InstructionalDesign
What’s possible when it comes to professional development and training? Perhaps this question seems squishy and conceptual, but if you’re a manager or someone who is tasked with creating training, then the answer to this question is extremely important.
There is plenty of research that points to the fact that well-crafted training programs and professional development opportunities can be life-changing on a personal level and worldchanging on an organizational level. When people are better able to do their jobs, they become more productive in their work and more satisfied in their roles, which can lead to higher employee retention rates and greater organizational efficiency.
In the life sciences, better performance can literally save lives.
Poor training, on the other hand, can unnecessarily drain an organization’s resources – both in terms of the money committed to a poor program as well as in the time lost from employee’s workdays.
Good training – defined in this article as professional development experiences that are both engaging to the learner and that yield results in terms of increased abilities to do something new, differently or better – depends on several elements:
How grounded is your program in evidence-based practices?
How well have you molded the learning to your audience and organization?
What kind of tools and approaches are you using?
Are you inadvertently creating “radioactive” learning experiences?
To help organize this collection of elements of good professional development and training, Figure 1 shows a new type of periodic table for effective learning experiences.
Like the familiar periodic table of elements, this periodic table of learning elements uses a series of groups to organize by properties. Unlike the periodic table of (chemical) elements, this is not an exhaustive list, but rather serves as a metaphor that allows learning designers to quickly scan a broad spectrum of learning elements.
Notice that the title of this article isn’t: “Here is your formula for engaging and effective training, every time.” Learning designers do not need to use every single element present on this table, but this table offers an idea of a variety of elements that can be bonded together to produce a compound that yields results for individual employees and the entire organization. Managers can use this periodic table to scan training programs that they’ve commissioned to identify strengths of the program as well as elements that may be missing in order to ensure your investment in professional development will lead to results.
Here is a quick breakdown of this periodic table.
Gas-like elements on this periodic table are concepts, models and theories that you may never pay much attention to, but they constantly waft through the air of a training room. It’s like the way that gases in nature (such as oxygen) are invisible and we don’t spend much time thinking about them. Of course, if all the oxygen in our room were suddenly sucked out, that’s probably all we’d notice and think about.
In much the same way, a well-designed training program isn’t something our learners think much about. A boring, poorly designed, PowerPoint-heavy training that often seems to meander will be distractingly ineffective for our learners.
Most training attendees don’t think too much about things like adult learning principles, learning objectives, instructional design or visual design — unless those things are conspicuously absent from their learning experience.
In learning design, liquid elements are practices or strategies that can be frozen, melted, adjusted and refrozen according to the needs of your organization.
Think about the element of coaching, for example. Coaching on this periodic table is defined as the pairing of individuals in a formal relationship in which a coach will facilitate conversation through open dialogue and questions to identify and draw out answers and strategies to achieve specific goals.
Some organizations hire coaches to work with employees or executives to raise their level of performance. Other organizations train supervisors or even peers to provide coaching to employees. A liquid, in nature, will take the shape of the vessel in which it’s poured. A liquid element will take the shape of the team or organization using that element.
An important note about these elements is that they can be bonded together to form a stronger, more powerful compound. Combining the elements of coaching with goal setting and spaced learning can lead to a much stronger learning experience.
Solid elements are the tools that are used – whether physical tools such as flipchart and markers, or digital tools such as quiz software or virtual meeting platforms like Zoom – to bring a learning experience to life.
One example of how solid elements can interact with other elements from the table is through bonding the solid element of video with the element of a handout, which can prompt learners to stay focused on what they’re watching, while they have space to take notes or jot down questions.
Radioactive elements are some of the most powerful, yet dangerous elements known to the training world. These are commonly used training tools, practices and resources that can offer tremendous results if used in the right quantities. If used improperly, they can be extremely combustible and contaminate the reputation of your training program for generations to come.
Perhaps that sounds a little extreme, but what do you think your learners are feeling when they’re subjected to 90 minutes of PowerPoint and lecture? There is a place for PowerPoint and lectures in training, but those two elements have been so misused over the years that they typically evoke a strong, negative reaction from many learners.
Combining the elements of adult learning, a lesson plan and lecture can help ensure that the lecture portion of a training session will be well-received and effective. That session should also include a well-planned set of activities and other learning strategies that involve participants in an experience that goes beyond just sitting and listening to someone speak.
Interactive elements are mostly online digital tools and platforms that can be used for both formal and informal learning purposes. Instructional designers can be intentional about these elements to help engage learners before or after a learning experience.
A pre-training email to introduce yourself and ask learners for something they’re hoping to take away from your session might be one obvious way to use an interactive element. Using a private LinkedIn group for post-training discussion or sharing resources from a website or a video from YouTube may be additional elements to bring into an overall training plan to convert your program from learning event to learning process.
Since this periodic table was first published in 2019, several technologies and practices have become mainstream in the learning world. As mentioned early in this article, this table is not an exhaustive list of learning elements, and it’s essential for all learning professionals to be on the lookout for new promising practices, tools and technologies.
Tools and practices such as AI, communities of practice, podcasts, storytelling and performance support would certainly be included in an updated table.
One last thing to consider about any of these elements: Will a given element help address a challenge you’re facing, or is it a shiny object?
Just because there are tools and strategies out there doesn’t mean that they’re right for you. On the other hand, scanning the learning and development landscape in a methodical way to identify previously missing elements to strengthen your learning programs is exactly how you find your formula for training success.
Brian Washburn is the co-founder and CEO of Endurance Learning and the author of What’s Your Formula: Combine Learning Elements for Impactful Training (ATD Press). Brian can be reached at brian@endurancelearning.com or through www.linkedin.com/in/brianwashburn/.
