Learning Conversations

What follows is an update of a post I wrote back in 2005 about what to consider when designing learning programmes. As "Learning Designers", once we've asked the right questions at the outset of the project, we need to get down to the iterative process of coming up with a solution.

At the outset, a whole range of potential solutions are available to us. As we start to work through the constraints and the requirements, many of these possibilities will become less viable. Eventually we'll end up with a small number of possible solutions. I'm going to describe the filtering process in the way that I often approach it. Others may do things in a completely different order, but we'll all have to deal with the same issues.

Context

Culture

I'll need to understand the culture of the organisation I'm working with. Often that means some very difficult meetings where all I seem to ask is "Why?" If you don't dig into what makes the organisation tick, then you're missing a hugely important part of the jigsaw that is a successful learning programme.

Find out what drives people to perform well. How do they gain recognition, promotion, pay rises? What motivates them? Find out about the management culture? Do they use frequent coaching and one-to-one sessions about individual performance? Where does management focus its effort? On sales? On product development? On personal performance? On outputs?

Find out what really works as regards learning... If at all possible, don't just rely on the HR and L&D people to tell you. Try to talk to the managers, or even (heaven forbid!) the people who will be affected by the programme.

Infrastructure

What basic infrastructure is already available that can support learning? Is there an organisational IT network? Does it work at useable speeds? Are there times when it can't be used effectively? Is it just for storing files, or does it also have applications like a content management system, email, calendars, micro-blogging etc?

Can your potential learners break out of the network and use the internet? What restrictions are placed on their use of the internet?

Does the organisation use telephone conferencing? Does that include capabilities to host online meetings that use desktop sharing, presentations, video, chat etc?

What facilities are available for holding face-to-face meetings? What sizes of rooms are available?

Management

This comes down to time and money really. Will the managers be supportive of the learning programme? Will they allocate time for people to do it properly? Will they be prepared to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the programme? Who is paying for the learners to take part in the programme? Who has the money invested in it? Can you even find out who the managers are?

Learners

We're always exhorted to know our "audience" before trying to teach them. Is there someone you can work with who knows the daily life of the people you're trying to teach? Can you plan in some time to work with them for a day or two?

Can you build up a picture of a "typical" learner or two? It's really useful to have these pen portrait personas, as it then helps as model to test your ideas against. NB. I linked to the Personas (marketing) article on Wikipedia, as it's my belief that learning and marketing have similar objectives (to change behaviours).

Objectives

All the time, while you're finding out about the culture of the organisation, you need to be thinking about the objectives of the programme. Ideally these will be measurable objectives - things that the organisation is trying to change through your programme.

Hopefully you've not yet got yourself into a position where you've already told the client what you're going to deliver...

Activities

Learning is about doing, about engaging with content and people. So that's where I start - by considering what activities I am going to ask my learners to do. It's a hangover from my teaching days - my planning sheets always had a space to record the activities the children (and I) would do at each stage in the lesson. Only then could I plan what resources I'd need to support those activities.

The activities that your learners will do will be influenced strongly by the ways you believe people learn, and also by the context in which the learning is to take place (see above). So, to do this, you'll need to have a reasonably good idea of the different theoretical models of learning (eg. behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, connectivism) and which one is the best fit for your situation.

Resources

The activities you choose will need resourcing, maybe with personnel, with an environment in which they are to take place, with media, or with design tools with which to create or aggregate new media. Your choice will be influenced by the context in which the learning is to take place, particularly the existing resources already available to you.

At this point you'll also need to look back at the context and constraints you're working under. From here on it becomes an iterative process to get to the best (not always the ideal) solution.