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How To Keep Your Audience Awake

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12 Most Engaging Presenter Behaviors…0n How to Keep Your Audience Awake

Do you want to engage your audience. First, many people in your audience are tired—probably at least a third of them just don’t get enough sleep. They’re sitting there hoping they won’t embarrass themselves by nodding off. Part of your job is to help them stay awake, to actually pay attention and consider what you are saying. Next time you practice a presentation, note how many of the following strategies you actually use. Then add a couple more. You don’t want your audience to look like this.

 

  1. Start by telling your audience what they will take away from your talk. What are three things worth paying attention to and remembering? One of my talks starts with: “When you leave after two hour workshop, you will know how to (1) organize a talk and save hours of time; (2) use my professionally designed slides to categorize information on your slides and keep your audience engaged; and (3) feel more confident and excited about giving a presentation.
  2. Speak less than the time allotted. When you begin, say, “I know I have 30 minutes. I will only talk for 15, and then let’s discuss what I’ve said.” Your audience will think to themselves, “OK, I can listen for 15 minutes.” Plus, they will be happy not to have to listen as long as they expected.
  3. Use silence effectively. When you are playing catch and you throw the ball to someone, you find yourself waiting—will the other player catch it, and how? You don’t throw ball after ball without looking to see if the person caught one of them. When you make a statement, it’s like playing ball—you have to wait in silence to see how people receive it. Don’t keep throwing more and more words without giving your audience the chance to catch each sentence.
  4. Pause periodically. Silence not only gives your audience a chance to digest your information—it also gives them permission to participate. When you pause, you non-verbally tell your audience that they can interrupt you. Your pause makes people feel comfortable—that you are encouraging them to jump in and speak. If you talk nonstop, you will never engage your audience.
  5. Emphasize key words. If you speak in the same voice tone throughout the entire presentation, no one knows what is really important. Make it obvious to your audience what they really need to pay attention to.
  6. Use numbers, and emphasize them. A person can pay attention better when you say, “There are three strategies to solve this situation. Number 1 is… Number 2 is… Number 3 is…” Every time you say a number, it reengages your audience’s attention and helps their brains to listen.
  7. Remind your audience of the benefits of what you just told them. I frequently say something like, “By using these professionally designed slides you will feel more confident when speaking, and you’ll be able to make eye contact with your audience because you won’t be reading the slides.”
  8. Add some emotion or humor to your talk. People can only sit and listen to someone spouting facts at them for so long. You have to engage the “child” part of your audience by using emotional words. “I’m excited today to be here to tell you some good news.” Or “The TEAM did some hard grueling work and came up with this amazing new way to visualize the product.”
  9. Tell a story that interests your audience. We all love stories—especially ones that have some emotion connected to them. Tell a story within 5 to 8 minutes of starting your talk.
  10. Say these words: “You, Your”. When starting say, “I am delighted to see all of you here.” Later on say, “As you know, we have this situation. First, you will hear some ideas and then please give your opinions about how we can change this situation.”
  11. Do something unexpected. One of my clients stopped talking in the middle of his presentation, blanked out the screen and said, “OK, you’ve heard enough of the possibilities of using this new program, let’s discuss your views so far.” The energy changed in the room. People started talking and came to some understandings before he went on. Another presenter passed out several products and asked people to talk about them.
  12. Give people “brain food”. Literally, give them food, and I don’t mean donuts. Here are some ideas: almonds, walnuts, cashews, small cups of bananas and blueberries, dark chocolate, small turkey sandwiches, yogurt (without the sugar), green tea. These foods will help them concentrate, which means they will be more engaged with you.

One last word:

If you yourself aren’t engaged, then you might as well forget it. Find some way to motivate yourself to be excited about your talk—you can’t expect your audience to carry you or motivate you. You are the one in front of the group, so it’s up to you to bring the interest and curiosity into the room. You don’t have to be an over-the-top enthused presenter. By using these strategies, you can exude quiet engagement.
Which ones will you start with?

PS: You may think you do these things already, but until you record yourself and watch, or ask someone else to critique you, you may just be fooling yourself.

