Last week, I attended an intriguing conference at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania sponsored by the Instructional Technology department. Before the event, I surveyed the attendees to find out their most pressing problems in training. Vying for the top spot was that training does not result in the desired job performance. Ouch.
Programs like the one at Bloomsburg leverage the best and most recent technology to enhance training outcomes by creating engaging learner environments. The graduates of these programs are creating some of the best training in the industry for Fortune 100 companies. In places like this, all the best tech is supported by solid instructional design principles.
That’s because when a needs analysis has determined that training is indeed the answer to the performance problem, the structure, as well as the execution of the training, is critical to achieving improved performance. (Here’s a link to a great overview of how to conduct a needs analysis by Ken Drummond) The pathway to effective training that gets results starts with a well-thought-out design that includes the elements necessary to lead to behavioral outcomes. And that happens before the tech sizzle is added during development.
A well-constructed learning design includes elements that:
1. Clearly define the desired behavioral outcome or performance
2. Use verbs that best describe the expected performance
3. Include information and examples that support the knowledge necessary to achieve the result
4. Provide opportunities to practice the behavior or respond appropriately to prompts
5. Include assessments to reinforce the knowledge and confirm that it is being acquired by the learner
6. Allow for graphic, video, audio and other sensory inputs to support and reinforce the information
7. Supply important supplementary material to fill in knowledge gaps of certain learners (eg. Glossaries, definitions, examples)
8. Are easy to use by the experts who must interface with the material for input, refinement, approval, revision and correction
9. Are general enough to be used as a common platform across all types of training programs
10. Contain enough opportunities to create variation among programs that it does not impede the designers’ creativity.
It’s About Job Performance
Because companies spend money on training to achieve a business
objective – whether it is to comply with industry regulations, make a
better widget faster, improve employee morale or keep employees safe on
the job – it is imperative that instructional designers keep the goal of
the training foremost in their minds as they design training solutions
to business problems. A strong design template that emphasizes outcomes
provides a strong foundation for designing training solutions.
Instructional designers and the training team often come from
many different backgrounds. Some love the technical aspects of creating
an exciting and engaging user experience, some are subject matter
experts who love their area of expertise, and some are project managers
focused on getting a project done within scope and within budget. With
all that enthusiasm for different aspects of creating an educational
experience, sometimes the basics of “why we are here” get lost in the
creation of the beast.
That is why a strong and well-developed design system focused on
business outcomes and performance support can be an instructional design
team’s best friend.
What We Do Today
Many IDs are still creating their own designs using something as
simple as a Word document. A learning design based in a word processing
program or any software program designed for another purpose, such as a
mind mapping program, have inherent limitations. The main limitation is
simply that the tool was designed to do something other than reinforce
instructional best practices.
When we use a storyboard or design document created in a program
designed for another purpose, the quality of the training depends on the
knowledge and skills of an individual instructional designer or, as is
often the case, of someone else assigned to design training who has no
background in instructional design at all. Even experienced classroom
trainers with the best of intentions and great classroom skills need
guidance when choosing how to design a program with the specific goal of
achieving a desired business outcome.
An intentional design program offers the support of
instructionally sound components, strengthens the training designer’s
skillset, supports experts called on to write their own training and
makes review cycles easy.
When one of the biggest problems in knowledge transfer remains
the fact that training is not achieving the desired workforce
performance, perhaps it signals that people assigned to design training
need to go back to the drawing board, or rather the design, where the
beginning starts with the end in mind.
