting any content. Treat others,
as you would want to be treated. Speak individually to
people. Know your content.
8. Use of appropriate, concrete, and
understandable examples
Examples are essential for meaningful instruction.
We all know the difference between a data-dump of
concepts and theory and a well-planned presentation
of content with frequent asides to say “For example...”
Work-related examples bridge concepts and theory
with reality, function and relevance. Plan examples
that are relevant to the content and appropriate for your
learners. As with questions, make sure that you
capture any examples you plan to use in your
instructor notes with full explanations. That way you
will be sure to remember them when the time
comes.
COMING NEXT MONTH... What
changes, what stays the same when you go online?
While leader-led continues to predominate the use of
Web-based e-Learning, both asynchronous and live,
online teaching, continues to grow. We’ve been
offering blended workshops that combine
asynchronous and synchronous elements for several
years as well as other workshops that we deliver
either face-to-face or live, online. Next month we’ll
reflect on our experience and lessons learned. In the
meantime
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