The Gamification of Work

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Courtesy of Blanco River Lodge
How do you distinguish between work and play?
Are they really that different?

Consider this:

1) Many games these days - particularly those online - are highly complex and taxing. They require skills in strategic planning, negotiation, resource allocation, tactics, practice (and more practice), and the use of specialised tools (from rackets to balls to enchanted axes).

2) The advent of social networks have resulted in more businesses embracing blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, YouTube, and Pinterest, all in the name of work. Yes, you can now surf and update stuff on the Internet during office hours, and get paid for it.

3) Hierarchy and pecking order apply equally in both contexts. A be-medalled badminton player/ RPG grand master is just as respected as a star engineer or target-exceeding sales manager.

4) Peer acceptance and team support is crucial. A manager who dominates others through fear and intimidation eventually finds himself or herself in cold storage. Similarly, the best players in team sport always look out for their friends.

5) Hobbies these days are becoming more and more involved. People are no longer content with simply cooking but are creating recipes, posting them on Instagram/Tumblr, and teaching others how to bake that world-class souffle.

The huge difference, however, is this. What is the frame of mind that you adopt while performing that activity? What moves you to complete that task?

Are you driven by:

A) The sheer necessity to earn an income and to pay your bills?

B) The opportunity to express yourself and indulge your muse?

C) The conviviality and camaraderie of doing stuff with people you care about?

D) The chance to make a difference in a future that you believe in?

E) The insatiable need to “score” and achieve points, besting your previous record?

If your answer is A and that alone, it is probably time for you to consider looking for another job. Doing something merely because you have to isn’t going to bring out the best in you. On the contrary, it will sap your energies and weaken your spirit.

If your answer is B, C, D, E (or all four), you are actually not “working” in the traditional sense but playing. Earning a keep is really a bonus (OK, maybe its more than that, but you get the drift).

The differences between work and play is nicely summarised by the table below from the Gamification Wiki. Have a look and see if you agree.

Source: Work Game

Tasks repetitive dull repetitive fun
Feedback once a year constantly
Goals contradictory, vague clear
Path to Mastery unclear clear
Rules unclear, untransparent clear, transparent
Information too much and not enough right amount at the right time
Failure forbidden, punished expected, encouraged, spectacular, brag about it
Status of Users hidden transparent, timely
Promotion kiss-up-o-gracy meritocracy
Collaboration yes yes
Speed/Risk low high
Autonomy mid to low high
Narrative only if you are lucky yes
Obstacles accidental on purpose
Courtesy of Gamification Wiki

The challenge for all of us is this:

How do we make our work more like play (and less like work)?

For a start, consider embracing the principles of gamification at the workplace. This can perhaps be summarised as follows:
1) Adopt accelerated feedback cycles so that employees know when they’ve done well and when they’ve slipped up. The faster and more frequently you can do so, the better.
2) Establish clear objectives and “rules of the game” with boundaries that are clear and unambiguous.
3) Encourage socialisation and cross-team efforts. Make it clear what project teams are working on.
4) Develop a compelling story that is woven into aspects of the “game”. This narrative should resonate with players and engage them in proactive participation.
5) Provide clear and achievable rewards for intermediate milestones. This shouldn’t wait till the completion of a 12 month project, but could be established at various junctures.
6) Break down tasks into challenging but achievable quantums. In gamification, the achievement of intermediate wins are an important component of sustaining energy levels throughout the endeavour.
7) Be public and transparent about the different “games” that are being played. If possible broadcast the progress of various teams through multiple corporate channels.
8) Most importantly, build a culture that celebrates failure. In fact, a resounding crash during a Formula One race attracts far more attention than a run-of-the-mill victory. Having said that, it is good to institute a system that encourages people to learn fast from their mistakes and move on.

via The Gamification of Work | LinkedIn.

EFL – learner management system

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The Educators EFL - Learner management system gives every EFL teacher the ability to manage all their students (classroom based, private tuition, video conferencing), irrespective of their level of English in one virtual room. The room is equipped with both interim/progress quizzes and exam for determining the learner’s overall English Language level.

