Nuts and Bolts: The Learner Experience

I like to begin each column year with a review of the past. It’san interesting reflection, for me, of what I had on my mind over the past workyear, with reminders of conversations with colleagues or important moments ofchange or innovation in our business. And, as my focus is “nuts and bolts,” Itry to remain aware of the needs and perspective of the novice.

In reviewing 2016 I see that several columns dealt withdifferent aspects of the learner experience, an interest sharpened by my husband’s 2014 journey through surgery and recovery.In July I wrote about learners operating ina context we don’t always understand, where customers are made angrier byseeing staff hauled away to watch mandatory customer service training videos. Orwe don’t realize that the specifics of a particular job make the very thing we’reteaching impossible for the learner to perform. If you’re asked to “convert” aclassroom course to an online format, spend some time in the classroom, wheretrainers often make on-the-fly changes according to the needs of a particulargroup—adaptations that may not be written down anywhere. Try to have moreinfluence over how and when solutions are deployed so as not to make thingsworse for the learner. For that matter, try to have more influence in general.

I noted that sometimes learners are working in a state of panic, where thenot-so-rational brain needs clear navigation, simple keywords, and quick “whatto do if ____ happens” guidelines. And I wrote about designing for learner success, with an invitation to consider whatthings (besides tests) can cause learners to fail: things like too muchcontent, poorly constructed interactions, and too much decoration, such asanimations that don’t teach and art that distracts.

Instructional design basics

Other straight-up ID-based columns dealt with using themes to help create a more holisticexperience for learners, with some ideas for basic plotlines and a caveat abouttrying too hard to make a weak theme work. There were two columns with tipsfrom my 13 years (that’s right) working in the virtual classroom, focused onhow to leverage the chat and whiteboard features to up interaction, increaseinvolvement, and manage large groups. My own favorite of the design-focusedcolumns—an extension of the popular DevLearn “Ukulele Learning” sessions—was anexploration of using music as a design element rather than a cosmetic add-on. Used strategically,rather than as something akin to auditory wallpaper, music and sound caninfluence attitude, persistence, and motivation; can support a sense of forwardmotion and an urge to take action; and can affect attention and prediction.

Professional development

A couple of columns spoke to professional development, forourselves and for others. In my world I see an awful lot of “cargo cult training,” in which the classroom instructorreplicates what he saw school teachers do (like showing slides and lecturing),capturing the artifacts of instruction without understanding what’s underneath.Online? Same: Pick a template, loadtext onto slides, add a “next” button, and call it “eLearning.” Throw in a Jeopardy!—type board to supportrecall of content, and claim you’ve “gamified” a course. But without anunderstanding of instructional design, or of the basics of game mechanics,or of how people learn, all this is just a display of artifacts the creator hasseen elsewhere. It’s adherence to form without regard to content. Knowing thatwell-intentioned people often copy what they believe is good practice, it’s onus to help put forth better examples for them to copy. And some of that cancome from developing a deeper relationship with the industry’s research base. It’ll help you in conversations withsubject matter experts and stakeholders, where you may need to articulaterationale for a decision; it’ll help you add something new or different toconversations and shore up your credibility with other practitioners. It willhelp you start fewer sentences with “Well, I think…” and more with “Well,evidence shows…” It will help you, as John Seely Brown says, “expand yoursurface area.”

Working out loud, positivedeviance, and social learning

My most recent book is Show Your Work: The Payoffs and How-To’s of Working Out Loud, so I’m always interested in talking about that. There’s alot of talk about this lately, and as much of the focus is on the individualperformer, I thought I’d go in another direction and discuss some of the benefits working out loud can bring to the employer. Organizations supporting working outloud will see increased efficiencies, reduce the space between leaders andothers, improve public perception of the company, and better preserveinstitutional knowledge.

2016 also brought tips for being a positive deviant—getting more done despite having nomore resources than anyone else, and working with communities to surfaceexisting solutions—and ruminations on Pokémon Go as a reminder that we don’t “do” social learning. It happens organically, around us,everywhere, all the time.

I try to end columns with some ideas for solutions, orimprovement, or a reference to check, or actions to be taken. If anything herecaught your eye, please do go back and visit the topics that interest you. Andnote that all the columns back to 2010 can be found here.

And happy new year! Bring it, 2017!