Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020 - 25

what types of L&D opportunities
they valued most, the majority of
learners said collaborative learning.
Creating activities that allow learners
to make a personal connection with
the learning, while also doing their
job and collaborating with others,
is key in creating an efficient, highimpact learning experience. Further,
these activities can often partially or
completely replace existing content.

3

Do you have
the connectors?

You may have 200 pieces of content
neatly
grouped
into
exquisite
microlearning bits. However, if you
don't provide connections linking
these bits of content together, they
won't achieve the impact you're
hoping for. In the article, "This Is Your
Brain on Learning," Britt Andreatta,
former chief learning officer at Lynda.
com and author of "Wired to Resist:
The Brain Science of Why Change
Fails and a New Model for Driving
Success" is interviewed and shares
that "microlearning demands even
more thought about how you weave
between the chunks of learning so there
is a cohesive and effective journey to
change learners' knowledge, beliefs
and behaviors." My colleagues and
I refer to this as "grouting" - those
pieces of content that add context for
the learner like grout holding together
tiles. This contextual content allows the
learner to come up for air and better
understand the connection between
various content pieces. Ultimately,
without connectors, microlearning is
more of a mish-mash than a modality.

4

Would the business goals
be better served if you
allowed learners to come
to understand a concept
through their real work life
instead of just giving them
a piece of content?

This is a tough question to ask. It
requires you to trust your learners. It
means pointing adult learners in the
right direction, allowing them to draw
their own conclusions. For example,

Without connectors,
microlearning is
more of a mish-mash
than a modality.
imagine a leadership class where
you have covered different types of
communication to help foster team
cohesiveness. Instead of reinforcing the
content through videos or PowerPoints
designed to drill in its importance, what
if you proved its importance through
an on-the-job activity? Consider the
following example:
Now that you have learned these
different communication skills, see how
many of them you can use this week
when interacting with your team. At the
end of the week, come back and discuss
what you learned and experienced.
Share what happened when you used
these communication skills with other
members of the class.
Guided activities allow learners to
collaborate with others and, ultimately,
see the learning's impact on their job
performance firsthand - which is far
more powerful than just about any
video or PowerPoint presentation.

5

Are the class learning
objectives helping or
hurting your task of
editing down the content?

Learning objectives that declare what
learners should know by the end of
a learning experience make culling
content difficult. After all, shouldn't
learners always know more? This
mindset is what results in those 20 extra
links and five extra documents within a
learning experience. It's important to
remember that more content doesn't
necessarily mean more results.
So, how can learning leaders create
valuable learning experiences with

less content? It starts with assessing
what business goals the training
should support: What business impact
do stakeholders need the training
to achieve? In other words, by the
end of the class, what do business
stakeholders want learners to go do,
change and/or feel? These objectives
should be specific, not written as,
"Objective: Learners will use x, y and
z sales techniques," but as, "Objective:
After this class, learners will use the 'x'
technique one hour before an initial
sales call because they see it as vital
to their job." Once you specify the
training's objectives, you can then
determine what content can best
help learners reach them - and any
obstacles they may face along the way.
Ultimately, impactful learning requires
more than relevant content. Learners
need to be receptive to the learning,
recognizing the value they will see
in return for their time in the class.
Ideally, this process should start before
the class begins and be re-iterated
throughout the learning experience.
So, when asking your stakeholders key
questions pertaining to the learning
content, don't forget to ask about the actual
learners, too: Are they new to their jobs,
the company or the subject of the training
in general? If you are asking them to
change, will they be receptive to the idea?
Do they need to break old habits, or break
through entrenched team dynamics?
The answers to these questions will not
only guide which content you ultimately
choose to incorporate in your training
initiatives, but also remain a key resource
in how you make meaningful connections
for learners.
To design a truly effective learning
experience, start by asking the
questions outlined in this article. Doing
so may even spark a few of your own
questions related to your company's
specific goals. Armed with this
information, you can enjoy that "new
project smell" from start to finish.
Rachel Elfenbein is the senior product
manager at Intrepid by VitalSource,
where she synthesizes client feedback
and imagines, designs and executes
platform features. Email Rachel.

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