The key features:

  1. Managing your students progress.
  2. Use the discussion forum as a teaching tool, encouraging peer to peer activities.
  3. Communicate with your students via email, calendar, chat room , etc …
  4. Grouping your learners.
  5. Building your network of learners.
  6. Build content for your course (Next step)
  7. Develop your own business

The Educators uses Moodle Virtual Learning Management system. If you are familiar with Moodle , you can go ahead and apply for EFL-Room . If you are not familiar with Moodle, we have developed a special training course for you, it is quick and efficient. Managing EFL Students online course is delivered in two stages, stage one is an online course about using Moodle key features required for this programme, and stage two is about giving a hands on experience. You will be given a teaching role in a room (similar to EFL Room) with a small group of your students.

Next Step:

For those who want to go further and develop their own online course, The Educators is your keen partner. We have all the training you need to convert your course to a vibrant teaching environment. (Click here for prices)

Contact us for our special offers

The Educators runs number of international development projects, which include free training and virtual room. Just fill the form below for further information.

Register your interest

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Effective Visuals

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Along with having great course content, you should also have an outstanding use of effective visuals throughout the entire course.

Sometimes finding the right images can be more difficult than originally anticipated. Your images must add value to the course, whether it is a graph or chart explaining the information, or just an example photo that the student can relate to.

Keep in mind that specific eLearning platforms can have different ways to feature visuals throughout your course. These are 10 Do’s and Don’ts for choosing eLearning visuals, beginning with the quality.Do find quality images. Avoid using blurry or pixelated images within your courses. Rather than looking unprofessional or distracting your students, either use quality images or none at all.

Don’t use visuals without a purpose. It is important that all of your images have a purpose and add value to your course. Don’t use images just for decoration or to fill in space. Images without a specific meaning may be distracting to your students, rather than helpful.

Do choose valuable images. Your images must add value to the course, whether it is a graph or chart explaining the information, or just an example photo that the student can relate to. Be sure the images resonate with your students.

Don’t use overly complex visuals. If you have a complex graphic that is crucial to your course, consider placing it on it’s own slide with the description separately. This will allow for a larger image and the students are likely to see more (or all) of the details. When possible, avoid complex graphics and go for a simpler version, while still getting the point across.

Do use a variety of visuals. Be sure your course has a variety of graphics and images throughout. These include charts, handouts, photos, or even bullet points or lists. Different medias and visuals help the student organize their information better.

Don’t overload your courses with images. Adding too many visual elements can quickly become cluttered and overwhelming for the student. With less visuals, the student can better focus on the content.

Do use words and pictures together. Consider placing text and images together, expressing the same message in two different ways. Students can likely learn faster and remember key terms when associated to an image.

Don’t add text to busy images. Placing text with an already complicated graphic will only further the complexity. Place the text on a different screen in this case.

Do use a consistent image style. Consistency helps students focus on the material rather than worrying about the design changing throughout the course.

Don’t copy images from Google. Many images seen via Google are copyrighted and therefore, you will be violating copyright if you use them in your course.

With these 10 visual Do’s and Don’ts, you can create your online course in no time via an eLearning platform. Be sure to utilize your eLearning platform to add visuals throughout the entire course, not just in the presentations.

Are you looking for quality images to use in your online learning courses? These are 10 free stock photo resources and 10 free eLearning graphics tools.

Harness the New Tools for Training

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Transform Training

Over the next five years, how you train and educate your staff won’t just change; it’ll transform.

What’s the difference?

  • Changing means continuing to do essentially the same thing, only introducing some variation in degree.
  • Transformation means doing something utterly and radically different.

For example, moving our music from cassette tape to CD changed how you listen to music. But going from a CD to having all your music in digital format on your smart phone and with you at all times transformed how you listen to music.

Exponential changes driven by processing power, storage, and bandwidth are now reaching a stage that allows us to transform business processes including how we educate and train our workforce. This transformation will certainly accelerate. The only question is whether your organization will take advantage of it.

