Teach or Spew Data - What's Your Style?

Have you ever signed up for an email or online learning course only to find out that the instructor simply provided endless pages of information, data and statistics to read? How much did you really learn or take away from this kind of instruction? Most of us do not learn in these types of environments, much less remember it long enough to implement the learning into real life scenarios.

The Internet has been a great tool and resource for so many millions of people. However, it also allows the "would-be" instructor to publish training courses that are poorly structured, ineffective and even downright boring. It is sad, but also unfortunately very true. The e-Learning consumer is now forced to evaluate the instructional methods used by the provider to determine if they will actually benefit from the course of study. So many people have wasted their hard-earned money hoping for something that simply did not deliver.

M. David Merrill, professor of instructional technology at Utah State University, has said that "...information is not instruction." His statement is a testament to the fact that it is too easy for an individual to become fascinated with the "technology" portion and delivery of learning, but unfortunately at the expense of good design and learning outcomes. It was the sudden rush by many educators to provide online learning that led to Merrill's stance on the development of a scientific approach to learning.

If you are providing learning opportunities, regardless of whether it is tradiational or e-learning, you need to incorporate good technique and structure in the delivery process. In order to guarantee the effectiveness of any training program, remember that technology changes daily, but the way adults learn is static and does not change. Merrill recommends three key components be provided in training programs:

• Structured knowledge
• Practice
• Guidance

If you are an e-learning provider or instructor - how does your program "stack up" and use these three key components? Do you need to revisit your course materials and change the delivery in order to achieve maximum learning? Do not be afraid to conduct an assessment of your training programs to ensure that your students receive the maximum benefit.

Source: http://WeTrainU.blogspot.com

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2004-2006. All Rights Reserved

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