Helping Your Learners Get It
By Bob Pike CSP, CPAE
One might argue that learning
transfer of relevant material is perhaps a good gauge of job security for any
trainer. While you can't make your trainees learn, you are the one responsible
for crafting an environment in which content is most easily absorbed.
Just because you've said it doesn't
mean your "learners" learned it. One validated teaching philosophy shows that
content must be revisited at least six times for the information to be moved
from short term into long term memory. Of course this is critical if you want
your learners to actually transfer what they learned back to the job!
Another classroom technique that
can increase retention significantly is the use of interactive learning
activities. When I was a child, I learned much more through "games" and playing
with the "soft/hard" or "coarse/fuzzy" toys than from any lecture. So I'm not
sure why so many trainers continue to lecture at their learners who are busy
checking facebook and texting. ILAs get learners working together to solve
problems, create solutions and brainstorm resources. The group itself becomes a
great resource after training is over. Some ILAs can be found here.
If you would like information on
how to incorporate these and 15 other techniques into your training to increase
understanding, retention and application of your training material, register
for our Capture the Content one-day workshop. The next one is May 6 in
Philadelphia. More information can be found here. For every full-priced registration, receive 30
percent off a second for this workshop when you register by phone at 1-800-383-9210.
