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Category: Strategy

Published on Leave a comment on Term of the Week: Cognitive Load

What is it?

The mental effort or workload imposed on a person’s working memory when processing information.

Why is it important?

Understanding cognitive load is crucial for promoting effective learning, decision making, information processing, user experience, productivity, and training outcomes. In the context of learning and development, cognitive load theory provides insights you can apply to instructional design and delivery to improve the learning process.

Why does a business professional need to know this?

Business professionals who understand cognitive load are likely to better understand the work of their team members, especially those who design marketing and communication materials, learning content, instructional products, product design, and more.

There are three types of cognitive load you should know:

  • Intrinsic: The inherent complexity of the learning materials or task itself. Some topics or concepts naturally require more mental effort to understand and process. For example, advanced math equations or intricate scientific theories have a higher intrinsic cognitive load.
  • Extraneous: Mental effort that is not directly relevant to learning or task. Poorly designed materials, irrelevant information, or complicated instructions can increase extraneous cognitive load.
  • Germane: The mental effort required to engage in meaningful activities, make connections, and integrate new knowledge with existing knowledge. This effort enables us to develop a deeper understanding and foster long-term learning.

An understanding of cognitive load, especially understanding how to reduce extraneous cognitive load, can help you create more efficient and effective work processes, ultimately contributing to better outcomes for your organization.

And it can help you and your team design more user-friendly products, optimize training programs, improve decision-making, and facilitate collaboration, both within your team and across the organization.

References

About Phylise Banner

Photo of Phylise Banner

Phylise Banner is a learning experience designer with more than 25 years of vision, action, and leadership experience in transformational learning and development approaches. A pioneer in online learning, she is an Adobe Education Leader, Certified Learning Environment Architect (CLEA), Project Management Professional (PMP), STC Fellow, performance storyteller, avid angler, and aviation enthusiast. She is also the proud owner of a 1967 Amphicar.

Term: Cognitive Load

Email: pbanner@gmail.com

Website: phylisebanner.com

Twitter: @phylisebanner

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/phylisebanner

Published on Leave a comment on Term of the Week: Coaching

What is it?

The practice of a trusted individual providing guidance and oversight to support the development of another individual.

Why is it important?

Virtually every successful professional, in any field, has benefited from some form of coaching. It’s essential for any organization interested in the development of its people and leaders to understand the role of effective coaching.

Why does a business professional need to know this?

Coaches are most commonly associated with sports, providing athletes and teams direction toward the goal of winning a game. Some professional athletes employ multiple coaches, each of whom brings a specific expertise such as skill development, diet and nutrition, strength and conditioning, or sports psychology.

The principle of coaching is tried and true and can fully apply in the workplace to help professionals better perform their responsibilities as well as grow in capacity to expand the impact they make on the business.

To be an effective coach, you need to recognize that people need objective feedback, mentorship, and accountability. It is difficult for humans to see outside themselves to have a clear assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. We all have blind spots that impair our personal development and progress.

An effective coach develops a rapport with an individual to provide a framework of development, choosing specific skills or attributes to improve on within a specific timeframe. Coaching in the workplace can be formal or informal, and the coach can be a professionally trained coach, a skilled and caring manager, or a trusted colleague.

Often, organizations will develop a centralized coaching framework to ensure consistent coaching methods throughout their workforce. Many times, this includes training on how to be an effective coach.

In short, if business professionals are genuinely vested in the success of their people, they will do well to have coaching be a vital part of their learning and development infrastructure and culture(Deloitte 2020).

References

About Vincent Han

Photo of Vincent Han

Vince Han is the founder and CEO of Mobile Coach and a frequent speaker at conferences such as Training Conference, DevLearn, FocusOn, Online Learning, ATDTK and others. He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Vince is an industry thought-leader for learning and learning technology with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and chatbot technology. Vince has founded several successful technology companies and resides in Utah.