So what does the future of corporate training look like? To get a clear picture, you first have to know a few facts:

  • The majority of phones professionals are using worldwide are smart phones. In other words, your employees’ phones are actually multimedia computers with internet access. That alone has huge ramifications for training them.
  • Tablets and smartphones are outselling PCs globally and employees have access to them wherever they go including home. So smart mobile devices like phones and tablets are rapidly becoming the new platforms for training and education. That doesn’t mean employees are no longer using laptops, it means we are using them in different ways and much less.
  • These smart devices will get exponentially smarter every year, giving us new capabilities. It used to be to access a super computer you had to be a university or major corporation. Today, even a small company can access (from their phone) a super computer in the cloud and run advanced simulations.

Knowing these things, it’s time to rethink how to train your employees from here on out.

Here’s how to do it

New Tools for Training:

  • Implement Just-in-Time Training
    For most people, the best way to learn something is by doing it. That’s what just-in-time training enables people to do. Rather than sit in a classroom or one-on-one with someone and learn, people can learn in real-time. Remember, most employees have a multimedia computer with them at all times (their phone or tablet). With just-in-time training, they can access any element of what they need to know at the moment of need. If they have a question or need assistance, they simply touch an icon on their device’s screen and are connected to a live trainer who can help. If the trainer needs to see something to give assistance, the employee can aim the device’s built-in camera to the problem so the trainer can see it. This alone would cut training costs tremendously.Does this mean we eliminate classroom or other formal training sessions? No. There will still be formal training, but less of it because now we can have distributed training in real-time that’s just-in-time. So this isn’t about getting rid of something; it’s about using a new tool for training and education.
  • Create Interactive Training Materials
    We also now have the ability to create interactive training manuals and textbooks. In the past, e-books have been static, basically an electronic PDF of the book. Now they are becoming dynamic e-books where you have embedded audio, video, and links to other resources. And thanks to visual communications, you can even have a way for employees to tap a special button in the training manual and be connected to someone who can give more advanced training on a specific subject.Additionally, employees can tap into a series of videos that allows them to personalize the training for their specific needs. Since the training manual is no longer static, employees can personalize the manual by plugging into a menu of more advanced training options embedded within.
  • Today, training is measured in one-hour blocks of time. One hour needs to become ten-minute blocks of highly focused time.
    I recently heard some one say they watched “an entire TED talk” as if it was a long amount of time. Our attention spans are short and the list of things each of us must accomplish seems to be getting longer. Measuring the units of training in one-hour blocks of time is already obsolete.By taking advantage of the virtual, mobile, social, and visual revolutions that are already taking place, we should measure employees training units in ten-minute blocks that include a short focused lesson with an application tool.
  • Tap Into the Gameification of Training and Education
    Gaming isn’t just for kids. Interactive gaming is a tool that can transform training and education. I’ve identified five core elements of gameification that when applied together can dramatically accelerate learning. They are:
  1. Self-diagnostic. Interactive, competitive, and immersed training modules can know each person’s skill or knowledge level and progress accordingly. It can know where someone left off and give next steps from that point when the person logs back in. This is the best way to allow for individual training and learning.
  2. Interactivity. Regardless of someone’s inherent learning style, learning is much more effective when you’re interacting with the material, not passively sitting there. When you learn by gaming, you’re interacting with the information and concepts and actually doing things. It’s no longer passive training.
  3. Immersion. In the recent past to the present, video games use interspatial 3D, where you go into worlds. So instead of images popping out at you, you go inside to them. That’s how games on the Xbox 360 and others have been working for years, by using a regular television set or flat panel display. This sort of technology gives an immersed effect, which engages people more.
  4. Competition. Humans are naturally competitive beings. When you’re sitting in class or doing one-on-one learning, there’s little competitive value. No one advances until the session is over. However, when you’re competing, as in a game, there’s an adrenaline rush that keeps you engaged and focused on the task at hand. In an effort to “win,” people master concepts faster.
  5. Focus. When you’re playing a game, you’re forced to focus. You have to do A in order for B to occur. If you don’t do A, then you won’t get far in the game. Focus is the result of interactivity, competition, immersion, and self-diagnosis. When you can focus, you can learn virtually anything…fast.

