Is It Time to Renovate Your Training Design?

"Nice house,", my mother said, walking into our new house for the first time. "But the kitchen door's in the wrong place". 

She immediately took out a pencil and paper and started sketching out a better layout: "move the back deck door here in line with the front hallway, change the position of the stove, the sink goes here...."

She was right, of course -- my mom's always right. It is an older house built circa 1920, and it has its quirks. In this case, the back door was not aligned with the hallway, meaning that we've always had to walk through the eating and cooking area.

But in the end, it took us nearly seven years to save up the funds, find the time and hire the right people before we finally started this work recently. 

Even as I write this post, the carpenters are downstairs now, peeling back the old linoleum, putting in a new subfloor, stripping down the drywall to the studs and outside wall. There's dust and insulation everywhere, and the clatter of this keyboard is interrupted with the wrrrr....rreeeeenn...buzzzzz...crack! of men at work (and no, not the 80s Australian band). 

But once it's done, it will be great. Just like my mother said. 

* * *

I've been working recently with some colleagues to update their workshop design. It's a great course, with excellent content, clear Achievement-Based Objectives, and many engaging learning tasks.  

But having taught it many times, many of the faciltators feel like it needs some changes and updates.

So a few weeks ago, six of us formed a design team to undertake what one member called"some renovations". We don't need to tear it down and start over again, he explained. The design is structurally sound, but it would benefit from some remodelling here, an addition there, maybe punching out that learning task to lighten it up, maybe a lick of colour and new graphics there to freshen it up....

We've been working as a team in person and online for a few weeks and I'm glad to say that we're making great progress. But it is hard work. Once you take apart something as complex as a learning design, you find suprises and vestigial parts ("Why do the previous owner do this that way? What were they thinking when they chose that wallpaper!!"). Parts that worked well previously suddenly don't fit anymore, and you have to build an entire new task....

It has been a fun process and a chance to work with some great designers. I can't wait until the post-reno "reveal" episode! 

* * *

I also enjoy doing these kinds of design reviews and renovations for my clients.

I start by going back to the blueprints and mapping out all the design parameters on one page. Then I check for congruence between the steps.

• Which design parameters are a given? Which can we change? 
• What would happen if we cut this back to a 1-day workshop? 
• Or could we do this online instead? 
• Is this the right Content for these participants? 
• Are the ABOs aligned with the desired Transfer and Impact objectives? 
• Can this activity go beyond participation for its own sake to deepen the learning? 

Next, I like to analyze it to see how the design stands up to the priniciples and practices of good adult learning, as articulated in a dialogue education approach. How does this design demonstrate Respect for the learner's life experience, expertise, emotions and opinions? How might we retrofit this to provide more opportunities for Praxis? Are the learning tasks following a particular learning cycle? 

Then, it's time for the wrecking ball! Well, okay usually a crow bar and a hammer is sufficient to do the job. But it is often necessary to do a bit of tearing down to create space for the new design.

Much work ensues, much coffee is consumed, many post-its notes go up on the wall, restorative naps are taken, bikes are ridden, drafts are drafted.....

But when the dust settles.....voila! A brand-spanking-new interactive and rigorous, accountable and engaging design emerges. 

Can I Help You Renovate?

Could your own training design or webinar could use a bit of fixing up? Is it time to tear down that wood panelling and rip up that shag carpeting? Would you like a bit more meaningful interaction in your design? Are you unhappy with what the learners remember and apply afterwards? 

If so, drop me a line. I'd be happy to take a look at your design and provide a short example of what it could look like for free.

Then, if you like what I've done, I'll send you a quote for redesigning the rest.

But don't worry, unlike an electrician, I won't give you a shocking estimate! 

Cheers, dh

7 Ate 9*: Do We Need More Steps of Design?

The 7 Steps of Design In my last post I debuted a Instructional Video for the Learning Design Canvas that outlined how I see the 7 Steps of Design fit together..... ....But as GLP Partner, Jeanette Romkema, commented the other day, it is a helpful to add some additional steps to consider how the learning will make a difference after the workshop. Drawing from Vella, Berardinelli & Burow's work on Learning Evaluation, (and also Kirkpatrick and Fitzgerald), I would frame these additional steps as: Step 8: SO THAT...Transfer: or how the learners will apply their learning in their life, organization or community. This often describes a change in the learner's behaviour. e.g. John applies his new skills in insulating his home. Step 9: SO WHAT... Impact, or the difference that applying the learning makes for their life, organization. This usually describes a change in condition. e.g. John's heating bills go down and his green house gas emissions go down.

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A Learning Design Canvas - Take 1!

Updated on Friday, February 11, 2011 at 9:06AM by dh

So often, I've just written my learning designs in a prose format in the classic order from "WHO to HOW", but never on a simple chart. What would it look like if we had a Learning Design Canvas that would lay out the key elements or Jane Vella's "7 Steps of Design" on one page? Much doodling ensued.... Here's a first draft: A Learning Design Canvas: Take One

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35 Ways to Use an iPhone in a Workshop

There has been a lot of interest expressed in the potential for "mobile learning (mLearning)" via smartphones. While that may well be the way of the future (along with internet-chips-in-your-brain, cold fusion, and flying cars...), I'm more curious about the potential for using my iPhone right now to facilitate learning in face-to-face workshops.... ..Here's a quick, caffeine-fueled brainstorm of 35 Ways to Use an iPhone in a Workshop.

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Designing in My Sleep

...No matter how long I've been doing this, I'm still struck by how much hard work it takes to create a solid learning design. ..... My most recent design process was no different in that I found myself struggling to choose the right amount of content from the reams of ideas that I had dumped into the design. I really wanted to pare it back to what would be "just enough" -- to "leave space for the design (and the learners!) to breathe". But invariably, by 11pm each night I ended up again with too much What for the Who, When and Why, and I went to bed feeling really frustrated... But then I'd wake up early the next morning -- 5 am sometimes -- with my mind bubbling with new ideas on how to make it all work: add this, cut this, reinforce that concept in a new way, transmogrify that long text box into a Wordle, drop that "perfect" activity that I've been saving for months since it's irrelevant to the learners' needs, excise that "writing of discovery" in favour of the "writing of explanation", "murder my darlings", bend the design, fold this task in half, knead that example and streeeeetch that conversation! Make this task more Uccellanian to serve 2, no 3 purposes....

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