Very often you will read or hear about “learner-centric” learning methods.  These articles stress techniques that accommodate the learner’s needs and address expectations of the learner in the learning experience.  One commentator I heard recently likened this to “putting yourself in the shoes of the learner in the learning experience.”

Fair enough as a start – certainly we need to understand how the learning experience is perceived by the learner, but I would argue that in lieu of trying to put yourself in the shoes of the learner you should instead provide a learning experience where everyone’s shoes already fit. 

And how can we measure the effect of engagement of instructional outcomes?

In my previous article, learner engagement was defined as turning on three factors:

• An emotional response to the training—How does the learner “feel” about the content and its presentation/treatment?
• An intellectual response to the training—Does the instructional experience require and involve the learner’s intellect?
• An environmental response to the learning—Do the learners interact with the learning environment and is the environment changed because of the training?

Learner engagement turns on three factors: an emotional response to the training; an intellectual response to the training; and an environmental response to the learning.

Engaging learners has always been a challenge. Not only has training evolved into a blended learning model, the “Modern Classroom” is influenced by multicultural cohorts, a mobile workforce, and social networking tools. Managing these influences and integrating them into a blended program requires planning, training, and understanding from all members of the training delivery team.