Embrace the New Era of Training

The ideas mentioned here are already possible. Use them to redefine how your company trains its employees. Since businesses spend large sums of money on training and education, anything that can accelerate or enhance learning will save both time and money.

And always remember, if it can be done it will be done; if you don’t do it someone else will.

Based on article by:

 

Real learning

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We are constantly learning, regardless of how old we are. Or, let’s at least say we are trying hard to learn. The ways we are learning, though, seem not quite right when we consider what we are trying to achieve.

If you can’t apply it, you haven’t learned

In most cases, you are interested in using the new knowledge to accomplish something. Yet, you choose to learn in ways that don’t bring you anywhere close to applying what you learn. Maybe it is trigonometry for the SATs, or web design for the job interview on the horizon. Even the book you are reading on how humans form habits is probably tied to a change you wish to make happen in your life. So, you do learn for a reason: You are hoping to apply what you learn. And you want that to happen sooner than later.

Doing the wrong things more doesn’t make things right

Given this very clear goal, what do we do? We listen, watch videos, take notes, read… When we realize that we retained very little, we find out we haven’t learned; we have already forgotten most of it. Then we try harder. Read harder, listen harder, write harder. You know it.

Try testing

What we don’t include in our learning effort is testing. That’s the secret missing piece in the routines of billions of people as they strive to learn. At worst, the act of testing yourself to see if you learned is completely absent. At best, it is an afterthought; a 10-question quiz at the end of a 4-week long study plan. Think about it. When was the last time you tested yourself on what you learned?

The disconnect between what we respect and what we do

This is completely against what we know and value in life about practice and experience. We have utmost respect for people who practice a lot; if they have been tested extensively and repeatedly, they must be great at what they do. We prefer lawyers with a strong track record in court. We feel more confident with surgeons who have more experience operating on others. Professional athletes dry-run over, and over, and over long before they get their first glimpse of the competition. Countless more examples underline one fact: We believe extensive testing is the right way for others, and we respect the ones who do more. But when it comes to us, we stay in our comfort zones, never looking back to evaluate whether we actually learned.

This comfort zone of ours makes us give in to the false sense of completion when we finish a book. It makes us move to the next blog post as soon as we are done with one. It justifies the illusion of finishing a TED talk and assuming we now know how we will use the snippet of wisdom in that video. Once we think we “got” the information, we don’t look back, we don’t check whether we internalized it, we don’t see if we can apply that learning to a problem of our own.

In the US culture, testing in schools is sometimes perceived as evil; though a necessary one. Ask someone what testing means, and you will hear all the critics about labeling, grading, force-ranking people. But guess what. That is testing at its worst, and I believe that is what makes us miss the real learning opportunity today.

Testing shows the way

Tests, when done right, put us in the driver’s seat. They force us to make a judgment, give us deep awareness about what we are missing to make the right call in the future, when the right call will be of great importance. Tests reveal to us what we are strong at, and what we are weak at. Tests show us the path, so that we know what we know and what we don’t. Testing is the due diligence on our learning performance. When used as a learning method, there is almost no better way to learn something, anything, deeply.

I know what you just thought. When you heard the word test, you visualized the endless stream of multiple choice questions you once tackled to prove to others that you deserve whatever you were shooting for. While that is indeed a test, that is not the only one. Testing is a much broader concept. Practically, you are testing yourself whenever you force yourself to produce an answer, before you see the answer. And that moment is not about grading, not about labeling you. Plain and simple: that moment is all about confronting yourself to see whether you actually know stuff. That simple.

One thing I learned

Not convinced? Here’s my advice. Test this theory yourself, on your own terms. Make this post the first experiment and challenge yourself. Don’t just move to the next article. First, see if you acquired something from this post. I know you want to read a lot, and read fast, but just for once, do your reading differently, and embrace the thrill of cold calling.

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common misconceptions in workplace training

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A Free Guide on How to Take Your Course online from The Educators

It is incredibly focused, with a refreshingly simple approach. And it covers, course design, elearning technology, marketing your course online and so much more!

