Get Small: Reframe eLearning Design

It’s easy to view soft-skills eLearning through a wide lens—e.g., “We need to teach our salespeople how to sell better.” From thisperspective, eLearning design can look daunting. How can we design eLearningthat teaches complex soft skills?

It’s tempting to try to cram as much information as possibleinto the training. “This stuff is complicated, so we’d better cover it all. Andsince there’s so much to learn, we’d better approach it in a logical, linearmanner, so our learners don’t get lost.” That’s how we end up creating eLearningmodules that are 30, 60, or 90 minutes long that nobody wants to watch.

Yes, these modules contain loads of valuable information forlearners. But, like the instructional designers who create them, learners areoverwhelmed by the content. So is it any surprise that long-form eLearningroutinely suffers from incredibly poor utilization rates?

How do we create eLearning that reduces the burden ondesigners and learners alike?

Two approaches—inspired by classic studies in behavioral psychology—showus how to shrink workplace eLearning to a manageable size.

Framing

A series of studies by psychologists Amos Tversky and DanielKahneman illustrate the power of framing. They found that how we perceive anissue is affected by how we define it. Changes in our approach to a problem cansignificantly influence our choices and shape our mental outlook.

Framing teaches us that we can overcome challenges by lookingat them another way. What if, instead of looking at eLearning design through awide lens, we shift our perspective?

So let’s look at eLearning through a narrow lens. Instead offraming the goal broadly—“teach our salespeople to sell better”—let’s narrowour view to the individual skills and concepts that build sales competency. Wecan then design eLearning modules that focus on each of those specific skills.

Several years ago, for example, we created a 90-minute two-parteLearning program on cold calling. It was chock full of great ideas. But nobodywanted to watch it. We also created a nine-minute module called “How to Win theFirst 20 Seconds of a Cold Call.” We posted it on YouTube. It’s had more than 215,000views.

Short-form, single-concept modules are the future of eLearning.Quick, intensive, and centered on a single concept, they reduce cognitive loadand increase learner retention. People will invest a few minutes of their timeto get better at one thing.

Small wins

But there’s another reason why short is better.

When the task of learning is reframed and scaled-down, webegin to accrue small wins. In his influential research, experimentalpsychologist Karl Weick described how organizations broke down massive problemsby focusing on small victories.

When eLearning designers break down a big goal like “bettersales skills” into individual components, learners are able to celebrate morewins along the way and feel motivated to continue on the path. They leave eachmodule with a single, actionable outcome—a small behavior change that willimprove their performance. Quickly the insurmountable goal of training feelsachievable.

eLearning solutions

Short-form eLearning is an ideal vehicle for generating smallwins. Learners are more likely to invest in a training process framed as a quick,narrowly-defined learning journey, and the incremental victories encourage themto continue. Managers also benefit, as follow-up seems feasible and doesn’trequire a burdensome time commitment. Learning happens. When learning happens,eLearning designers have succeeded.

When approaching your next eLearning module, here are somequestions you should ask:

• Is your module short and digestible for today’sbusy learners?
• Is your module focused on a single skill or conceptto reduce the risk of cognitive load?
• Does your module result in a “small win” forlearners—a concrete, actionable outcome?

Reframe your view of soft-skills eLearning. Create modulesthat allow learners to build upon their small wins. Get small.

Sources

Tversky,Amos, and Daniel Kahneman. “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice.”Science, 211(4481). 1981.

Weick,Karl E. “Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems.” American Psychologist, 39(1). 1984.