Learning Experience Design

Adaptive Learning: Your Questions Answered!

October 28, 2021June 28, 2023 by Emma Klosson

At our webinar, One Size Fits No One: Tailoring Learning Experiences to Individual Interests, Knowledge, and Skills with Adaptive Learning, John Cleave, SweetRush Senior Learning Engineer, Clare Dygert, Director of Learning Experience and Instructional Design, and Adrián Soto, Director of Immersive Technologies, discussed how to achieve maximum learner engagement without breaking the bank.

The team also explored the benefits of adaptive learning and shared examples of how it:

Reduces the amount of time spent training
Deepens the impact of the training
Offers insightful data and analytics
Enhances the transfer of learning to the job
Creates happier learners!

There was considerable interest in this topic, and the participants had some great questions. Here’s a quick summary along with the team’s responses. (The webinar is available for replay here.)

Q1. In my setting (healthcare), learners know the information (as evidenced in their daily work) but are required to complete annual training as proof of competency. Where does adaptive learning fit in when learners know the content but have to retake it every year?

Clare: This is a tricky one because what you’re talking about is compliance training. In this situation there isn’t always a way around the requirement. There may be legal reasons why people have to be exposed to the same content or a liability issue for the organization that hires them. Generally speaking, adaptive learning is not a good solution for compliance training. That said, there is a good argument against noncompliance “refresher” style training, and it’s called the “expertise reversal effect.”[1]

Expertise reversal effect suggests instructional methods that are good for low-knowledge learners will actually make things more difficult for high-knowledge learners. It’s important, therefore, to understand the knowledge level of your target audience when designing adaptive learning solutions. You can then give your experienced and knowledgeable learners the opportunity to either go deeper into the content or to skip over the parts they already know.

John: For me, the single most difficult aspect of adaptive learning isn’t the technology or the instructional design. It’s getting stakeholders and leadership to realize that forcing people through content isn’t going to make them any smarter. When you can convince stakeholders that learning doesn’t happen simply because we show people content, you’ll open the door to a richer dialogue about alternative options—like adaptive learning.

Q2. How do we build in remediation for learners who are falling behind?

John: A technique that works well for us is to create a core path through the subject matter that everyone needs to see. Then, along the way, present the learners with challenges designed to reveal their knowledge and skill level. These challenges shouldn’t be designed for learners to simply recall the content; instead they should be framed so that learners have to apply what they’ve learned or demonstrate that they understand the concept. If the learners aren’t successful in the challenges, you can direct them to additional content or activities within the learning experience where they can get more help and explore the subject more deeply. Once they achieve a level of mastery, they’ll be returned to the core path to continue the learning journey.

Clare: To build on this point, it’s important to think about the size of your courses or your units of instruction. The smaller the chunk size, the more flexibility you’ll have to build in adaptive learning. For example, if people are falling behind because they’re not mastering the instruction, you’ll need to identify where in the content they are getting stuck. If the content chunk is small, not only will it be easier to test and assess its efficacy, but it will also be easier to build in more targeted remediation.

Q3. Is it possible to create adaptive eLearning solutions without spending an unmanageable amount of time in development?

Adrián: From my experience working on virtual reality learning solutions, it’s manageable. That said, we are fortunate to have a full complement of team members on each of our projects, including project managers, learning designers, creative directors, developers, and engineers. If we know that we are going to be working on an adaptive learning solution—which does require more effort because we are creating more content—we map out the work in advance and scale up the team as needed. Planning is key.

Clare: Regardless of your team size, here are some tips for making the development process more manageable.

Repurpose existing assets. To cut down on production time, identify and then direct learners to content that has already been created by Learning and Development or that exists elsewhere within the organization.
Send learners offline. Another option is to direct people to complete a series of offline tasks such as interviewing someone in the organization to find out more about something. You could also point them to additional research they can complete independently—think articles or white papers. The golden rule here is to plan activities and assess external content to ensure they align with your objectives.
Chunk out the learning: My final tip is to break your content into smaller chunks and focus each chunk on a specific skill and related knowledge objective. Then, invite learners to practice the skill. If they aren’t able to perform successfully, you can direct them to the accompanying knowledge-based content before trying again.

John: While there may be more work involved in creating adaptive learning solutions, you must look at the overall gains you achieve by having learners exposed to content that’s relevant to them without having to wade through stuff that isn’t. The gain is well worth the effort.

Q4. How do you ensure people have mastered the skills if you give them choices of what to look at?

Clare: The short answer is that it really depends on what the skills are. For soft skills, you could create assessments to evaluate competency. Branching scenarios are one way to do this—learners are placed in a situation and have to choose the correct or most appropriate answer. Alternatively, you could take the assessment outside of the learning to get approval via some sort of observation where they have to demonstrate their competency to someone.

John: Keep in mind that forcing learners to look at stuff doesn’t ensure mastery. But one way that adaptive learning can help increase mastery is to give learners an assessment, and based on their performance, direct them to learnings and resources that will address their skill gaps.