Read It Now

The problem with workplace training is that it seems so simple: Show employees what to do, have them practice it a few times, and you’re done. But “training is not as intuitive as it may seem,” notes Eduardo Salas, a professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida.

There is a science of training that shows that there is a right way and a wrong way to design, deliver, and implement a training program.

The science of training—one that has developed and matured over the past 30 years is too often ignored by vendors selling their own decidedly unscientific approaches to training, and by well-meaning employers and managers who assume that their intuition is a reliable guide in putting together a worker training program.

Salas’s report is full of compelling examples of how intuitive assumptions can lead trainers astray—and how science can ensure that training is truly effective. Here, an assemblage of common misconceptions, corrected by the science of training:

  1. It’s what happens during training that matters. Actually, what happens before and after training can be just as important. Beforehand, employers should take care to communicate clearly what the training is about and how it relates to workers’ jobs; afterward, they should seek employee feedback and offer support for newly-acquired skills.
  2. Training should be focused on getting workers to remember everything they need to know to do their jobs. There’s so much information available today that trainers need to distinguish between content that is “need-to-know,” and that is “need-to-access.” For the latter category, Salas writes, “training should teach people where and how to find that information rather than seeking to have them retain that information in memory.”
  3. As part of training, employees should be tested on their abilities and asked to focus on the areas that need improvement. Research shows that training is more effective when it’s presented as an opportunity, rather than as a test, and when it emphasizes its benefits to participants, rather than participants’ existing deficits.
  4. Once employees have been trained, those skills are in place and subsequent training can move on to teaching new skills. In fact, “skill decay is a major problem in training,” writes Salas. He cites a meta-analysis finding that a year after training, trainees have lost over 90 percent of what they learned. Skill decay can be prevented by giving workers frequent opportunities to practice their new skills, and by scheduling “refresher” training.
  5. The motivation to learn has to come from within the individual employee—there’s not much employers can do about it. Actually, Salas reports, employers can act to increase workers’ motivation: by being clear about the link between what’s being taught and how it will be used on the job, and by making sure employees feel supported in their efforts to learn by their supervisors and by the organization as a whole.
  6. Workbooks, lectures, and videos are the best way to deliver training information. These media, which emphasize information and demonstration, “remain the strategies of choice in industry. And this is a problem,” Salas writes. “We know from the body of research that learning occurs through the practice and feedback components.” Employers can increase the effectiveness of training by making the process more active and engaging for participants.
  7. The best way to arrange training is to show workers what to do, then let them jump in and try it for themselves. “Not all practice is created equal,” Salas notes. “Unstructured practice without objectives, appropriate stimulation, and useful feedback can teach wrong lessons.” Workers will get the most out of practice when they are provided with constructive and timely feedback that identifies what they may be doing wrong and how to fix it.
  8. The better workers perform during training, the better they’ll perform on the job.Not necessarily. Research shows that conditions that maximize performance during training are often different from those that maximize the transfer and retention of those skills. “Drilling” information leads to rapid learning during training, for example, but it leads to poorer retention and transfer than other methods that promote “deep learning.”
  9. Making errors during training should be avoided. “Because errors often occur on the job, there is value in training people to cope with errors both strategically and on an emotional level,” Salas notes. Guiding workers to make errors, and then providing them with strategies to correct their mistakes, will lead them to understand the task in greater depth and will help them deal with errors on the job.
  10. Adding technology is a surefire way to improve training. “Both traditional forms of training and technology-based training can work, but both can fail as well,” Salas observes. Technology must be implemented in a thoughtful way, in accordance with scientific findings, in order to add to the effectiveness of training.
  11. Workers should always be allowed to make their own choices about what they need to learn. Research shows that “learner control,” although it sounds appealing, doesn’t lead to greater learning. Left to their own devices, workers may not be knowledgeable or motivated enough to make wise decisions about how and what to learn.
  12. In training using simulations, it’s important for the virtual setting to be precisely the same as the one the worker will encounter on the job. Actually, Salas writes, what matters is not the “physical fidelity” of the simulation, but its psychological fidelity—how accurately it evokes the feelings and the responses the worker will have on the job.

