When does the learning occur?
Let’s preface this article with two assumptions:
Most people who design training are not schooled in how to design training, these days. They are more typically subject matter experts.
Most people who ARE schooled in training still are not schooled in adult learning theory.
Over the years, we have noticed a recurring fault: designers (and facilitators) of training often equate participating in an activity with actually learning from it. Not so. Here are two examples:
A course in sales training, that we designed for a client, required a breakout group activity. At the end of the activity, each group was to present back their outcomes. As each group finished their presentation the facilitator replied with “good dialogue, good dialogue” and then moved on to the next group. The facilitator spent NO time asking for further interpretation of their decisions or outcomes, he spent NO time comparing one group’s response to another, he never asked any other group to respond to or ask questions of the presenting group.
A training design that we reviewed for a client included a 10-minute, independent, web browsing activity in which learners were to research the “key selling features” of a particular product. Once the activity was over, the course moved on to the next topic. There was no discussion of what people had found. There was no compare and contrast. There was no knowing if you did the activity right or not!
So the question we pose is this: When does the learning occur?
Lucky for you, we’ll give you the answer as well: It occurs in the debrief. The debrief happens after the activity. Rarely, if EVER, do participants get the ah-ha moment from simply participating in an activity. Ninety-nine percent of the time it occurs during the debrief when they are asked to process, sort and supply their findings. When they hear what others, or other groups, have come up with and compare it to their own. When they are asked “so what does this mean for you, on the job?”
Simply designing or facilitating an activity is not sufficient. The REAL learning comes after the activity. Discussions with peers, working collaboratively or competitively, all help to ensure that learners actually process what has just occurred and gain meaning from it.
Ensure that you think that far ahead when you design for your learners.