IGNORANCE WITHOUT REASON
A couple of years ago, a colleague asked me to research a particular skills training provider —- a vendor that was previously unknown to me.
I always enjoy those research tasks as it allows me to keep up with the new directions the skills training world might be taking.
So, I happily went about that assignment and started my google search.
Imagine my surprise when I accessed that vendor’s website and discovered a vendor that took me careening back in time to the days before multimedia instruction was even available.
The home page on this vendor’s website was well designed and seemed to say all the right things. I began to look for their mode of instructional delivery and, failing to find that, went to their FAQ page.
And, wham! This is what I encountered:
DO YOU USE VIDEO?
“No. Video is a passive medium and the learner is not able to control the pace of the learning. Video is difficult to manipulate and if the student does not understand a particular learning objective they have to replay that learning objective.”
Only an answer to a single question —- but, an answer that is 100% unenlightened about today’s learning world. And, an answer that demonstrates either ignorance on their part or a willingness to distort the truth.
If they had bothered to research interactive video instruction they would have found that the learner is in complete control, the lessons are easy to manipulate, and the ability to navigate allows the trainee to replay in order to increase retention.
That vendor needs to examine the current learning culture and start by asking a simple question: “Where do most of us get the majority of the knowledge we assimilate today?”
From tablets, smartphones, computers and televisions, of course! Video, sophisticated animations and simulations are all at the root of our present-day learning culture.
Everyone wants their trainees to learn, retain, and apply the instruction presented.
And yet, knowing how to present that information is most often the key.
In the United States, approximately 40% of our workforce is not reading-fluent (i.e., they cannot sufficiently comprehend anything written beyond a 4th grade reading level).
Yet, these same individuals are completely capable and want to learn —- if only we will acknowledge their learning culture.
They’ve grown up in a multimedia world that allows them to learn by seeing and hearing. Multimedia has allowed them to simulate “the doing” — which, after all, is where the most useful learning occurs.
So, in spite of the unnamed vendor I encountered, interactive video-based learning is where it’s at today —- and, has been for nearly thirty years now!
Enjoy your Independence Day. More on Monday, July 9th – – –
— Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning
July 2, 2018
www.itclearning.com/blog/ (Mondays & Wednesdays)