Multiple Choice Tests and the Downfall of American Education

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Here is an excerpt from a rather lengthy blog post by Alex Terego. He makes a compelling point about how an educational testing process has had the ripple effect of reducing thinking skills.

In the 1960s schools found a way to grade tests more cheaply by using what we would now consider a rather dumb electronic device. It was an optical character recognition reader. As long as the student used a #2 pencil to fill in ovals the OCR reader could collect and grade the results of a test; a task traditionally performed by the teacher, at much greater cost.

There was just one issue: the OCR could only work if tests were administered in multiple choice formats. This is because an answer to a factual question has a true/false or right/wrong -objective- answer that is universally true. So, the only way to test for retention of factual information was to create tests beginning with "which of the following multiple choices is the true one?". So, the more the curriculum was based on facts the easier it was for the OCR machine to replace the teacher, and take the drudgery of test-taking and grading out of their hands and save money.

If a question or problem needed a student to use facts as just one aspect of developing a subjective opinion, to which there is no universally accepted right or wrong answer, the OCR machine had no value. So, for the past half century, in the name of efficiency and cost-savings we have been preparing students for a personal and employee life where they will be faced with issues that are overwhelmingly about subjective opinions by teaching them how to memorize facts. We opted to teach fact-memorization, and to grade our entire instructional structure based on its results.

You can read his whole post here.

Teaching Thinking Through Job Shadowing

job shadowing

Job shadowing is often thought of as a way to gain exposure to a field or profession. Think you might want to be a police officer? Sign up for the ride-along program. Perhaps owning a flower shop is more your idea of career fulfillment? Then become an apprentice to a nursery or flower shop to understand more about the field.

These processes are spot-on for the individual who is curious and wants to learn more; but in the workplace we often slot people in to a role and leave them there. We hire accountants and leave them as accountants. We hire machinists and leave them as machinists. But what if that accountant would be better suited to being an auditor? And what if the machinist really would excel in quality control? When and how will they expand their horizons to learn about the possibilities within your organization?

Too often people leave organizations in order to expand their knowledge and skills.By instituting job shadowing as a regular developmental process you can maintain the curiosity of your employees and help them to identify their own career path. People accept responsibility for their own development when they are excited and engaged about the possibilities that are open to them.

Additionally, job shadowing helps individuals to understand how the business as a whole works. We have worked with too many organizations in which only the "people at the top" understand how each division or unit works and supports the others. Having a greater understanding of different roles within the business, and how those roles support the business, helps individuals develop critical thinking and decision making skills. For instance, a salesperson would not promise a delivery by a certain date if s/he were well-aware that manufacturing, testing, and shipping alone require at least three weeks lead time.

Job shadowing should be an on-going, planned event. It should not be reserved for "hi-pos" or instituted on a person-by-person basis. As a whole, every business will grow and benefit when every worker understands how the business works and who is impacted by various processes. And, from a developmental standpoint, as individuals see the breadth and depth of careers within your organization they will often take control of their own development and career path and mitigate the turnover issue that so many organizations battle on a daily basis.

Case Study: Bite-sized Instructor Led Training

telephone

When we think of bite-sized learning, we often think of something that is self-paced, just-in-time, mobile or e-Learning.

We recently visited with a client that is providing bite-sized learning (10 minutes or less) delivered by live instructors. Picture this: a room of 40 trainers who sit in cubicles wearing headsets, at desks with two computer monitors. The trainees call the trainers when they are ready for their lesson. The trainees go in to a queue and any trainer can pick up the call and teach any topic thanks to a script that pops up on one screen. On the other screen they document the learner, the lesson, and the advice / next steps prescribed for that learner.

In a 10-minute-or-so conversation, the trainer and trainee discuss how the last lesson has been working for the learner, practice a read-through of the new lesson, role-play the new lesson, audio-record the new lesson and listen-back for a self-critique as well as a trainer critique.

Lessons are meted out, one-per-week, for a period of weeks depending on the topic. The learner is expected to practice one minute technique during the week and then the next technique is introduced, the following week.

Bite-sized learning? More like crumb-sized learning! And SUPER effective. Just ask their 850 clients!

Unconscious Bias

Bias: Prejudice in favor or against one thing over another

We've been seeing a lot of "content" regarding unconscious bias lately. We attended a presentation at Training 2016 in Orlando on the topic, given by a woman who trains judges to be aware of their unconscious bias. There was a recent article in Training Magazine on the topic, which warned: "The implications of unconscious bias are that the best and brightest talent often is made to feel unwelcome, invisible, and not important to the success of the organization. This results in employees who are detached and likely to take their talents elsewhere."

