5 Strategies to Ensure Your Students Use What They've Learned
If your learners don't use what you've taught them, you've wasted your time
If your learners never apply what you've taught, you're wasting your time.
Harsh, but true. You may as well not have bothered.
I used to tell my corporate students that if they didn't use what I'd taught them, the next time they needed training, I'd go shopping for shoes instead.
We've all been to those training sessions where, a week later, we can't quite remember what we learned, let alone apply it.
It's a common problem, but one that can be fixed if you design your training well.
But why is all this so important?
So what if your trainees don't use what you've taught them? That's their lookout, isn't it?
It's important because if training doesn't lead to action, corporations waste time and money, which isn't good for the trainer or their future career.
From my many years as a Learning & Development Manager, I know it's hard enough to get budgets signed off for training as it is, let alone after training that hasn't made a difference.
And if you’re a small business delivering badly designed training, you'll get a poor reputation and lose future customers.
Whose course would you rather shell out cash for?
The one that led to a transformation so big that your friend can't stop raving about it, or the course that your friend can't remember anything about?
I know which one I'd choose.
So how do we design learning that sticks to your learners like chewing gum on a blanket, and inspires them to use what they've learned afterward?
We simply include these five elements in our teaching:
During the training:
Interaction
Verification that the students can recall and understand what you've taught
Clarification of how students will use what they've learned
After the training:
Accountability checks
Follow-ups
Here's what those five elements look like within your training course:
1. Ready, Steady, Action!
Droning through a set of PowerPoint slides isn't going to cut it if you want your training to be effective.
You need to get your learners up on their feet, talking to each other and thinking.
Here's how:
Use Hands-On Activities
Role-playing, case studies, and simulations are great for interactions and getting the learning across.
If the topic doesn't lend itself to these activities, get your trainees actively engaged by asking them to write on flip charts and whiteboards. Brainstorms or Q&A sessions are useful for this.
Ask your learners to work in teams or pairs to summarize what they've learned after each section.
Encourage Discussions
Ask open-ended questions, get trainees to share their experiences, and ask what was most challenging, easiest, most interesting, most boring, and most surprising about what you've just taught.
The trainees should be talking more than you are. Talking too much is a common error that new trainers all fall into. Don’t do it. Get the trainees talking.
Your students will have more fun, and you can work out what they know already and what they've learned. They'll also remember more at the end of the session.
Gamify It!
Introduce quizzes, competitions, and rewards to make the session enjoyable and memorable.
Rewards can be sweets, chocolate bars, or a badge or certificate. It doesn't have to be complicated.
Action point:
Make sure your training is active and fun rather than passive and dull. That way, your learners are more likely to remember and absorb the key points.
2. Total Recall Isn't Enough
When I was at school, a lot depended on our ability to learn information and regurgitate it straight back out. Sometimes, we didn't understand it, but that didn't matter.
This approach won't fly when you're training adults.
Yes, your students need to remember what you've taught them, but they must understand it, too.
Here's how to make sure your learners can recall and understand your content:
Repetition
Your learners may be able to parrot back key points in the session, but you need them to be able to recall them in a week's time.
This is why repetition is so important. Repeating information helps transfer knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory.
You do this by layering your training:
Teach step one
Check your trainees remember it
Teach step two and refer back to step one
Check your trainees remember step one and step two
Teach step three and refer back to steps one and two
Check your trainees remember steps one, two, and three
And so on…
Storytelling
Adults need to know why they are doing something, or they won't listen.
If you attach your content to stories, your students will have a background framework on which to hang the information, plus an explanation of why it matters.
For example, if you tell your learners they mustn't ever hit the big red button under the reception desk, they aren't likely to remember.
If you tell them about the time Mary from accounts pushed the button by mistake, and the whole office building went on lockdown surrounded by police for three hours, they'll remember it.
At least, one would hope so!
Assessments
Wait what?
Does that mean tests?
Not necessarily.
Assessments are just a way of knowing whether your learners can recall and understand what you've told them.