Term: Coaching

Email: vince@mobilecoach.com

Website: mobilecoach.com

Twitter: @vincehan

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vincehan/

Published on Leave a comment on Term of the Week: Blended Learning

What is it?

A type of learning (also called hybrid learning) that combines appropriate technology with one or more traditional instructional, technical, organizational, or delivery components to present content that supports learners and raises their levels of engagement and achievement.

Why is it important?

Blended learning provides a framework that combines instructional technologies with traditional educational techniques to provide solutions for modern learners working in a business climate that’s increasingly mobile, global, and reliant on collaborative social technologies.

Why does a business professional need to know this?

Today, most learning is blended learning. Learning initiatives include some combination of live learning and self-directed learning, supported by resources like infographics, videos, and eLearning. But modern blended learning is more than sequencing different media and activities that happen to be related by topic.

It is about aligning learning objects with the most appropriate instructional strategies, techniques, and technologies while meeting the needs of the organization and modern learners. When designed and implemented effectively, blended learning is powerful. It creates individual resources that support formal, planned learning events, and supports every informal moment of learning need(Gottfredson and Mosher). An added benefit is that resources are no longer shelved or filed after the learning management system (LMS) has indicated completion; instead, they become crucial references and tools that learners can use after the instructional program has ended.

Blended learning supports enhanced outreach to learners while connecting workforces that are globally dispersed, working virtually, and always on the go. Blended learning resources are accessible to learners at the time and place of their convenience, as well as accommodating individuals with sight, hearing, and mobility impairments. Thus, blended learning makes your talent development initiatives more inclusive.

Blended learning also enables more authentic learning, by allowing individuals to learn, recall, and apply what they’ve learned when and where they need the content and perform their work. Blended learning campaigns provide the ability to create personal learning paths, allowing individuals to assess their own needs and make informed decisions about how and what to learn.

Excerpted from Blended Learning(Hofmann, 2018).

References

  • (Hofmann 2018) Blended Learning: Hoffman, Jennifer. (February 2018). Association for Talent Development. ISBN: 978-1-562860981.
  • (Farah 2019) Blended Learning Built on Teacher Expertise: Farah, Kareem. (May 2019). Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation.
  • (Gottfredson and Mosher) The 5 Moments of Need : Gottfredson, Conrad and Bob Mosher. Website with resources describing the training methodology based on five moments of need.

About Jennifer Hofmann

Photo of Jennifer Hofmann

Jennifer Hofmann is a renowned leader in virtual live learning best practices and services. Her company, InSync Training, was recognized by Inc. 500/500 as one of the highest growth professional learning and development companies five times in the last decade and is known within the training industry for its innovative training solutions. InSync perfected virtual live instruction as a methodology decades before the pandemic and continues to dominate that sector through intensive research, specialized instructional design, innovative instructional techniques, and proven content development practices.

Term: Blended Learning

Email: jennifer@insynctraining.com

Website: insynctraining.com/

Twitter: @InSyncJennifer

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jennifer-hofmann-dye/

Published on Leave a comment on Term of the Week: Behaviorism

What is it?

A theory of learning based on the idea that all sources of behavior are external (in the environment), not internal (in the mind, in the head). Also known as Behavioral Learning Theory.

Why is it important?

Behavioral learning theory shows us how to leverage important factors such as repetition, positive reinforcement, and motivation to achieve better results from the learning initiatives we employ. The biggest advantage of a behavioral approach to learning is that it focuses on observable, measurable behaviors, making it useful for modifying behaviors in the real world.

Why does a business professional need to know this?

Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are learned through conditioning, (interaction with the environment) and can be described and explained without needing to reference mental events or internal psychological processes.

According to this theory, anyone, regardless of their background, can be trained to act in a particular way given the right conditioning. In short, behavior is a response to environmental stimuli.

Basic assumptions:

  • Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like emotions and thinking.
  • Behavior is the result of stimulus-response (i.e., all behavior, no matter how complex, is reduced to a stimulus-response relationship).
  • Behavior is determined by the environment (e.g., conditioning, nurture).