And we have discovered a fascinating free resource - offered by Harvard - of various inventories that help you think about and uncover your unconscious bias'. This resource would be a great launching pad for a conversation on the topic at your own company. Check it out: Project Implicit.

Interview with Author Yael Hellman - Learning for Leadership

Yael

What motivated you to write this book?

In my years of teaching leadership, I noticed a huge gap between leadership theory and how my students, from all walks of life, actually turn into leaders. I saw that by respecting their varied life experiences, abilities, and learning preferences, I inspired them to value those qualities in themselves AND in those they would lead.

I also saw that traditional lecturing and assignments didn't produce the self-reflection and emotional intelligence leaders need. So I created a participant-centered group environment safe enough to contain and ignite individuals' unique energies and openness to experience. Turned out, this facilitative approach (which decades of research on leadership teaching supports) actually cultivates deep, lasting leadership skills through immediate, hands-on practice. I wanted to share what I learned training leaders in business, public service, and academic settings.

So Learning for Leadership; A Facilitative Approach for Training Leaders culls my best techniques, resources, and lesson plans. Perhaps most important, it presents real-life accounts of the pitfalls and potentials of facilitative leadership teaching to inform and encourage other instructors.

If you could distill your message down to just one - what would it be?

Leadership teaching-like leadership itself--is not for the faint of heart. You must be a lifelong learner to know yourself, your triggers, and your dynamic, and then to recognize those in others in order to reach and to motivate them.

How can trainers use this book to assist them in the work that they do?

Learning for Leadership; A Facilitative Approach for Training Leaders briefly outlines how adults learn so trainers can approach them appropriately and effectively. The book offers on-the-ground activities and projects that let participants experience-and so truly learn--the instructor's points. Its concrete tips facilitate the learning AND the teaching of leadership by helping trainers meet the intellectual and emotional demands of an experiential, participant-centered group. Its clear theory and tried-and-true practices let instructors in business or any context develop profound, practical executive wisdom in their trainees.

Do you have a personal motto that you live by?

Know yourself, and know your trainees. Only then will you see when to lead and when to follow, and be able to transform learners into leaders." (Hellman, p. xii) 

Great Work Everyone! Here's an Avocado for your Efforts!

Do you regularly give out candy as a reward during your F2F training sessions? Well, you're not doing your learners any favors. Instead put out piles of beans, eggs, fish, berries and, ok, dark chocolate.

In this fascinating article (and quick read) by Jeremy Teitelbaum, he challenges us to think about our "tried and true" methods of delivering training and learning, using what we know from 25 years of brain research. Suggestions include:

Stop forcing people to multitask.

He cites research by Stanford University which determined that even when people claim they are multi-tasking, they really are not processing more than one piece of information at once.

Feed the mind to teach the mind.

The author makes an interesting point: In recent years physical fitness training has included the mind and the way it thinks about fitness, body image, health, eating habits and the like; but the opposite hasn't proven true. Nobody training the mind thinks about what the body needs to enable the mind to be successful. Hmmmm

You are unique - just like everyone else.

Brain research focuses on generalizations based on small samples of "brains." This might cause us to categorize people, types of learning, or personality factors.

Hard and Soft Skills Aren't as Important as Emotion

All learning has an emotional component - something most of us in training simply ignore as we 'get down to business.'

Brain Matters: Interview with Margie Meacham

Megan

An interview with the author: Margie Meacham

What motivated you to write this book?

I was really inspired by my clients. They were frustrated that so many articles about neuroscience didn't really provide actionable advice. They wanted something that would give them practical ways to apply neuroscience to their roles as learning professionals. After looking in vain for such a resource, I decide to write one for them.I

f you could distill your message down to just one - what would it be?

Every person alive has an amazing potential for growth and change. All we have to do is harness the power of our amazing brains. 

How can trainers use this book to assist them in the work that they do?

There are two ways to read the book. You could read it the usual way, from cover to cover, or you could open it to the chapter that is most important to you at the time. The book is divided into different topics that are applicable to adult learners in the workplace, so you can turn to a specific chapter and get the information you need. I've also included references at the end of each chapter for those who want to dig deeper.

Do you have a personal motto that you live by?

My personal motto is "Survive and thrive to stay alive." It reminds me that our brains are built for survival, which explains why they work the way they do. In order to thrive, we need to remember this survival imperative and use our brains to the fullest to continue to thrive and stay alive.

