My aaaahaaa moment...

I had a huge Aaaahaaa moment last week. Thanks to the guidance of one our professors.

Let me explain. We participated in an absorb-type activity called discussion protocol, where we posted a significant idea from the reading, and then other’s from our group commented on our significant idea…then we posted a final summary. I had posted the following excerpt from our textbook, E-Learning by Design by William Horton (great book by the way if you are at all interested in elearning!) about the relationship between absorb and do activities:

“…absorb activities are good partners to other kinds of activities. Often
they are used to prepare learners for a do activity. The absorb part of the
partnership orients the learner, sets the context, establishes vocabulary,
introduces principles, and supplies instruction needed before the learner can
engage in a highly interactive do activity.”

I shared that “This is a significant concept from my experience in corporate training. It seems that the default for most subject matter experts and non-instructional designers is the absorb type activity, particularly a presentation. The thinking has been present as much information as the speaker can cram into the allotted time, with tons of PowerPoint slides that are filled with text! This concept from Horton puts the presentation (absorb) activity into what I feel is the proper perspective…it is a partner with other learning activities. The absorb activity, regardless of what type of activity is chosen, sets up their learners knowledge to be able to engage in a “Do” activity to further learning.This concept establishes the importance, and further, the role of the absorb activity in effective learning. There is a role for presentations (and other types of absorb activities) in the learning process, but these activities should be partnered with do activities.”

Those in my group followed with comments about PowerPoint, and how so many subject matter experts overuse it as an instructional tool. Jackie, one of our professors, pointed out that perhaps the problem isn’t PowerPoint (or the over use of it). “Perhaps,” she said “the problem is not only how the tool is used but also the difference between how novices learn and how experts teach.” She pointed me to a reference, http://www.sonoma.edu/users/n/nolan/n312/benner.htm for an example of the novice vs. expert as applied to nurses.

Well, a very bright light bulb exploded right in front of me….that was it!!! You see, experts have attained their standing as experts ….all their knowledge, skill, abilities, attitude, etc. through much information gathering, experience, research, trial and error, case studies and so on. Their knowledge as advanced experts is now intuitive. To build that knowledge in a beginner or even intermediate learner is close to impossible. But, the expert, who often times are our subject matter experts, had difficulty understanding how to transfer all their learning to a novice or beginner. The only thing they can do is share as much information as they can. Usually, too much. Causing major information overload.

We as instructional designers have to figure out how to break all that information in to bite size chunks so our learners can digest just what they need for the stage they are at. It’s like feeding our new puppy…she can only handle so much food at one time, and we have to feed her more often.

In addition, if the goal is to have learners move closer to the level of expert, then we have to include instruction that simulate the kind of experiences they expert has had. They as experts can help define the lesson’s that need to be learned.

This aahaa moment is having an impact on how I design instruction in my current role as a learning specialist…and on my team. We have spent several lively lunch hours excitedly talking about how we are going to apply this concept in our work. Beginning with rethinking our audience analysis processes, impacting how we work with our SME’s to create instructional objectives; and I think the biggest impact is the assistance we plan to implement with SME’s if they are doing the content development and/or delivery.