“The Science of Training and Development in Organizations” (full text here) is full of surprising conclusions drawn from research. With the rich body of evidence now available, we no longer need to rely on intuition—or the claims of hucksters—to design workplace training. That’s what science is for.

What Matters in Training and Development

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The Science of Training and Development in Organizations:

What Matters in Practice

Companies know that they need to encourage the continued learning and development of their workforce in order to stay on top in their field. Because a trained workforce can provide a competitive advantage to companies, it makes sense to implement the best training program possible — especially one guided by sound science.

Each year, organisations in the United States spend roughly $135 billion on employee training.

In this article, Salas (University of Central Florida), Tannenbaum (The Group for Organizational Effectiveness), Kraiger (Colorado State University), and Smith-Jentsch (University of Central Florida) describe the current state of the science and practice of training, discuss why organizations should care about employee training, and outline processes for creating the most effective training program possible.

Training research and practice have greatly advanced within the last 30 years, moving from what was once described as a “nonempirical” field to one based on science. Research not only has shown that well-designed training programs work, but also has provided insights into what makes a program effective. According to the authors, what occurs during training is not the only thing that matters; what occurs before and after training is just as important for program success.

Based on past research, the authors suggest several steps that should be taken before, during, and after training to maximise a program’s impact.

Before:

Research indicates that organizations should take steps before training to create an appropriate learning climate and conduct a Training Needs Analysis — a diagnosis of what needs to be trained, to whom, and in what organisational system.

During:

During training, organizations should take steps to create the right trainee mindset and should use training strategies that utilize appropriate instructional principles.

After:

After training, employers should ensure that transfer of the training has occurred and should evaluate the training methods to see if any improvements could be made.

By becoming informed about and active in the training process, business leaders and policy makers can positively influence the scientific rigor — and therefore effectiveness — of training at their organisations, thus maximising the potential of their workforce and of their organisation as a whole.

About the Authors (PDF)

Editorial: Commentary on the Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in Practice

By Paul W. Thayer - Read the Full Text (PDF)

Learning Styles

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Extract from the Article on Learning Styles by: Christopher Pappas

There are 7 main Learning Styles, but the first three are the most common and widely used:

  1. Visual: Where learners prefer to use pictures, images and spatial understanding
  2. Aural: Where learners prefer acoustic stimuli
  3. Kinesthetic: Where learners prefer to use their body, hands, gesturing and touching
  4. Verbal: Where learners prefer speech and writing
  5. Mathematical: Where learners prefer using logic and reasoning
  6. Interpersonal: Where learners prefer to learn and function within groups
  7. Intrapersonal: Where learners prefer self-study and to learn alone

Advocates of the learning style theory argue that instructors can achieve much better results when they take their student’s learning style under consideration and create a course that best fits this exact style.

The adversaries of the learning style theory say that this concept is misunderstood and not scientifically proven, and they argue that learning styles do make instructors understand what motivates and cerebrally stimulates their students, but they can’t guarantee a successful outcome nor predict it.

So where is the truth in that and where lies the Learning Styles myth?

What truth lies beneath?

  • First of all, it’s true that people are different and that these exact differences affect the way they learn. Some have special needs. Some have special abilities. And no one can argue that intelligence comes in various levels and forms.
  • Second, people have different interests and when someone is interested in a subject, chances are that he will learn about it faster and more in depth.
  • Third, learners have diverse backgrounds, something that undoubtedly affects their learning.
  • And, last but not least, there are people with various learning disabilities, something that ultimately affects the way they learn and that requires a special approach on behalf of the instructor.

learning Strategies

What’s the key to effective learning? Read the learning strategies post.

It’s not just what you know. It’s what you know about what you know.

