Events of Learning
How To Organize Training/Lessons To Ensure Its Effectiveness
Creating training/lessons can be very tedious, time consuming, and lose its focus without the use of some guidelines. The following guidelines will allow you to create training/lessons in a timely manner and more importantly make it effective.
The following 17 Events of Learning are based on Gagné’s 9 Events of Learning. Your classroom's constraints will determine how closely you follow the guidelines. The closer you follow the guidelines the more effective your training/lessons will be. These guidelines are geared toward training but can be applied toward the classroom.
Gagné’s 9 Events of Learning
- Gain attention.
- Inform learners of the objectives.
- Stimulate recall of prior learning.
- Present the Content.
- Provide "learning guidance".
- Elicit performance.
- Provide feedback.
- Assess performance.
- Enhance retention and transfer.
Don Westover's 17 Events of Learning
- Attention getting introduction.
- WIIFM (What's In It for Me).
- Inform learners of the objectives.
- Stimulate recall of prior learning.
- Pre-test.
- Present the content.
- Demonstration.
- Guided practice/ Show examples and non-examples.
- 1st Free practice.
- 1st Provide feedback.
- Content summary.
- 2nd Free practice.
- 2nd Provide feedback.
- Post-test.
- Provide scores and remediation.
- On-the-job practice.
- Review of on-the-job performance.
An effective training lesson starts with an introduction that gains the attention of the learner. One can achieve this through stating astounding facts, a thought provoking question, an interesting story or case study among other things. Gaining the learners attention is what will bring them into the lesson instead of daydreaming about what household chores need to get done or what is on tonight's dinner menu.
Once you have gained the learners attention it is important to answer the question that is on everyone's mind "What's in it for me?", commonly referred to as a WIIFM (wiff-um). Once the learners know what's in it for them they will be more receptive to the training and it will hopefully change some reluctant attitudes.
Next, you will inform the learners of what the objectives for the lesson are. Doing this lets the learners know what material will be covered and what they will be able to do after the lesson is completed. Remember to always be clear and specific.
At this point you should elicit any prior knowledge on the subject in order to prime them for the material to come.
A pre-test is then presented to the learners. The pre-test is for assessing whether or not the lesson did what it was intended to do. It is imperative that you relay the purpose of the pre-test to the learners in order to keep the atmosphere positive. Reiterate the fact that this test will not count against them in any way and it is just a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. The pre-test should test the objectives.
Now it's time to get into the meat of the lesson and present the content. Depending on the topic of the lesson will determine how the content should be presented. As long as you include the preceeding guidelines, you should be confident that the learner will comprehend the content being presented.
Present a demonstration of the content to the learners. The content will determine how you conduct your demonstration. The purpose of the demonstration is to provide an example of what the content is trying to teach while an explanation is simultaneously presented. Your demonstration should be in line with the objectives given earlier.
The next step is to provide guided practice. This means you will guide the learners while they practice what it is they are being taught. This is usually a step-by-step process where the instructor does a task and the learners then mimic the instructor while commentary on the task at hand is being presented. This is the point where you would show examples and non-examples of the concept you are teaching.
Once you have guided the learners through, it is now time for free practice. Free practice allows the learners to practice what they were just taught without any constraints. This is where they are on their own to try for themselves. Free practice allows the learner to work at their own pace, experiment, and recall what was just previously taught. Learner observations should be conducted at this point.
The time now calls for some feedback. Feedback is derived through learner observations. It is important to provide the learners with some feedback on how they are doing up to this point. Feedback consists of, but is not limited to, positive reinforcement, constructive criticism, and suggestions for improvement.
The next step is to provide a summary of the content. A content summary will reiterate the important information, points, steps, etc. Conducting a summary of the content will improve recall of the content.
A second free practice will come next. Having a second free practice allows the learners to practice again after receiving feedback on their prior performance. This will allow them to focus more on their improvement. Learner observations should be conducted at this point.
A second feedback is now given to the learners. It is important to provide the learners with some feedback on how they are doing up to this point. Feedback consists of, but is not limited to, positive reinforcement, constructive criticism, and suggestions for improvement.
The post-test should be presented at this juncture. The purpose for this test is to assess whether the learner is able to accomplish the objectives, therefore the post-test should test the objectives. Essentially the post-test is the same as the pre-test, thus allowing for comparison between the two. Comparing the two will hopefully show the learners improvement and that your lesson was the reason for the improvement.
Provide the learners with their pre/post-test scores and a chance of remediation. Providing the scores will show the learners their individual level of improvement and the importance of the course.
The next step is to give the learners on-the-job practice. Put them in the environment where they will utilize the skills and knowledge they acquired in the lesson.
Follow-up with a review of on-the-job performance to ensure they are utilizing the skills and knowledge they acquired in the lesson.
Side note:
- Set specific, clear, and measurable learning objectives.
- Divide information into logical chunks.
- Maximize audience participation.
- Include an evaluative conclusion.