Don't Touch That Stove! It's Hot!

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For 25+ years now, we have been a knowledge economy; yet we use training methodologies designed for the industrial age. Much of what we attempt to accomplish in workplace training requires thinking, reasoning, and decision-making skills.

When we teach soft-skills we are teaching reasoning and decision making. When we teach financial management we are teaching thinking and reasoning skills. When we teach how to operate a piece of equipment we are teaching thinking and decision-making skills.

There really is no skill - hard or soft- addressed by workplace training, that does not include the underpinnings of reasoning, decision making and thinking. Yet most training is fixated on the "what" and "how to," and does not include the "why," "when," or "what if?"

For true learning to occur, people need to experience the content in some way. This is often a difficult task when you are teaching a concept and not a physical skill AND it is not easy to achieve in a short time period (8 hours or 4 hours or absolutely NOT in a 20 minute eLearning "course").T

he onus is on us (trainers) to create learning environments which maximize the experiential aspect of how individuals learn. A perfect example is teaching your child to stay away from a hot stove. We've all given the "instruction" (and been the recipient of same) -

• Don't touch! It's hot!

• Stay away, you'll get burned!

• Be careful! That's dangerous!

And yet, inevitably, every one of us does touch the stove; and THAT is when reasoning and decision making kick in. Although we understand the concepts of "dangerous" and "hurt," the actual experience of touching the stove is the time when all of those words and concepts gel together and create meaning. From that point on, we are fully capable of assessing the dangers of a hot kitchen appliance and changing our behavior accordingly (AND we can extrapolate it to other appliances like a grill or a teapot)

.In the workplace, these same types of outcomes need to be achieved through creating learning experiences that enable the reasoning and decision-making skills of our participants to kick in. As stated earlier, this is not easy to achieve and it is usually never quick; however it is always the longest-lasting of lessons.

If you'd like to brainstorm or discuss with us the methodologies behind enhancing learning through experiential learning, give us a call or download our whitepaper on thinking skills.

Taking the ME out of SME

In the design work that we do at The Training Doctor, we are more often than not working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).Subject Matter Experts are crucial for us to design technically accurate training processes as well as understanding what an expert in a role must be able to do.

Very often these same Subject Matter Experts then become the facilitators of the training because the content is so technical or proprietary. One of the consistent struggles of the SME is recognizing the right perspective. We once heard a SME described as a person who is captivated by "the cool" and the "unique." So, in other words, when training a class of newbies, they might talk about a situation that happened in 2007 that was a real anomaly, but would never happen again. The problem is - a newbie doesn't know that this is non-essential information.

So, one of the practices we have to teach and enforce with Subject Matter Expert facilitators is that the course is not about them. It's not about showing off their expertise or focusing on the topics that are stimulating to them.

What's important is to get a Subject Matter Expert to recognize that when they are acting in the role of facilitator or trainer, the learning is not "all about SME," their focus should be on the learner and what the learner needs to know to be successful on the job.

Reading Teaches Thinking Skills

There is no argument that technology has donewondrous things for us over the years. My carlasts longer, my food cooks quicker and I cancall anywhere in the world for pennies if notfor free.One argument that some will make is thattechnology (the web) has also made us smarterdue to our ability to find vast quantities ofinformation - far more than one could find in their local library or - horrors - confinedto one tome.  And isn't more always better?Another argument is that technology allows us to retrieve information at lighteningspeeds. Have a question or concern? Look it up. Think you might have malaria? Aquick web-search returns 10 very authoritative sources of information about thedisease.A third argument is that this vast "library" of information, available at ourfingertips, allows us to learn from entities we would never have heard of or hadaccess to in the past. How else would we have learned of the Handbook of MusicalDevelopment published by Oxford University Press?These are all very compelling - and true - arguments... to a degree.The "pro" pundits overlook the fact that having information and making meaning fromthat information are very different. There is also the risk of interpreting opinionas fact and limiting one's "research" to the first answer that is returned or theone that seems most popular (because everybody thinks this way).The Training Doctor is challenging organizations to get back to basics. Readingfor comprehension is a basic, yet seldom-used skill.Being able to read critically instead of skimming for factoids requires one to assessthe words that are used, the logic of the argument, or the validity of one opinionover another.The skills of logic, reasoning, extrapolation, and synthesis are critical to runningbusinesses, yet we rarely, if ever, teach or encourage people to learn these skillsthrough our L+D efforts. (If you have an example of a curriculum that DOES teachthese skills - please send it along!)After purposeful and thought-provoking reading assignments, we need to ask Socraticquestions (see article #1) such as, Do you agree with the validity of this argument/premise? Why or why not? How does this compare to this other author / theory? Howcan you incorporate this new information into your day-to-day responsibilities?What are the risks (or rewards) of ignoring this information?  What economic,societal, or technological impacts could change this premise?The possibilities for stretching people's thinking abilities are endless.  But don'tbe overwhelmed. Let's just start with this one: Assign purposeful reading assignmentsas part of your L+D curriculums and begin to require learners to truly think aboutwhat they are reading.

