Archives for March 2023

Tradeoffs in aesthetics

28 March 2023 by Clark Leave a Comment

For the LDA debate this month, Ruth Clark talked to Matt Richter and I about aesthetics in learning. Ruth, you should know, is the co-author of eLearning and the Science of Instruction, amongst other books, a must-have which leverages Rich Mayer’s work on multimedia learning. Thus, she’s knowledgeable about what the research says. What emerged in the conversation was a problem about tradeoffs in aesthetics, that’s worth exploring.

So, for one thing, we know that gratuitous media interferes with learning. From John Sweller’s work on cognitive load theory, we know that processing the unnecessary data reduces cognitive resources available to support learning. There’s usually enough load just with the learning materials. Unless the material materially supports learning, it should be avoided.

On the other hand, we also know that we should contextualize learning. The late John Branford’s work with the Cognitive Technology Group while at Vanderbilt, for instance, demonstrated this. As the late David Jonassen also demonstrated with his problem-based learning, we retain and transfer better with concrete problems. Thus, creating a concrete setting for applying the knowledge is of benefit to learning.

What this sets up, of course, is a tradeoff. That is, we want to use aesthetics to help communicate the context, but we want to keep them minimal. How do we do this? Even text (which is a medium), can be extraneous. There really is only one true response. We have to create our first best guess, and then we test. The testing doesn’t have to be to the level of scientific rigor, mind you. Even if it just passes the scrutiny of fellow team members, it can be the right choice, though ideally we run it by learners.

What we have to fight is those who want to tart it up. There will be folks who want more aesthetics. We have to push back against that, particularly if we think it interferes with learning. We need to ensure that what’re producing doesn’t violate what’s known. It’s not always easy, and in situations we may not always win, but we have to be willing to give it a go.

There are tradeoffs in aesthetics, so we have to know what matters. Ultimately, it’s about the learning outcomes. Thus, focusing on the minimum contextualization, and the maximum learning, is likely to get us to a good first draft. Then, let’s see if we can’t check. Right?

Time is the biggest problem?

21 March 2023 by Clark 1 Comment

In conversations, I’ve begun to suspect that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, problem facing designers wishing to do truly good, deep, design, is client expectations. That is, a belief that if we’re provided with the appropriate information, we can crank out a solution. Why, don’t you just distribute the information across the screen and add a quiz? While there are myriad problems, such as lack of knowledge of how learning works, etc, folks seem to think you can turn around a course in two weeks. Thus, I’m led to ponder if time is the biggest problem.

In the early days of educational technology, it was considered technically difficult. Thus, teams worked on instantiations: instructional designers, media experts, technologists. Moreover, they tested, refined, and retested. Over time, the tools got better. You still had teams, but things could go faster. You could create a draft solution pretty quickly, with rapid tools. However, when people saw the solutions, they were satisfied. It looks like content and quizzes, which is what school is, and that’s learning, right? Without understanding the nuances, it’s hard to tell well-produced learning from well-designed and well-produced learning. Iteration and testing fell away.

Now, folks believe that with a rapid tool and content, you can churn out learning by turning the handle. Put content into the hopper, and out comes courses. This was desirable from a cost-efficiency standpoint. This gets worse when we fail to measure impact. If we’re just asking people whether they like it, we don’t really know if it’s working. There’s no basis to iterate! (BTW, the correlation for learner assessment of learning quality, and the actual quality, is essentially zero.)

For the record, an information dump and knowledge test is highly unlikely to lead to any significant change in behavior (which is what learning we are trying to accomplish). We need is meaningful practice, and to get that right requires a first draft, and fine tuning. We know this, and yet we struggle to find time and resources to do it, because of expectations.

These expectations of speed, and unrealistic beliefs in quality, create a barrier to actually achieving meaningful outcomes. If folks aren’t willing to pay for the time and effort to do it right, and they’re not looking at outcomes, they will continue to believe that what they’re spending isn’t a waste.

I’ve argued before that what might make the biggest impact is measurement. That is, we should be looking to address some measurable problem in the org and not stop until we have addressed it. With that, it becomes easier to show that the quick solutions aren’t having the needed impact. We need evidence to support making the change, but I reckon we also need to raise awareness. If we want to change perception, and the situation, we need to ensure that others know time is the biggest problem. Do you agree?

