T&D is now at the point the medical profession was ion the early 1800s
Ruth Clark isn’t under any illusion that we know all there is to know about learning. Far from it.
In her view, the training profession is today where medicine was in the early 1800s — mixing science and hocus-pocus, selling concoctions on hype and hope but, in small numbers, starting to sort out what works and what doesn’t by testing methods for replicable results.
Though the body of research is still small, it has been growing, particularly in the area of cognitive psychology, said Clark. As keynote speaker at this month’s annual Knowledge Exchange in Toronto, an industry conference organized by the Canadian Society for Training and Development, Clark sees it as her job to rally practitioners to apply science in the training they deliver.
“Sometimes clients ask for the craziest thing, and I would be remiss if I didn’t explain to them that while I can give them what they want, it might not give them the results they’re looking for,” said Clark.
She sympathizes with training practitioners, particularly those who do not have the luxury to turn down a job they know will turn out bad. Too often the client has unrealistic time and cost expectations, said Clark. No matter how skilled the trainer, if they have to put out an e-learning program for the proverbial deadline of last week, they’ll have little choice but to discard research and throw together a PowerPoint presentation full of bullet points.
No bells or whistles, please
All e-learning courses should be designed with an appreciation of the limits of working memory, she said. Working memory can handle between five and nine items at a time, and if a learner takes in too much too fast, working memory fails. Also, working memory processes information on two separate channels — visual and phonetic — and using both channels at once helps improve learning.
Hence, adding pictures to text helps people learn. But adding irrelevant images and sounds to pep up a lesson — what Clark calls “the Las Vegas approach” — only taxes the limited capacity of working memory and impedes learning. Likewise, audio narration works well when paired up with relevant images; but keeping the visuals and duplicating narration with written text is distracting, Clark explained in her keynote address.
In an interview with Canadian HR Reporter, Clark added that there remains much that we don’t know — such as how people learn in collaborative settings. But while discovering the science behind learning can be a challenge, effectively applying what’s already discovered is just as important.
Raising standards and improving awareness are two themes that will come up again in another workplace training conference at the end of the month. Michael Bloom, director of education and learning at the Conference Board of Canada and a speaker at the Workplace Education and Learning Conference in Toronto, said Canada needs a training strategy — one that targets workers most at risk of being sidelined, said Bloom.
A national plan
To date, he noted, a large portion of training goes to those who are highly skilled and in positions of high responsibility.
“I’m not against executive training at all,” said Bloom. “But executives only make up a tiny percentage of the working population in Canada. It’s the workers in service roles or entry-level jobs or professional jobs that make up by far the largest component of the workforce. And they should be getting a far, far bigger portion of the training investment.”
For training to be effective, it has to be a responsibility shared by the employee, the employer and the state. Given the relatively low level of spending per employee at Canadian businesses, and the restricted access to Employment Insurance as a state-sponsored training fund, the tab is currently picked up by workers for the most part. Businesses can do more, but by and large employers will invest only in training for job-specific skills or training that’s legally required, said Bloom.
To help integrate new immigrants into the workforce, said Bloom, the country needs a plan to round out newcomers’ technical know-how with training on how to work in Canadian settings.
Canada also needs a strategy to identify industries in decline and to help workers in such industries move into jobs that are viable in the long-term, he said.
“And we should then approach the workers with the plan so that people aren’t reacting to plant closures and the disappearance of jobs. So that people can say, ‘I’m in a sector in high decline and I will take training and training is available.’”
In her view, the training profession is today where medicine was in the early 1800s — mixing science and hocus-pocus, selling concoctions on hype and hope but, in small numbers, starting to sort out what works and what doesn’t by testing methods for replicable results.
Though the body of research is still small, it has been growing, particularly in the area of cognitive psychology, said Clark. As keynote speaker at this month’s annual Knowledge Exchange in Toronto, an industry conference organized by the Canadian Society for Training and Development, Clark sees it as her job to rally practitioners to apply science in the training they deliver.
“Sometimes clients ask for the craziest thing, and I would be remiss if I didn’t explain to them that while I can give them what they want, it might not give them the results they’re looking for,” said Clark.
She sympathizes with training practitioners, particularly those who do not have the luxury to turn down a job they know will turn out bad. Too often the client has unrealistic time and cost expectations, said Clark. No matter how skilled the trainer, if they have to put out an e-learning program for the proverbial deadline of last week, they’ll have little choice but to discard research and throw together a PowerPoint presentation full of bullet points.
No bells or whistles, please
All e-learning courses should be designed with an appreciation of the limits of working memory, she said. Working memory can handle between five and nine items at a time, and if a learner takes in too much too fast, working memory fails. Also, working memory processes information on two separate channels — visual and phonetic — and using both channels at once helps improve learning.
Hence, adding pictures to text helps people learn. But adding irrelevant images and sounds to pep up a lesson — what Clark calls “the Las Vegas approach” — only taxes the limited capacity of working memory and impedes learning. Likewise, audio narration works well when paired up with relevant images; but keeping the visuals and duplicating narration with written text is distracting, Clark explained in her keynote address.
In an interview with Canadian HR Reporter, Clark added that there remains much that we don’t know — such as how people learn in collaborative settings. But while discovering the science behind learning can be a challenge, effectively applying what’s already discovered is just as important.
Raising standards and improving awareness are two themes that will come up again in another workplace training conference at the end of the month. Michael Bloom, director of education and learning at the Conference Board of Canada and a speaker at the Workplace Education and Learning Conference in Toronto, said Canada needs a training strategy — one that targets workers most at risk of being sidelined, said Bloom.
A national plan
To date, he noted, a large portion of training goes to those who are highly skilled and in positions of high responsibility.
“I’m not against executive training at all,” said Bloom. “But executives only make up a tiny percentage of the working population in Canada. It’s the workers in service roles or entry-level jobs or professional jobs that make up by far the largest component of the workforce. And they should be getting a far, far bigger portion of the training investment.”
For training to be effective, it has to be a responsibility shared by the employee, the employer and the state. Given the relatively low level of spending per employee at Canadian businesses, and the restricted access to Employment Insurance as a state-sponsored training fund, the tab is currently picked up by workers for the most part. Businesses can do more, but by and large employers will invest only in training for job-specific skills or training that’s legally required, said Bloom.
To help integrate new immigrants into the workforce, said Bloom, the country needs a plan to round out newcomers’ technical know-how with training on how to work in Canadian settings.
Canada also needs a strategy to identify industries in decline and to help workers in such industries move into jobs that are viable in the long-term, he said.
“And we should then approach the workers with the plan so that people aren’t reacting to plant closures and the disappearance of jobs. So that people can say, ‘I’m in a sector in high decline and I will take training and training is available.’”
