As learning professionals, it is important to understand that learners at various levels of expertise require and need different approaches. In fact, it's a fairly well-established principle of cognitive science that novices and experts think differently. Intel's novice sales professionals, for instance, tended to focus on "making the sale" whereas their experts focused on forming more strategic relationships with their customers, ultimately creating more value for Intel and their customers. To facilitate the journey from novice to expert, we recognized that the learning events used for novices could not involve the same instructional strategies as those done for the sales professionals with higher level of knowledge. What instructional design strategies can be used to facilitate a learner's journey from novice to expert? How do instructional designers enlist change agents to help make the vision for the learning experience a reality, and gain support for the initiative?

In this session, you will see a case study of how novice to expert instructional design strategies were used to facilitate a novice sales professionals' journey towards gold-level mastery. We will look closely at how the different levels of expertise were defined and characterized. We will also explore examples of instructional design strategies used for each level (including the use of authentic scenarios, guided "show me" interactions, worked examples, "situated" customer simulations, adaptive assessments, and gamification). Additionally, we will provide examples of the exit criteria, assessment, and evaluation process used to measure the learner's success at each level. Next, we will discuss the learner's reaction to the sales champion program, and the difference that it is making at Intel. Lastly, we will look closely at what it means to be a change agent in the context of a learning experience initiative. We will share tips for how to enlist change agents to help make the vision for the learning experience initiative a reality, and for gaining support for the initiative.