Would it surprise you even more to learn that, despite the perceived importance of increasing

engagement in learning initiatives, this same study revealed that L&D professionals only spend

“15% of their time promoting their programs?” Understandably, solid instructional design and

memorable delivery often occupy our efforts, frustratingly leaving little room for marketing considerations. 

Designing and delivering an engaging learning experience is an effective way of keeping people in the virtual learning experience once they've started, but getting people to enroll and attend in the first place is a matter of motivation.

Motivation is an entirely different animal than engagement, and as learning professionals, it's our responsibility to "set the stage" such that learners show up ready to engage. 

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. 

Picture this: you’re facilitating a live training session for your organization, and it comes time to ask for learner input. You open the floor for contributions with the common phrase, “A penny for your thoughts?”

And you get crickets. Your previously lively cohort goes silent. Some participants look utterly confused.

What happened? Your figure of speech may have confused your global learners.

When designing and delivering content, we need to balance five elements of the learner experience: technology, design, people, place, and time.

In order to achieve this balance, we need to focus on the learner experience. We need to define and leverage how learning is structured, including when it is taking place, where it is taking place, and how it is being delivered.

This is the first part of our guest blogger Susan Bassett's two-part blog post. The second post will be published Tuesday, February 27, 2018.

I’ve been presenting online since 2001. I’ve always felt a certain sense of excitement when working with top-notch trainers and producers in creating active, energetic online sessions. Terrific online professionals make choices about how they present which results in transforming distracted, impatient, and overwhelmed attendees into engaged learners. (Bersin). Ask dynamic, effective online trainers what their “secret sauce” is and you’ll hear about presence, energy, passion and courage. And now, comes the best part, they are more than willing to share.

You are probably familiar with the premise that most of the learning we do is informal.

According to Training Industry:

The 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development is a commonly used formula within the training profession to describe the optimal sources of learning by successful managers. It holds that individuals obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events.

Of course, we know this is just a guideline. The real numbers -- if there are real numbers -- will always vary based on the learning material being taught, the types of interactions our learners have with that material, the characteristics of each individual learner, and how motivated they are to learn.

BYTE Session Recap 

We live in a VUCA world. We manage a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous environment every day at work. How do we motivate ourselves (and our learners) to build our skills when we feel stressed about the certainty of our jobs, teams, and organizations?

Marjorie Derven of HUDSON Research & Consulting argues emotional intelligence holds the key.

BYTE session attendees agreed, having seen the evidence during Marjorie’s recent live learning event. This blog defines emotional intelligence and how we can leverage it for improved learning.

Watch Marjorie’s entire BYTE session recording for guidance on identifying personal stress triggers, the impact of emotions on us professionally, and a five-step process to navigate change.

When designing learning for virtual classrooms or a blended learning program, one of your primary missions is to capture and maintain the attention of your learners. 

This can be challenging in a space that is still new to many learners. Think about it: we are asking somebody to sit at a computer for one or more hours, and focus only on the content being taught.

It’s a little like putting a kid in an arcade with a bucket full of free quarters nearby and asking him to sit at a table and play Checkers with you. There are so many things calling to that person sitting at the computer: email, a newly downloaded phone app, streaming cat videos, etc.

Monday

4:00 p.m.
Tomorrow I will be a virtual learner for the first time. I install the virtual classroom software for tomorrow’s course without a problem. Or so I think. As I work through the setup wizard, I realize I forgot to order a headset from the training department.

I leave a voicemail with the training office asking whether they have an extra headset that I can borrow. As a backup plan, I put the software and laptop in my bag and go shopping for a replacement headset. If I find one, I can test the audio at home. I guess it will be fast food for dinner.