The past month has been a rich learning experience that has caused me to pause and look closer at the idea of learning transfer and performance support. This has led me to ask, where does your instruction on a topic stop? Should it be at the classroom door or weeks later, once the learner has demonstrated proficiency? Do we support the learner enough once they have left the classroom? Have we done our job if we do not ensure they can demonstrate proficiency weeks after the lesson?
What Sparked My Interest
This line of thought originated at a recent American Society for Training and Development conference I attended. During this conference, I sat in on several fascinating sessions. During the sessions, folks like Tony Bingham and Bob Mosher talked about extending the classroom and providing performance support through mobile devices. Andrew Jefferson and Cal Wick talked about performance support and learning transfer using tools, job aids, and checklists.
The sessions resonated with me so deeply that I felt compelled to pick up some books to learn more. If you are interested in this topic, I recommend you read The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande; The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results by Calhoun W. Wick, Roy V. H. Pollock, and Andy Jefferson; Job Aids and Performance Support: Moving From Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere by Allison Rossett and Lisa Schafer; and Designing mLearning: Tapping into the Mobile Revolution for Organizational Performance by Clark N. Quinn.
Planning for Learning Transfer
Here are some takeaways I picked up regarding learning transfer.
The discussion of learning transfer was a central topic of the conference. It seems we do a good job of training. However, we need to improve how we ensure learning transfer has occurred. Wick and Jefferson stressed improving instruction from the very beginning with the invitation to the training session. In the invitation, clearly explain what benefits the learner will gain, what advantages the organization will receive, and what the learner should transfer. They recommend providing a timeline for the complete experience. This includes the time when learners are at their office. Training doesn’t end with the completion of the formal session but should extend through a learning transfer period. One of the more novel thoughts was changing the course completion certificate from a certificate of completion to a certificate of commencement. The certificate of completion demonstrates that the trainee completed the training. Home Depot hands out certificates and trophies only when learners report back on how they improved operations based on the training.
Educators can also support learning transfer by providing support content in both push and pull formats. With pull formats, learners visit your content and download it. With push content, you send it to learners. For example, it is possible to schedule email messages to go out to trainees at regular intervals, reminding them or encouraging them to work on different tasks. Finally, the organisation must provide training and support to managers and supervisors. Basically, everyone stressed that organization leadership had to have buy-in and be directly involved or learning was going to suffer.
Providing Performance Support
I believe closely related to the idea of learning transfer is the idea of performance support; a key piece being mobile support. Performance support can take the shape of planners, job aids, checklists, or software help screens. These performance support aids can be print or digital depending on the need.
Expect to see an increased emphasis on mobile learning in the coming years. Mobile learning in the United States is on the rise. There were 1.6 billion mobile devices sold in 2010. Learners spend more time outside of the classroom, but only 15% of organizations provide support for mobile learning. Mobile devices are so important that business leaders would rather lose their wallet than their phone.
“You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know.” ~ Papert
Mobile learning should support formal and informal learning before, during, and after a learning session. Mobile learning is a great tool to augment learning and tasks. Checklists are an example. Learners should use performance support aids throughout the entire lesson, from start to finish, to apply them outside of the classroom.
Mosher points out that there are five moments of need when learners need job aids or performance support. Learners primarily use the first two moments of need in the classroom. However, most learners are using the last three items. Disney, for example, designs for three through five and backfills with one and two.
- When learning for the first time
- When wanting to learn more
- When trying to remember and or apply
- When things change
- When something goes wrong
We should push out reminders, new content, and collaboration opportunities for subscribed learners. We need to be flexible because learners are gathering information through several devices and programs. When people list tools, none of the tools listed are specific learning tools, e.g., Twitter, YouTube, Google, Evernote, etc. However, learners used them for learning.
Designing for Mobile Learning
Clark Quinn, a leader in mobile learning, stresses that the key to supporting mobile learning and mobile support is to design and implement now. We can build native applications, web applications, or both. Quinn recommends starting slowly with pilot projects and then designing for a specific platform. He does not recommend designing courses specifically for mobile devices. Instead, he recommends creating mini-lessons or modularised content.
After listening to others and reading what others had to say, I concluded I needed to do a better job providing performance support. What are your thoughts?
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