Debunking the myth of Learning Styles

  • There is no convincing evidence to prove that when an instructor changes the presentation mode of his course to match the learning style of his students actually helps them learn.
  • There is no “better” or “faster” learning as an outcome of implementing individual preferences into a course. It’s just a style that ultimately makes no difference in learning.
  • Instructors should not just take under consideration the learning styles of their students, but also their background and interests.
  • Content is the parameter that should directly affect the mode of presentation and not the learning style of the students.
  • It’s definitely more efficient to create a course based on the motivational characteristics of the students and not their learning styles, and always be ready to adjust the learning methods and techniques and engage multiple senses rather than just one.
  • Perceptual learning has to do with senses and there is nothing restrictive about that. It doesn’t prove that someone is a specific type of learner. It merely suggests that people have preferred learning styles.
  • Not all learning happens the same way and nor should teaching. What’s crucial is to decide which techniques are best for which learning outcomes and not about customizing a course based on learning styles.
  • We mostly think of learning styles as de facto, without questioning their true value, purpose and relevance. And the truth is that according to recent research conducted by major US universities there is no correlation between learning styles and successful learning.

 

Christopher Pappas

Founder of The eLearning Industry.

via The Myth of Learning Styles.

Students_Studying

How To Motivate Adult Learners

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Published in General on Friday, 26 April 2025 15:53
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The introduction of learning technology and the changing workplace recently increased the importance of adult learning. However, there comes the problem of “How to motivate adult learners?”. There are a few things that stand in the way to motivating adults to start learning.

How to Motivate Adult Learners

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17 Tips on How To Motivate Adult Learners

Adults, unlike children, teenagers and students, in most cases, have a lot of things on their minds and your eLearning course is probably the last one of them. In addition, your adult learners don’t see the rewards of their efforts as soon as they would expect, and giving them candy doesn’t work as it works with children. Also, academic habits, they once possessed are also long forgotten.

Here are 17 Tips on How To Motivate Adult Learners that you might try.

  1. Create useful and relevant learning experiences based on the age group and interests of your learners, emphasise on the practical knowledge. It is important to design a course that provides immediate relevancy, and can be put into practice, adult learners appreciate practical knowledge.
  2. Facilitate exploration, adult learners like to take the opportunity to construct knowledge in a way that is meaningful to them (like children). For this reason, you should have all sorts of materials, references, infographics, short videos, lectures, podcasts and free resources available. In such an environment learners are more likely to get inspired to learn more.
  3. Build community and integrate social mediaKeep in mind that social media websites are a powerful tool for collaboration, commenting and sharing. You can facilitate group discussions and communities. People will quickly start exchanging knowledge, and will also have fun, social media is fun!
  4. A voice behind the video is not enough, your course needs to have a face. Make yourself available to people, invite subject-matter experts, authors, professors … in live online discussions and Q&A sessions.
  5. Challenge through games, with different problem solving exercises and case studies. Make your learners look for and find solutions.
  6. Use humour, it would work great even with the most demotivated learners on your course. When your students know you are funny, they will listen to your material carefully, cause they wouldn’t want to miss on your witty sense of humour.
  7. Chunk information, this is essential, as it helps people remember and assimilate information. Small bits are easier to process.
  8. Add suspense, don’t give out everything your course is about in the beginning. Yes, you need an overview, but keep some interesting points until the time is right. No one likes to read a book if they know what’s about to happen.
  9. Accommodate individual interests and career goals, empower learners to work on these goals and individualize the training to suit their needs.
  10. Stimulate your learners, encourage them to think by either providing them with brain teasers, or by asking thought-provoking questions.
  11. Let learning occur through mistakes, “you will become clever through your mistakes“, “Practice makes perfect“
  12. Make it visually-compelling, 83% of learning occurs visually.
  13. Get Emotional, sound inspiring, make sure your materials are exciting, and get them emotionally involved too – come up with controversial statements, tap on memories, add real-life stories.
  14. Get examples of their workplace, your learners may not always remember to associate what is learned with its application at the workplace. Sometimes they might need reminders and a clue to help them make that connection.
  15. Be respectful to them
  16. Ask for feedback, it is motivating to know that your opinion contributes to the course.
  17. Present the benefits of undertaking the course, I don’t know why I didn’t start with this one. Sometimes outlining the benefits is all it takes.

A Free Guide on How to Take Your Course online from The Educators

It is incredibly focused, with a refreshingly simple approach. And it covers, course design, elearning technology, marketing your course online and so much more!

Read It Now