When people start a new job or position I think it is safe to say that they usually dread what is about to come, the training. Often times the training is boring, dry, and not very engaging. So how do you get more engagement from your learners? Having engaged learners can result in better learning, more motivation to complete activities, and ultimately better producing results. Why is it important to have better learning engagement? When a learner becomes disengaged it can cause negative feelings of hopelessness, lack of motivation, passive learning, and resentment. When an employee becomes disengaged it can have some seriously negative impacts within the company which usually result in a higher turn-over rate. Let’s take a dive into this post to see some tips and tricks to gain better learning engagement to avoid disengagement.
Analyze Your Learner’s Needs
In a corporate training environment, it can be hard to accommodate everyone learning type in the training you are doing. There are 4 different types of learners. Auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and reading/writing learners. For visual learners they learn best by seeing the information, they also usually need more time to process the information. Auditory learners learn best by accompanying the training with sound. Whether that is a slide show, a movie, or having things verbally explained to them. Auditory learners are best engaged by keeping them involved in the training. Ask them questions, ask them to repeat an overview of the learning, auditory learners can find it hard to keep quiet for long periods of time. Kinesthetic Learners learn the best by doing. Kinesthetic learners like to have a hand on approach in order to grasp the information. Rasmussen University says that once kinesthetic learners can sense what they are studying, any difficult and abstract concepts become better to understand. (Malvik, 2020) Reading/Writing learners learn best by being able to see written words. Different from visual learners though. Reading/Writing learners learn best by reading articles, writing in a diary, and surfing the internet. Even though you may have a class of different learners knowing each person learning style can help you and them to make sure they are retaining and absorbing the information. To help identify what learning style is best suited for your student you can have each person take a test at www.vark-learn.com
Goal Oriented Learning
In short, goals are the outcome that a person is trying to accomplish. Goals can look different for each learner. A goal can be something physical the learner is wanting to accomplish or it can be something within themselves. It is also important to understand why has a person has set that particular goal and what is motivating them to complete it. Some examples of goals set can be: Learning a new skill set, mastering a new task, completing a test, even something as big as getting a promotion. According to Reiser and Dempsey goals can be non-specific and even emotionally based. (Reiser & Dempsey 2018, pg. 80) Goal oriented learning is also directly tied to motivation. Your learners must be motivated to learn the information that is being presented to them. Without that motivation it can cause ill-will feelings, boredom, and the learner can even become distraught and disengaged with the information being presented to them.
How to Avoid Disengaged Learners
Although avoiding disengaged learners can be inevitable, there are some tips and helpful tricks you can do to avoid that. It is important to have courses that will attract learners. Having courses ready that will attract learners will make for a more positive learning experience and will make the learners more eager to learn. Somethings you can do to make your learners more engaged are: keep your tone open and friendly, include introduction and summary sections, use an active voice, and add instructions where necessary. (Georgieva, 2019) We all know that garlic will make vampires keep away, that Frankenstein hates fire, and that monsters only come out at night. Unfortunately, when it comes to disengagement there is no quick fix, or silver-bullet cure all. Many learners and employees will become disengaged when they have a lack of focus, past negative experience, or personal mindsets. (TalentLMS, 2021) You can help break down a person’s barrier by sitting them down and talking with them to get to the root of the problem they are having. Not only that, but making a person feel included, part of a community, and giving them a sense of purpose will also ensure to avoid learner engagement
Positive Effects of Engaged Learners in the Work Place
According to TalentLMS having engaged learners can lower dropout rates, higher retention of knowledge, and improved learner performance. (TalentLMS 2021) More so, the positive affects promote a culture of learning, promote communication and collaboration, triggers work place creativity, boosts employee efficiency, fosters personal development, and provides rewarding experiences. (TalentLMS 2021). Highly engaged learners typically move on to become high performers, active leadership, and have a lesser error ratio. The benefits of having an engaged learner can even go beyond a company stand point. It can help the learner in their home life, relationships, and even school work. It is easy to say that without learners their would no reason for training, but having learners and having them actively engaged is what will take a company and their culture to the next level.
References
Georgieva, V. (2021, May 12). Learners' engagement in corporate training. eLearning Industry. Retrieved October 17, 2021, from https://elearningindustry.com/engagement-in-corporate-training-learners.
The importance of learner engagement on performance. TalentLMS. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2021, from https://www.talentlms.com/ebook/learner-engagement/importance-learner-engagement-performance.
Malvik, C. (2020, August 17). 4 types of learning styles: How to accommodate a diverse group of students. Rasmussen University. Retrieved October 17, 2021, from https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/types-of-learning-styles/.
Hoose, N. A.-V. (n.d.). Educational psychology. Lumen. Retrieved October 17, 2021, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/edpsy/chapter/goal-orientation-theory/.
Hello! I enjoyed reading your post on how to keep learners engaged in the corporate environment. You made a lot of really great points that seem to be universal in design.
Concept 1: Analyze the Learner’s Needs & Learners believe they can succeed
You explained the importance of analyzing the learners needs based off of how they learn best, which aligns with Dempsey & Reiser’s Learning Motivation Principle that learners are more motivated when they believe they can succeed mastering the task (Dempsey & Reiser, 2018.) What I find interesting is the conflicting research behind this- there has been research that indicates that the learning styles may not play as much of a role as some believe, but…
Concept #1 Motivation to learn is promoted when a learner's curiosity is aroused due to a perceived gap in current knowledge
In corporate training, it’s essential to focus on the perceived gaps in knowledge. For instance, working in a field where individuals are constantly transitioning out of their roles, creates gaps in knowledge and the mission. It’s important to consider the type of learner you are creating training for because this can help with ensuring the learner retains the information so that they are able to apply it on the job. The article discusses four different types of learners, auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and reading/writing (Carrillo, 2021). Even though you may have different types of learners it is essential to engage…
Negentropy
Negentropy is the recovery or formation of energy within a system (Carr-Chellman, 2022). Compared with the blog post, negentropy is what instructional designers must do to keep learners engaged, especially in corporate training. Just like running needs analysis to determine what kind of learner each person is, negentropy also takes an analysis by looking at the entropy of a system to determine how the energy is lost. Another aspect of negentropy that the blog post talks about is how the positive effects of learner engagement can create energy by improving performance and increasing knowledge retention—creating a return on investment and energy in the metaphorical terms of energy. As instructional designers, we must take on negentropic behaviors. An example of…
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Corporate training currently has the rap of being seen as dry and one sided when it comes to engagement. Extrinsic motivation is simple to identify as it is tied to the learners employment. In a corporate setting it can be assumed that most of those within the classroom are extrinsically motivated as they are, “in tasks for rewards associated with successful accomplishment” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2006). In the case of corporate training the goal for the learner is to learn a new aspect of their job and for successful employment. Intrinsic motivation is sometimes harder to gauge when it comes to corporate learning. If the trainer is familiar with the employee they can know their personal…
Knowledge is Related to Goals
Goals can be concrete, non-specific, or even emotional (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017). Corporate training can be both required or optional, so the employees’ goals for attending the training and being engaged and focused can vary widely from training to training. For some, the goal might be to learn a new software or concept that will be used to do their job, others the goal might be to learn or hone a soft skill like public speaking or how to balance work and life. When creating a training it is necessary to keep in mind what the main goals of the attendees might be and it can also be helpful to think about what secondary goals…