The birth of behaviorism traces back to the work of John B. Watson in the early 1900s(Hauser). Watson believed that objective analysis of the mind was impossible. He was a major proponent of shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior. This approach of observing and influencing behavior by focusing on observable, quantifiable events became known as behaviorism.

Behavioral learning theory helps someone who designs learning programs to apply appropriate instructional strategies to achieve results aligned with the needs of the audience and goals of the organization.

Learning is central to the success of every organization. Every business professional can benefit from understanding and applying principles, such as behaviorism, that make the learning process as efficient and effective as possible.

References

About Jillian Powers

Photo of Jillian Powers

Jillian Powers, PhD, is an assistant professor of instructional technology at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for the College of Education. She earned her PhD in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in instructional technology from FAU in 2014. Dr. Powers teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in instructional technology and design. Her research focuses on teachers’ adoption and integration of technology, preparing pre-service teachers to integrate technology, and STEM education. In 2019, she was selected to be an FAU Woman Leader in STEM.

Term: Behaviorism

Email: jrpowers@fau.edu

Published on Leave a comment on Term of the Week: Adaptive Learning

What is it?

The purposeful use of data, technology and content to modify a person’s learning and support experience to address their proven individual needs.

Why is it important?

Scale is one of the biggest challenges facing modern learning and development (L&D) teams. It doesn’t matter if you’re a team of one or one thousand. It’s almost impossible to meet the changing needs of each individual you support. Unfortunately, this lack of time and resources often results in the delivery of generic, one-size-fits-all training that fails to meet anyone’s needs. Adaptive learning helps L&D overcome this obstacle through the strategic blend of modern data and technology practices. Adaptive learning systems adjust the learning experience to focus on each person’s timely needs. This may include tactics such as sequencing the delivery of digital content based on a person’s profile, reinforcing topics with which a person is struggling and nudging a person towards an additional learning opportunity based on their stated interests or goals.

Why does a business professional need to know this?

Adaptive learning uses tools like data analytics, algorithms, and artificial intelligence to present the specific content a learner needs to complete right now, based on what is occurring in the business or on the job.

A fundamental contradiction challenges modern business: agility is essential for maintaining pace with the ever-changing nature of work. Therefore, people must always be learning and developing to meet the present and future needs of the organization. At the same time, these same people are time-starved, feel overworked, and possibly lack the resources they need to do their jobs.

So, to keep the organization moving forward it is incumbent upon learning and development teams to be highly effective in presenting learning content that is economical and efficient. One way to do this is to make adaptive learning methods part of the workplace learning strategy. By applying the latest approaches to data, technology, and content, staff receives the learning and development support they need—​when and where they need it.

Adaptive learning takes a variety of forms. For example:

  • Resource recommendations
  • Suggested reading or references
  • Coaching guidance
  • Targeted reinforcement
  • Structured activities, such as challenges, scenarios, simulations.

Adaptive learning not only reduces the time an individual spends, by recognizing and leveraging their existing capabilities, it also adapts the learning experience to the individual. Adaptive learning is designed to identify and close knowledge gaps quickly, promote engagement, and scale development in ways that were previously impossible. Note: adaptive learning might also coincide with learners’ preferred method(s) for learning. See learner preference and personalized learning

References

About JD Dillon

Photo of JD Dillon

JD Dillon is a veteran talent development leader, former Disney cast member and dedicated Back to the Future aficionado. He became a learning and performance expert over two decades working in operations and talent management with dynamic organizations, including The Walt Disney Company, Kaplan and AMC. A respected international speaker and author of The Modern Learning Ecosystem, JD continues to apply his passion for helping people do their best work every day in his roles as Axonify's Chief Learning Architect and founder of LearnGeek, an insights and advisory practice.

Term: Adaptive Learning

Email: jd@learngeek.co

Website: learngeek.co

Twitter: @JD_Dillon

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jddillon/