Learning Success with Creativity and Engagement
What was the best training or class you ever attended? Was it one that involved only lectures? The best ones I attended were from my early childhood professional development where our trainers almost always had crayons, markers, playdoh and candy on each table. While you might consider these distractions, these materials were used for small group activities throughout the day and helped focus the participants who were used to being active all day with children.
For most of you, the best training or class most likely engaged you somehow. As adults, we enjoy participating in learning. Malcolm Knowles describes this in his 4 Principles of Andragogy (Adult Learning) Theory as listed below in the statements for adults.
- Require involvement in planning and evaluation of training.
- Experience and failures provide the basis for learning.
- Desire subjects relevant to their jobs or personal lives.
- Lean towards problem-based learning.
How can these four principles be applied to the areas below? How can these be applied for remote learning?
Creativity & Engagement
After reading these four principles, consider the key components of the most memorable events attended. What were the activities or engagement that allowed learners to build on experience, understand the relevance and solve real-world problems? What are some ways to incorporate engagement in training?
| Facilitate Exploration | Allow learners to construct their own knowledge by providing all sorts of materials, references, infographics, short videos, lectures, podcasts and free resources. This should inspire learners to learn more. |
| Challenge through Games | Use real-world problems and case studies as the basis for challenging competitions and games. |
| Chunk Information | Chunking assists learners’ with memorization and assimilation of information. This is because small pieces of information are easier to process. |
| Emotional Response | Get learners emotionally involved – tell real-life stories, possibly give controversial statements, and use emotion to tap into memories or experiences |
| Relevance | Learners need the workplace examples to be reminded of the relevance. Why is the training important? Sometimes reminders and clues help make the connection. |
Remote Learning Engagement
The previous methods are good for engaging learning overall. However, recent events have required more remote learning. With remote learning, we need to be able to engage learners within these environments whether through webinars, mobile, eLearning or a combination of any of these.
Begin with building a community and integrating social media for the learners, this will increase communication and collaboration throughout the remote learning. How do you establish and maintain the learner engagement? Try any or all of these suggestions.
- An Exciting Opening – Open with something fun and interesting. For example, use attention-grabbing facts, fiction, an interesting, related quote or any other information that could interest learners. Or, consider issuing a challenge question.
- 10:2 Method – If it is a live session, after 10 minutes of presenting, allow 2 minutes for the learners to consider and respond. Have open questions that allow them to respond. This does not need to be disorderly. You may use chat box features instead of audio which will still allow for open dialogue among learners..
- Use Interactivity – Interactivity and engagement go hand in hand. Whether it is a live session or an eLearning session, do not simply provide PowerPoint slides. Create interactive presentations with games, quizzes, and interesting slides. Use tools such as Raptivity 2020, iSpring Suite, or Articulate 360.
- Closed Captioning – Use the option to enable closed captioning. This eases communication for learners who may not hear you clearly or may not be able to follow your accent.
- Feedback – It is important to provide frequent feedback for remote learners. Provide regular feedback to them. When in live events, encourage learners to ask questions and share their insights in the chat box.
Leading to Learning Success
In the end, remember it is an opportunity for you to grow as well. To improve your presentation skills, the learners must provide you with feedback in varying formats. There are a few simple ways to assess the effectiveness. These include:
- Surveys
- Feedback before, during and after (Ex: ‘taking the temp’, how are you feeling?)
- Survey on the covered topic or a desired topic
- Post-learning observation of real-world use
Contact us to learn more and discuss your needs. Take time to view our simple, example courses (CRAP – Design & AI and Learning). Our ISDs develop more complex products; however, these examples do not include any previous client content.