Fired for Adult Learning?!

College professor fired for using Adult Learning

Principles: Black Mountain college opened in 1933 in the middle of the Great Depression. It was formed as an institution to be led by educators, not administrators. One of the founders was a professor who had been fired from Rollin's College, in FL, because he embraced the Socratic method of teaching by asking questions that caused his learners to think, rather than following a standard curriculum. Another founder and fellow professor at Rollins quit his post over the firing of the first professor. Together they vowed their college would follow a liberals arts curriculum and produce critical thinkers.

Resources for Graphics to Enhance Your Instructional Design Efforts

Well-designed instruction is quite reliant on well-designed visual representation (in our humble opinion). Given that premise, here are some excellent resources for you to check out:

123rd.com - royalty free photos and music/sound effects. You must pay, but very affordable. (This is our preferred site).

Morguefile.com - completely free photos. Lots of great nature scenes; not business oriented but great for backgrounds or accents.

Pixabay.com - photos, illustrations and vector graphics. You are able to browse by category such as Business or Industry. Completely free.

eLearningArt.com - is very unique for two reasons: 1 - you can download  "character packs" which are anywhere from 50 - 75 photos of one individual in many poses. Super helpful when you want a consistent character in your learning, and 2 - "cut out people" which provides thousands of photos of just people - no backgrounds.

The Demise of Thinking Skills

In addition to a lack of work experience, the younger generations have learned what they do know in two primary ways: through rote memorization and by searching for information that they need, in the moment. While these practices are certainly useful in the knowledge economy, they do not begin to build the ability to extrapolate meaning or action from that knowledge and apply it in the real world to inform decision making, influence and performance.

In the past, there has been a gradual ascent into leadership positions in the "second half" of one's career; often after years of experience which contributes to a broad and "expert" level of performance. Malcolm Gladwell coined the "10,000 Hour Rule" to explain this path toward mastery in any field. However, the expectations of younger workers for advancement, along with the simple fact that today's leaders will have soon retired, makes it likely that many Gen Y/Millennials will be promoted to management and leadership positions before they have the skills, knowledge and experiences to be fully prepared for success at that level.

We simply do not have the luxury to wait 10,000 hours for the next generation of leaders to develop the thinking skills required to lead organizations in the 21st century. When development time is short, every missed opportunity to "grow a leader" is a costly business mistake.

(This is an excerpt from our recently published white paper: Teaching Thinking: Solving Tomorrow's Impending Leadership Crisis, Today.  You can download a copy by clicking on the News and Resources Link in the top menu bar.]  

Where is your Training GPS Leading?

GPS football player

There is an individual in our workplace who is 100% reliant on their GPS to get them places - even if they have been to that place numerous times in the past.

This "phenomenon" is caused by the fact that when information is readily available to you, you don't have to commit it to memory or learn it. In some instances, this is a wise approach. You don't need to remember what is in your refrigerator - just open the door and remind yourself. You don't need to learn how to complete your taxes when there are step-by-step guides available online (the GPS of taxes, if you will).

But, in other cases, being completely reliant on prompts is counter-productive and potentially dangerous. Sadly, there is more than one example of a person who followed their GPS to doom (go ahead, we'll wait while you Google "GPS Fail"). And, alarmingly, the GPS example is akin to what is happening in our companies today. How often have you heard (or said!)  Hmmm. I  don't know, give me one second, I'll Google it.

Google and "generic" or "universal" information is just one part of the equation, however. A readily available "smartphone" enables workers to have instant access to information they need to do their jobs - either from that universal fount of information, or from a company-supplied portal. In some arenas this is known as mLearning (an abbreviation of mobile-learning) - however, simply putting the word "learning" in the title doesn't magically turn it in to learning.  It should more accurately be called: mInformation

Just like the driver who is dependent on their GPS, an employee who is dependent on a resource to provide them with information to do their jobs, will be consistently dependent on that device. They will never grow their skills, or experience, or capabilities because they will never put any of their own independent thought in to the work. They will be 100% reliant on prompts.

