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11. Techniques that maximise learning

• Learning involves the whole mind and body (and soul)
• Learning is creation, not consumption
• Collaboration aids learning
• Learning takes place on many levels simultaneously
• Learning comes from doing the work itself (with feedback)
• Positive emotions greatly improve learning
• The brain absorbs visual information more readily and quickly.

Motivate

Motivation is critical, especially at the beginning of the training. Adults need to know how the training will benefit them. If they don’t understand this, they won’t learn.

In order to motivate participants, facilitators need to take every opportunity to:

• Establish a rapport
• Create an open, friendly training atmosphere
• Keep stress low
• Challenge participants but not frustrate them
• Ensure that participants can relate the material to their own work and life.

Students can learn effectively and independently when they are interested in what they are learning. However, much of classroom learning is often perceived as uninteresting, which makes the learning process more difficult.

Making learning more interesting, meaningful and active is a real challenge to trainers. In fact, this is the major purpose of Train the Trainer courses and is one of the more difficult aspects of good course design.

Reinforce

Throughout the training, instructors need to encourage and reinforce. The instructor must reward good behaviour – however small – positively and frequently. Rewards don’t have to be physical. Simply saying “good job” or “thanks for that input” means a lot to an adult learner.

Repeat

Repetition is a cornerstone of learning. People need to hear something at least three times before they learn it.

That’s why the process for teaching a skill is to: 1. arouse interest (Preparation) 2. explain it or show it (Presentation) 3. have the learners do it (Practice) 4. have learners do it in a real-world situation (Performance)

Use the senses

The greater the combination of our senses that are stimulated in learning, the more successful the learning is likely to be. For example, it is estimated that we learn:

• 10% of what we read
• 20% of what we hear
• 30% of what we see
• 40% of what we see and hear
• 50% of what we discuss
• 70% of what we experience
• 90% of what we teach

Recognise the learning curve

Learning is a continuous process, but it does not progress at the same rate. For example, when you start to learn something new, there is often little progress for a while, then you are likely to experience a spurt in learning when you seem to learn quite a lot quickly.

However, you then often experience a plateau in your learning when little progress seems to be made, even though you are working just as hard as before. At this time you are consolidating what you already have learned but it can be a very frustrating period. Usually sustained effort is needed to create a new learning spurt.

It is good to help students understand that these spurts and plateaus in their learning are normal and that with persistence they will again see progress. This will help them to maintain their confidence and motivation when experiencing plateaus in learning.

Don’t abuse the attention span

Attention plays a crucial role in learning. Without good attention, learning is likely to partial and ineffective. Of course, our ability to maintain attention is greater if we are motivated. In a typical lesson where the instructor is doing all the talking our attention tends to fall off quickly.

The implications of this for teaching are very important. It shows that long periods of talk by the instructor, without opportunities for student participation, are likely to be ineffective as a method of teaching. This is a typical mistake made by instructors who think that more input by them equals more learning. This is clearly shown to be incorrect. Your own experience of being a student will fully bear this out.

Avoid long presentations. Break up long presentations with quick activities such as getting participants to quickly recap the most important points they have heard, or, ask if they can anticipate what is coming next or in pairs, to share any questions they want answered in the following part of the presentation.

Encourage the effective use of memory

How memory works

It is useful to think of our memory systems as possessing two interrelated components: 1. A short-term memory system (STM),which can only cope with approximately seven bits of information at one go. 2. A long term memory system (LTM), which has almost an infinite capacity for storing information. This contains all the information we can recall.

The effective transfer of information from STM to LTM is crucial for the acquisition of knowledge. In order to achieve this transfer, it is essential that the information makes sense to the learner (is meaningful); is in manageable chunks (around seven bits); is organised; and is sufficiently rehearsed (repeated a number of times until easily recalled).

How forgetting occurs

There are a number of theories concerning forgetting. Most important for our purpose as instructors is that over 60% of factual information will be lost within 48 hours if there is no subsequent rehearsal or review of what was learned. Skills and understanding are much more resistant to forgetting. For example, once you learn to swim, it is unlikely that you will ever forget how to swim, even if you do not swim for many years.

The more information is reviewed in the first day or so after it is ‘learned’, the more likely is the chance of it becoming established in long term memory.

Implications for teaching and learning

It is good to remind students of these basic principles of memory. This will save them making the typical mistake of trying to memorise too much too quickly. From the point of view of teaching, we must recognise that if we speak for long periods, there is little likelihood that much in formation will actually be memorised. It is important to keep information well organised and allow students time to digest the content, either through question an answer sessions or follow-up activities.

Tips on helping people to remember content

• Keep the attention of your participants especially when you are making key points
• Prepare people before you introduce information by asking thought provoking questions which makes them engage with the material before hearing any specific content
• Ask questions throughout the training which make participants recall the content, summarise and demonstrate content in different ways. Have quick quizzes.
• Use case studies to help participants apply information in different ways
• Use repetition and reinforcement by asking people to rephrase, discuss or create graphics, for example.
• Ask what have been the most important points (one per participant)
• Draw out discussion so that participants come to the key points themselves rather than being told what they are.
• Show similarities and associations with other relevant aspects or topics.
• Use different ways to show or draw out information
• Use a variety of materials and teaching tools
• Make sure people are relaxed and have had enough pauses
• Summarise the key points at the end.

Accommodate different learning styles

As individuals we have our own characteristic ways of processing information, feeling and behaving in learning situations. In basic terms this means that while all of us learn through acquiring knowledge, thinking and doing, we have different approaches and preferences in terms of how we do these activities.

One area of research has shown that there can be significant differences in the ways in which people approach a learning task. For example, some people will try to get an overall picture or understanding of the task before they focus on more specific details and linkages. In contrast, other people will approach the task in a more sequential manner, making linkages gradually and methodically, and only building up to an understanding of the overall task much later in the learning process. The most effective learners seem to be able to adopt both of these styles simultaneously and in a versatile manner.

Some people clearly have preferences in terms of the way they best learn:

• visual - seeing pictures, words, diagrams
• auditory - listening to explanations
• tactile - actually doing the activity

There are important implications in different learning styles for the ways in which we teach. These differences clearly suggest the need for learning to involve the range of senses and provide many different ways in which learners can go about their learning.

Of course, it is not possible for instructors to cater for all preferences all the time. However, it serves as a reminder to use a range of instruction methods and provide a variety of learning sources for students whenever possible.

Ensure effective feedback

A trainer should give feedback to participants frequently throughout the course. It is reassuring and helps offer guidance. Later in this guide we will talk more about ways to give useful feedback and even ways to get feedback for your own training.