Live It, Learn It

One of the basic design tenets subscribed to by The Training Doctor is Live it, Learn it. It’s an easy way to remember that adults are experiential learners and benefit more from having a learning experience than from being “taught.”

Essentially, when considering the delivery options available to you, always ask “is there a way to have the participants experience this concept rather than just learn about it?”

Here are some examples culled from TD designs for our clients:

• In order to explain how a printed circuit board is conceived (from design) and produced (through QA) a Lego simulation was created that required the class participants to conceive, produce and QC their own circuit board.

• To explain team formation (forming, norming, storming and performing) learners were put in to teams and given 30 minutes to complete a scavenger hunt. The debrief was a series of open-ended questions asking the learners to explain how their team approached the task and comparing each team’s process and outcomes to the others.

• To teach surveying skills, the participants spent 1 hour in the classroom learning about the various pieces of surveying equipment and how to record readings. They then spent the next 3 hours on the grounds of the training facilities practicing surveying, in small groups, with a job aid and an instructor standing by as coach.

In a recent Training Magazine article, Bob Pike wrote of an activity he designed for trainers, to help them better understand how people learn.  Throughout a two-day workshop he had his participants learn a fairly achievable skill: Juggling. By the end of the two-day event they were expected to pass a juggling “test” with a minimum passing score. You can read about their success and outcomes here.

It is quite interesting to read how some people quit before even beginning, some were motivated to be the best they could be – but not to help their co-workers, and the effect of extrinsic motivation.