True learning is dependent on experience, experimentation, practice, reflection, and an internalized understanding of not only what and how to do something, but why it is done the way it is. True skill and mastery comes from having internalized the rationale or thinking that underpins a process.

Imagine a football coach who is reliant on robotic prompts to call the next play. Come to think of it, the coach wouldn't be necessary would he? The prompts could be transmitted to the players through their helmets. They would be completely focused on their job, and their position, without having to take in to account the environment around them (e.g. other players, both on their team and against), the score / clock, their proximity to the end-zone, etc.  While in some respects, this might lead to a very accurate game, you would have players who never had to learn the sport, the rules, the strategy. They simply would follow the information they were provided, whether accurate or not.

A Filter is Required"whether accurate or not," is an important point. If you know nothing about a topic, and suddenly you are presented with a "how to," it seems perfectly reasonable to you. Why? Because you have no critical thought through which to filter the information. Especially in the workplace, where decisions are made quickly and can have far-reaching effects, it is imperative to have perspective on a topic or process, and not rely on a quickly-received “answer.”

For worker and workplace success, it is important that we teach people to think more thoroughly, to ask questions, to look for more than one answer, and to be able to make judgements about the information they receive. 

Adults need time for Observation and Reflection

How often do we allow trainees to contemplate what they have just learned and how it will affect them or how they might implement it on the job? Not often. Reflection takes time and these days we aren't  even offered enough time to do the teaching, much less allow for observation and reflection.  (Our usual requests sound something like this: Can you take this 6 hour class and cut it down to 3 hours? 

No one ever asks, once the teaching is done - how much additional time would be needed for the learners to reflect on what they've learned and how they can best implement it on the job?)

Here is a great case study of one company that "gets it”.

Background: New-hire orientation of a select 300 people per year.

Curriculum design: 12-week program which includes self-study, virtual classes, in-person sessions, group case study and individual assignment.

Time for observation and reflection: The entire final class meeting (2 hours) is dedicated to ensuring observation and reflection. The participants are reminded of each phase of the training and the intended learning outcomes. They are then asked reflective questions:- What did you learn most from this segment of the curriculum?- What are you already using on-the-job?- What do you intend to start doing, as a result of your learning?

They are also put in small groups to compare and contrast their responses, which helps to further their awareness of what they have learned (oh yeah! I forgot about that. How are you going to do it on the job?)

Next they are asked "What more would you like to learn?"  Once they have completed the "prescribed curriculum" they are often aware of what they don't know about the organization or their field.  By giving thought to what more they would like to learn, the organization is able to direct them to further professional development.

Finally, (and our favorite) they are asked: How can you take what you've learned and pay it forward? Since they are in a select group of 300 enrolled in the curriculum, they have become privy to information, approaches or perspectives that not everyone in the organization would have.  They are tasked with taking the initiative to coach others in the organization and share what they have learned in constructive ways.

This formal approach to observation and reflection ensures the learners have thought-through what they have learned, identified the value of the learning for themselves and how they will change their behaviors on-the-job as a result of their learning. It also makes them good "corporate citizens" by tasking them with sharing what they've learned with the rest of the organization.

Which Type of Learning is "Best?"

According to a survey of 422 employees, spanning all generations, the #1 "preferred" type of learning and the one deemed "most helpful" is one-on-one mentoring.

The other top vote-getters, in order:

1.       One-on-one mentoring

2.       Traditional classroom learning

3.       Team collaboration

4.       Online courses (they did not specify if this was asynchronous only)

Source: Jones/NCTI survey

You can view the full report, "What Gap? Generational Views on Learning and Technology in the Workplace," here.

Are Participant Training Materials "Necessary?"

We recently had a lively discussion with a group of trainers regarding this statement: Participant "materials" (workbooks, job aids, infographics, etc.) are "nice to haves" but people rarely use them back on the job. The group unanimously agreed that rarely do participants use these items on the job, and, more often than not, they are left behind "in the classroom."

This lack of respect for training materials is quite detrimental to adult learning for a number of reasons:

Most people are visual learners 

80% of Americans are visual learners, which means they "understand" information better (and retain it longer) if it is presented in a visual manner. If 80% of your audience spoke "in another language" wouldn't you present in that language? And yet, we often completely ignore providing tangible, visual elements that complement our training offerings.

