{"id":11309,"date":"2019-05-10T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T19:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/training-an-awesome-responsibility\/"},"modified":"2019-05-10T14:30:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T19:30:02","slug":"training-an-awesome-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/training-an-awesome-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Training: An Awesome Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tWhat is most precious in life? Ask anyone. I\u2019ll bet you\u2019ll hear, expressed in one way or another, how important time is. Time with family. Time with friends. Time for accomplishments, experiences, hobbies, helping, dreaming.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTime is precious and needed for everything. All our joys, aspirations, loves. We need to use it wisely as we can never get our time back once it\u2019s been spent.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>No Returns or Exchanges<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tAs trainers, we need to recognize, accept, and manage the awesome responsibility we have as trusted custodians of learners\u2019 time while they\u2019re in training. With no returns or exchanges possible, learners put tremendous trust in us as trainers as we spend their most precious property.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAs if that weren\u2019t onus enough, employers have great requirements of us, as well. Employees at work hopefully produce income for the organization. No work, no earnings, no company. Employers trust that the time spent in training, away from earnings-related work, will be rewarded by better future performance\u2014 far greater performance improvement than needed simply to recover earnings lost from time spent in training.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Training as Usual Is Too Expensive<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn a recent informal survey, we weren\u2019t surprised to find people most often expected training to be boring\u2014a general waste of time. They expected it to be boring because that\u2019s what they usually experience. People attend training mostly because they have to and sometimes just because it\u2019s a break from their work routine. They may hope for significant benefits but would be surprised if they actually reaped any.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen people are bored, their attention attention span shrinks. The mind wanders, searching for something interesting to explore. No training can be effective if learners are bored or giving it little attention. Ineffective training is too expensive to keep delivering. And it wastes people\u2019s time.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWe need to change our approach. But how? We don\u2019t make training boring intentionally. It just seems to happen. Here are some easy solutions:<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Think <em>Experience<\/em> First<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhere do many designers start to work after the needed performance outcomes are defined? They start with identifying, chunking, and sequencing content. But if common paths often lead to boring learning, maybe we should take different ones. Maybe the focus on content is part of the problem. What if we thought about the learner\u2019s experience first? Ask yourself: If you were the learner, what would you enjoy? I know, enjoy? What? But think, when we\u2019re enjoying things, we tend to stick with them. Learning can be fun. Games are fun, and games are all about learning and practice. So fun and learning can be in the same camp. Think about the experience first.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Think <em>Activity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tDon\u2019t think presentation, introduction, bullet points, etc. Think about what learners can be doing. We learn a lot from mistakes, so create a situation where learners try to solve a problem, perform a task, or evaluate someone else\u2019s performance. Choose a situation where mistakes are likely. Whether learners succeed or fail, you\u2019ve already provided an interesting learning event. An ideal learning paradigm has learners doing something almost immediately and continuing throughout the learning experience. You provide guidance and information when and where it\u2019s needed. Don\u2019t ruin the learners\u2019 fun by trying to comprehensively inform them before they attempt a task.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Think <em>Individualization<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tFind ways to be sensitive to what each learner can and can\u2019t do. By having learners perform tasks, you\u2019ll not only be teaching them through the help and feedback you give, you\u2019ll also be assessing their needs. Does the current learner need remediation? More practice? More difficult challenges? A badge and advancement? Acting on this knowledge will not only save instructional time, but keep learners engaged while benefiting from every minute of the experience.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Work to <em>Satisfy the Learner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIf feedback comes in the form of a judgment, \u201cVery good, that\u2019s correct!\u201d the learner may be pleased you\u2019re happy, but may not know why his or her work was good. \u201cMaybe I did that right, I don\u2019t know. Oh, I was right. How about that? Why, I wonder.\u201d The ultimate goal is for learners to both perform successfully and know their work was done well. So instead of being quick to judge, show learners the consequences of their actions. Then ask them if they\u2019re satisfied with the results. If they\u2019re not, let them correct what they\u2019ve done, perhaps with a hint or two as necessary. Only after the learners are satisfied should you judge their work and their assessment.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Speaking of Time Well Spent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\n\tHow about going to New Orleans, September 17-19,2019?I\u2019m delighted to be the chief evangelist of Training magazine\u2019s new TechLearn Conference. The event will be uniquely constructed to provide active learning experiences and valuable best practices. Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.techlearnconference.com\">www.techlearnconference.com<\/a> to learn more. I hope you\u2019ll join us!<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>Michael Allen is the chairman and CEO of Allen Interactions, which builds custom learning experiences. He is known for pioneering multimedia learning technologies, advanced interactive instructional paradigms, and rapid-prototyping processes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tLearners put tremendous trust in us, because, as trainers, we spend their most precious property\u2014their time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[27],"class_list":{"0":"post-11309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-magazine","7":"tag-training-magazine-events","8":"magazine_issues-may-2019"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.2 (Yoast SEO v25.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Training: An Awesome Responsibility<\/title>\n<meta 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