Learners as Drivers: Controls and Pedals?

Empowering Learner Curiosity and Adjustments

Imagine the Workplace Learner as a Driver!

What if each employee in a learning experience had the same controls and pedals as the driver of a car?

If the employee could make minor or major adjustments to their pathway to learning the new skill or process, it could be WOW. Let’s imagine a few of these controls:

Look for the pedals and controls in this picture:

• Gas Pedal (Speed of lesson or segment)

• Brake Pedal (Stop - for a pause or clarification)

• Steering Wheel (Small or large adjustments in content sequence)

• Gear Shift (Add more intensity or context to a segment)

• Horn Button (Get support or coaching on a topic)

• Directionals (Indicate where the learner would like to go next)

• Enhancement Buttons (To the Right of the Horn - More Context, Different Voice, Indexing Against Old Process)

And, these are just a few of the controls that a learner might want or use. With the rise of AI as a component of learning design or delivery, the learner might want controls that would trigger these actions:

• Simulation

• Collaboration Conversation with Fellow Learners

• Relate to Their Past Experience

• FAQ’s on a Topic

• Workflow/Performance Support or Nudges

• Illustrations or Infographic

• Translation to Second Language

• Alternative Actions to Similar Results

• Test Quiz

I can hear a NOTES reader saying: “But, how can we do this in a class of 20 employees or with an eLearning activity that is asynchronous?”

Not as simple as “One Learning Activity for All!” But, many of the controls that you have in your car are rarely used while driving. You adjust the speed and occasionally break. You organically steer, following the pathway of the highway or street. Yet, the driver values the ability to steer, adust, enhance, repeat, vocalize, get coached, simulate and more - at those moments when learning isn’t optimized for them.

If we accept that the learner of today (and certainly tomorrow) will be more self-engineering, they will need, want and demand more controls.

Several decades ago, I was part of a team studying how high school students failed a class. Few students went from an A to an F in one day. Most were following the learning activity until they reached a moment of confusion or non-understanding. But, they did not have the ability to adjust, extend, repeat or contextualize the content. So, the class proceeded and they started a descent to failure.

At the workplace, a similar process can happen. We want to empower the employee to be an empowered learner - in an efficient and doable process.

Curiosity is also at the heart of this! As the learner can micro-adjust their learning - it will almost always enhance the link between the new content and their curiosity on the topic. You can’t get an employee excited about creating a Pivot table in Excel if they have never seen the value of dynamic use of data. The employee needs an example or context of how the Pivot Table can help them or the organization - before they have any curiosity on the steps to set up a Pivot Table.

I dream of Learning Systems that will provide these and other Pedals and Controls to our learners. Most Learning Systems (LMS, LXP and Talent) do a great job of managing the delivery and consumption of learning content. But, few have these controls.

AI and Learning might add a “CONVERSATIONAL” assumption to learner’s expectations of how they have learning experiences. They will have the habit of saying: Give me More, Give me Less, Relate it to Old Process, Show a Diagram, Nudge me Tomorrow….

Now is the time learning and talent colleagues to explore the learning controls that our employees have. Without these, the only real control devices they have their SHOES - by walking away (totally or lowering their learning energy). Learner Controls or Shoes Walking Away?

Let us focus on creating, designing, enhancing and evolving Learner Controls! Their learning could be significantly optimized if they can make micro or macro adjustments to their learning experiences.

Love your comments or thoughts:

Yours in Learning,

Elliott Masie
MASIE Learning Foundation
MASIE Learning Collaborative
www.masie.com
emasie@masie.com

PS: Space is limited in our next AI & Learning LAB - to be held in Saratoga Springs, NY in January - Details and registrations: http://www.masie.com