Assessments can be:
Verbal questions - your learners answer questions individually or as a group
Written questions - could be on a handout, workbook, or on the screen for learners to answer
Demonstrations - your learners show you they can do the thing you've taught them
Summaries - your learners summarize what you've told them
Tests - your learners complete a formal test, exam, or assessment
Do assessments as you go; otherwise, you could move ahead with shaky foundations and confuse your students.
A great time to do some questions or a quiz is before or after a break or at the end of a session.
Action points:
Layer your information so you're repeating key points, include stories to emphasize real-life application, and assess your student’s understanding as you go.
3. Training IRL
Okay, your learners can remember what you've said, and amazingly, they understand it, too. But unless they apply all this learning in real life, they've wasted their time.
Much like me in maths lessons at school.
Sadly, no one has ever asked me to consider a spring rotating in a giant jar of liquid with a resistance of 50 ohms or roll balls down slopes and work out their velocity.
And if they did, I'd have forgotten how to do it by now.
So unless you want your sessions to be as useless as 95% of the maths we had to do in school, plan with your students about how they will use what they've learned.
Here's how:
Talk about it
Have a group discussion or brainstorm about how your students will apply their new skills.
Getting everyone to join in, rather than asking your learners to write down what they will do individually, means you'll get more ideas.
Also, if you have a student who can't relate what they've learned to real life, having another student point it out means you don't have to.
Ask Probing Questions
Don't accept the first ideas your students have about how they'll use the training. Ask a few questions to clarify.
This way, you can guide them towards the optimum way to use the training and away from areas where it won't work.
Ask your students to write an action plan
Now that you've brainstormed and questioned as a group, it's time for your trainees to write down an individual action plan.
Ask your trainees to write down the steps they will take to integrate what they've learned into their work or real-life activities and ensure you get a copy of it.
Action points:
During your training sessions, get your learners to talk about how they will apply their learning in real life, ask questions to get specifics, and ask them to write an action plan.
4. Create Accountability
Let's imagine it is a week after your training session. You're on a break relaxing with a cup of tea and a biscuit, thinking about how your trainees are busy implementing what they learned.
But are they?
Sadly, not as often as we'd like if we don't include some accountability.
To make sure your learners take action, here's a couple of things to try:
Accountability Partners
Put your trainees into pairs and ask them to check in with each other weekly to ensure they are taking action.
The success of this depends on the motivation of the individuals, and you may get complaints about buddies who are less enthusiastic. If this happens, pair your learner with learners who are meeting regularly - it doesn’t matter if the group has three in it, instead of two.
Engage Managers
If you are in a corporate environment, talk to the learner's manager and share the action plan with them.
If you ask nicely, you can get the manager to include a chat about the action plan in their one-to-one meetings with your learner.
Track Progress
Set up a tracking sheet and regularly contact your learners for updates. If they have any action points with dates, put a note on your calendar to check in with your learner.
Having someone to check in with increases the likelihood that trainees will apply what they've learned. Of course, the nature of the check-in depends on the learner, the type of training you're delivering, and whether you are in a corporate environment or not.
Action points:
If appropriate, buddy up your learners in pairs, talk to your learner's manager, ask them to support the learning, and track the progress of your class on a spreadsheet.
5. Individual Follow Ups
In addition to accountability checks, individual follow-ups are useful. Space them out a few months apart to check whether your trainees are using their new skills long-term.
Follow-ups also give you the chance to provide additional resources, support with taking action, and clarification if the student gets confused.
You can also help with removing any roadblocks, such as mindset or lack of opportunity to practice (if you are training corporate employees).
Follow-up also provides an upsell opportunity for anyone whose business involves selling training courses.
Action points:
As appropriate, hold follow-ups one, two, and three months after the training with each trainee to check out how they are getting on, provide support, and help remove roadblocks.
Summary
Delivering meaningful training takes more than delivering information.
It needs:
Active engagement in the sessions
Strategies to ensure learners can remember, understand, and apply what they've learned
Individual action plans for real-world application
Accountability systems, and
Ongoing follow-ups
If you've got all five of the above, you can provide an optimum learning environment for your students.
If you can't manage all five, do as much as you can and build on it. We all have to start somewhere!
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