What makes learning happen?
Article by LEAD Director Aly McNicoll
What makes learning happen?
Not for profit organisations have important messages to relay, while raising awareness and creating change through education and training. This short article summarises what adult learning theory tells us about the factors that impact on learning effectiveness. It gives some tips on how to make sure your message is memorable and meaningful.
Relevance
Learning is most effective when people see the learning as relevant and have an immediate use of the skills or knowledge provided. We can capitalise on this as trainers by:
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Making sure we have clear objectives and participants see them as relevant
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WIIFM – showing participants how this will benefit them
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Asking participants to make links to their own work
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Using pre-work or reading to warm people up to how the training will be useful
Positive atmosphere
Culture eats strategy for lunch. Positive environments have a huge impact on learning and people who don’t feel comfortable or would rather be somewhere else find it hard to take things in.
What can trainers do to create positive learning environments? Take care when planning and setting up for training sessions, build good relationships with learners, take a positive attitude with even the most challenging participants and show you have heard and understood concerns. Lastly, make it easy for people to participate, by ensuring that the level is right and the content appropriate for them.
A range of senses are involved
Learning effectiveness increases in direct proportion to the number of senses you can involve in the learning process. A picture is worth a thousand words. Saying and doing takes the learning effectiveness up into the 90s.
Sophocles said “One must learn by doing the thing; though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you actually try.”
Use the power of positive feedback
We are all 5 year olds at heart and like to know when we are doing things well. Participants are often out of their comfort zone just by entering the training room/zoom and they need encouragement plus the certainty of knowing they are on the right track. Imagine learning maths if no one told you when you got the answer right.
Trainers need to go out of their way to have positive contacts with participants and to let people know when they are making progress. This makes it easier for them to hear the odd suggestion for how they could be doing things differently.
Memorable and meaningful
Engaging participants’ interest is vital and whether people take away the key messages from your workshop and actually apply them at work is the test for your training process. How you organise information (using acronyms or mnemonics for instance), create activities that get them working with material whilst in the workshop - and involve them in the learning process - will all make a difference. Keeping the ball in the learner’s court and making sure you don’t do anything for them that they can do themselves, will keep you on track as you design your training.
Making learning fun
One way to engage people is to make learning fun. Stories, anecdotes, cartoons, short video clips and quizzes are all ways to make even the most boring subjects interesting.
When people are enjoying themselves, you hold their attention. Attention spans are fleeting (average 7 minutes) and individuals are tuning in and out at different times, yet attention is the precursor to learning. When people are having fun, they are in a positive relationship with the trainer, each other and the material. Not just ‘a nice to have’, but an essential ingredient to the learning equation.
Want to learn how to be a great trainer or presenter and get your message across even when the topic might be boring?
Come along to Train the Trainers June 2023 Workshops with LEAD Director, Aly McNicoll - delivered over 2 half day, online sessions plus a 2 hour coaching clinic.
When: 13 + 20 June, 9am - 12.30pm
BONUS Coaching Clinic on 18 July 9.30am - 11.30am