SHAKY PREMISES !

“Good ideas are a dime a dozen!”

And, so they are! But, too many of them prove of little value, simply because the premises are not thoroughly examined. If the more important questions are not asked –- the more important answers are never found.

Within training departments, success or failure resides in the ability to understand, motivate, and adapt the learning initiatives to the workforce to-be-trained — and not in the technology!

Who are these people you’re asked to train? How do they best learn? What motivates them?

Your training initiatives, if successful, must fit inside their dominant learning culture — and, today that learning culture is video-based.

A modern example is E-Learning — the latest and greatest learning technology.

Why do more than 65% of learners never complete an E-Learning course?

Easy answer. Too much of it is designed to match the learning culture of a half-century ago. Most of our presently available E-Learning (unfortunately!) fails to embed multi-sensory media (full motion video and optional word-for-word audio) within the content — but, instead, is built around words, sentences and paragraphs (i.e., converted PowerPoint presentations and adapted written procedures).

No wonder that most of the current E-Learning fails to do its job!

Plus, in these uninformed cases, the training is not attached to a “what’s in it for me” strategy (promotions, pay increases, etc.).

Let me give you an example.

I knew an educational genius who created, after seven years of most diligent labor, the slickest assessment tool for “learning style” I have ever seen. For the first time, trainers and educators would be able to adjust their teaching to the individual learning styles present in their student population. It was sound academics, sound technology, and addressed a very real problem. All who saw the prototype were impressed. At tradeshows people were enchanted with the product.

But, no one bought it! Why? Because, there was no pressing need for knowing individual learning styles. There was no way to practically connect the results to an affordable prescription. Theoretically, everyone thought it was a revolutionary product but no one could figure out a practical way to implement it.

Good ideas are a dime a dozen — it’s the premises that ought to be thoroughly examined!

More on Tuesday – – – – –

— Bill Walton, Founder, ITC Learning
bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”