Seven-to-ten days after training, people remember only 10 - 20% of what was taught them in a training class. 

If your "training" consists of providing information, with no reference materials, how can anyone be expected to remember what was taught?  Back on the job, it would be helpful to have a job-aid or infographic to refer to in order to do one's job or refresh one's memory about the proper process / sequence / tasks.

Temporal contiguity

Brain research tells us that it is better to present concepts in both words and pictures than solely in text format. Typically, about three days later, text-only information is recalled at a rate of just 15%, but the same information, when presented in both text and visual (a'la an infographic) is recalled at a whopping 65%!

Muscle memory

Muscle memory is not a memory stored in your muscles, of course, but memories stored in your brain (although its origin is related to physical fitness). Providing workbooks or worksheets in which participants actually work (answer questions, complete diagrams, underline pertinent facts in a case study) aid in retention because the body is also physically involved in the learning process.

Solution?

The "problem" is not that participant's don't see the value in the learning materials you provide, but rather, the problem lies with us trainers who do not show people how to use these materials while they are in the training.  The solution is to utilize the training materials at the time of teaching.  Don't teach a process and then say "Here is a job-aid to take back to your desk," but rather teach the process as participants follow along using their job aid.

The solution to participant materials being "left behind" is to utilize them during the training process so that their usage becomes part of the learner's muscle memory.

Why You Don't Want to Train Your Employees

There are plenty of surveys of late indicating that training is crucial to employee engagement and retention - but there are also plenty of reasons why you don't necessarily want to do training. Here are just a few of those reasons:

When memorization is a waste of time

Either mental or muscle memorization. For instance, if your content changes too quickly, or is used too infrequently. The Training Doctor once worked with a client for whom we were assisting in implementing a new, computer-based financial program. One of the tasks that this program would conduct was end-of-year issuance of W2's. We were implementing and training on the software in the summer months - there was no reason to teach people how to do the steps involved with processing W2's when there would not be a need to conduct that task for at least another five months. In this case a "job aid" (reference material) was much more appropriate.

When there is no immediate way to apply the new knowledge or skills on the job

Adults want their learning to be relevant to their real life and immediately applicable. This is not only an internal need but also a practical approach; if individuals don't have the ability to apply their new knowledge or skills on the job immediately, it simply fritters away.

A large, independent, broadcast organization which was switching to Microsoft Outlook for its email platform concocted the idea of conducting training before the software was ever loaded on people's computers. The IT-trainer visited one floor of the organization per-day and gathered people together in the conference room to conduct a demonstration of how Outlook would work "someday when you got it on your computer."

As the training progressed up the 11 or 12 stories of the company headquarters, attendance at the "training" dwindled, and the IT department wondered why. Answer: because nobody was able to apply that knowledge on the job in an immediate way, so why bother to attend the training?

When facts and figures won't change behavior

Very often training consists of providing information and techniques to individuals with the expectation that they will practice them on the job. Too often, however, actual implementation on the job eludes the learner.

For example, teaching customer service standards is not the same as embodying them. A standard of always answering the phone by the 3rd ring may not make much of an impression when it is delivered as a "rule" during training. However, out on the call-center floor, when a new hire sees his fellow employees always answering the phone by the third ring, or making arrangements for backup when they are overwhelmed and know that they won't be able to answer the phone by the third ring, is a much more powerful "training" than ensuring that people have memorized a rule.

While it may seem odd for an organization which is in the business of designing training to tell you that you may not want to do training, there are often valid reasons for bypassing a training option when you want your employee's behaviors or beliefs to change. 

Before designing or delivering training, think through: is this the right time? is this the right method? You might find yourself saving a lot of time and being much more effective in your role!

Online learning is gaining in "popularity"

Interest in online learning is growing rapidly, while interest in traditional education is waning. From 2012 - 2013, distance education enrollment rose 1.8% compared with a drop of 4% in overall higher education enrollment according to the US Department of Education. 

What does this mean for us? As trainers? It means our new hires are coming to us already equipped to be successful while learning virtually.

The Next "Generation" of Learning

Generation means that people need to make their own meaning, literally generating their own links while learning, not just passively listening to ideas. We need our brains to create rich webs of links to any new concept, linking ideas to many parts of the brain.

Using different types of neural circuitry to link to an idea is the key. Meaning, we should be listening, speaking, thinking, writing, and other tasks about any important ideas.

Source: Your Brain on Learning, published in Chief Learning Officer, May 2015