Process and Product

14 March 2023 by Clark Leave a Comment

Of late, I’ve been talking a fair bit about my take on learning experience design (LXD). To me, it’s the elegant integration of learning science with engagement. Of course, I’m biased, as my two most recent books are specifically to those ends! I don’t claim it’s automatic, but I do believe that with practice, it gets easier. You need to address both process and product, of course.

Our goals are, ultimately, to achieve learning outcomes, typically retention and transfer. That is, retaining skills over time ’til needed and transferring to all appropriate (and no inappropriate) situations. This requires, cognitively, sufficient practice and an appropriate spread of contexts. Emotionally, it requires an initial hook and then maintaining commitment through the experience via relevant activities.

I’ve been running a workshop with my partner, Upside Learning, on the ‘missing bits’. That is, the fine tuning that takes what you normally do in ID and fills in the extra steps that will successfully provide the integration. It’s been great for stress-testing the workshop (stay tuned!), and extremely insightful. I get to hear what these smart and experienced folks are realizing in their own practices, and what they’re struggling to change. That’s my goal, of course: to help them bake learning science and engagement into their processes and products.

One of the concerns, not surprisingly, is that it takes more time. That includes upfront analysis (which clients can also resist). Then it requires a bit more thought on designing practice and winnowing content. Finally, it should be iterative. I’m not the only one focusing on the latter, of course. However, I argue that it ultimately really doesn’t take that much more time, but there will be a speed bump until the new way of thinking becomes automatic.

Still, it will require adjusting how we develop, to impact what we develop. Process and product are linked at the wrist and ankles. Understanding the underlying principles, the learning science and engagement integration, is a necessary foundation. That’s my take, I welcome yours.

I’ll be offering a free webinar with Training Magazine Network on the core principles of LXD on Wednesday March 22 at 9AM PT (noon ET). I note that if there’s a conflict, they’ll make the recording available afterwards if you register. I welcome seeing you there!

What to do?

7 March 2023 by Clark 2 Comments

Let me suggest that one of the biggest gaps in our thinking is about doing. Too often, we think about ‘learning’ as the end goal, and it’s not. (I’ve gone as far as suggesting we rename L&D!) We need to rethink and ask about doing, not learning; we need to ask about people: what to do?

To start with, for organizational needs we don’t learn for intellectual self-gratification. (Though, too often, it seems that way: ‘awareness’ courses continue to perplex me. What possible organizational value will they achieve?) Instead, there should be identified gaps that are targeted because remedying them will improve outcomes.

There’s a whole process of analysis that starts with looking at gaps between ideal and real performance. Where are we lacking? Then, for any particular gap, we look for the root cause: is it a lack of skill, lack of knowledge, lack of resources, lack of motivation, … ? This up front work keeps us from using training to address a misalignment between incentives and desired behavior, for instance. Training isn’t going to keep people from doing things that are in their best interest! (And rightly so.)

Then, when we identify the root cause, we can target the appropriate intervention. Not all interventions may be within L&D’s purview, of course. We design courses. We could also be the ones who design performance support and facilitate informal learning (who better?). Of course, we shouldn’t be responsible for hiring or resourcing or compensation; at least not without a job description and skilling rethink. Our organizations deserve to invest in things that will move important needles.

This all is a shift to a focus on performance, on doing, not learning. While there are a variety of terms, this, to me, falls under the label ‘performance consulting’. It starts by asking “what should people be doing?” With the caveat that they aren’t doing now, or are doing wrongly. Then we ask “why?” Finally, we’re ready to design a solution. We’re focusing on outcomes. If it’s skills, it has to be in the head; and learning’s involved. If it’s knowledge, if it has to be in the head, learning can be involved, otherwise we should put it in the world. And so on.

My intent here is to suggest focusing on performance, not learning or knowing. That makes a better focus for investment, and is easier to recognize when it’s been remedied. So, what to do? Focus on performance first. Determine if a learning solution is your best choice, before you invest in it. Otherwise, you could be throwing money away. If you’ve got money to throw away, I can help ;), but I’d rather help you use it wisely.

The Learning Development Accelerator is running a mini-conference on performance consulting. It’s four half-days of immersion in the topics, with some of the top folks in the field. All with the usual focus on evidence-based practices. If you want to start doing L&D right, it’s a good start!