Q5. How do I create reliable pre-assessments to direct people to different learning paths? In my experience, people often overestimate their abilities.

Clare: Pre-assessments are typically designed to get a pulse on what people already know and can do, so that we can put them on the right path. When learners overestimate their abilities, they can end up on the wrong path, and their learning experience will be affected.

A best practice we use is to include questions about people’s confidence in their knowledge or abilities. This additional metric helps to differentiate between people who know what they know and those who know what they don’t know.

We’ve found that pairing these questions with some sort of test or assessment early in the learning experience offers an instant reality check. A person who identifies as being very confident in a task will get a surprise if they do badly in the assessment. This experience should make the learner more open to learning—and the learning itself becomes more sticky as a result.

Adrián: We see this in virtual reality-based solutions often. People grab the headset and controller and think they will pick it up straight away—they are highly confident in their abilities. When they discover that they can’t control the device, their expectations—about their own competency and what they need to learn—shifts.

Q6. You have shown the outcomes and benefits of adaptive learning, could you share an example of how you build a small activity with adaptive learning? Maybe a video to share later would help?

John: This is a great question! We love the idea of creating a video and will put it on our “to do” list! In the meantime, there are some simple things you can do to incorporate adaptive learning into your learning solutions:

Build a core set of slides in your authoring tool of choice and then build a separate set that you can link to if learners want a deeper dive.
Make videos or content optional to view. Decide which pieces of content are required and which pieces can be skipped based on what you know about the learners and the desired outcomes. Most authoring tools allow you to choose whether to make the content mandatory—learners have to view or click through all of the content on-screen—or optional.
Add optional links for learners who want to explore the content at a deeper level. This is a great example of adaptive learning—people will click the link if they want but know that they don’t have to.

Q7: How might we use adaptive learning for second language training? And how could we integrate crowdsourced content?

Clare: If you’re going to crowdsource content, you’ll need to establish and communicate standards about what you’re looking for your crowd to do. You’ll also need to be explicit about the format you need the content in so that it will fit in seamlessly with your learning design.

For the adaptive learning piece, a good place to start is to identify the types of errors that people commonly make when learning a second language—these mistakes may be specific to learning a language or to the language itself—and design remediation or additional practice activities for each one.

John: Duolingo and other language apps are already doing this. The programs notice where learners are struggling and then provide alternative practice activities to strengthen their skills in those areas of weakness.

Q8. I work within a university on a vocational course, and we have to use the university’s LMS/CMS, which doesn’t seem to support adaptive learning. How do we develop adaptive learning experiences? Is there a way around it?

John: When you’re working with an authoring tool like WordPress, for example, my advice is to put in links—don’t cram your content into one long string of HTML. Decide what content your learners might want to look at versus what they have to look at and then create links. Use a billboard approach to incentivize people to click on the links and get creative with your descriptions. Instead of the standard “Click here for more resources,” tell them what they will get by clicking on the resource. For example, “Hey, want to learn how to use a lathe? Click here!” Give learners a clear idea about what to expect when they move to a different learning space.

Thanks again for your great questions! If you want to listen back to the webinar recording, you can find it here.

If you haven’t already done so, download your copy of John’s eBook Hats Off to Adaptive Learning and take a deeper dive into adaptive learning and its many benefits to learners and organizations alike. The book is also filled with adaptive learning techniques and examples to help you personalize your training programs.

Finally, if you’d like to geek out with the team and continue the adaptive learning conversation, or if you have a question you don’t see answered here, they would LOVE to hear from you. You can reach out to them here: John Cleave, Clare Dygert, and Adrián Soto.

Happy adapting!

[1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15326985EP3801_4

Use the Design Thinking Process to Create Learner-Centric Blended Learning and Deliver Value!

October 4, 2021September 14, 2022 by Danielle Hart

High-profile and high-impact training initiatives are a significant investment for your organization. Leverage the design thinking process to create learner-centric blended learning programs that deliver optimal ROI!

Every year, organizations spend billions of dollars on employee onboarding, sales training, and leadership training—all high-profile programs with a wide reach—and they’re expecting to get a significant return on their investment. No pressure, L&D!

But the truth is, pressure from leadership is no greater than the pressure we put on ourselves as learning professionals. We want our learning programs to be the right solution to address business needs and performance objectives—and to make an authentic, emotional connection with learners.

The Trend of Blended Learning

We have more tools, technology, and techniques than ever before to accomplish these goals. And rather than thinking in silos about delivery modalities (e.g., instructor-led training versus eLearning), we’re getting more and more creative in how we combine them.

Blended learning experiences—learning journeys—can engage learners in different ways, fire up cognition, fit into their busy workdays, and provide time for reflection. We can tailor a program to include context setting, demonstration, practice, self-reflection, social learning, coaching, and performance support. In other words, we can craft a holistic program that delivers value at every step in the learning process.

Our goals are to speed adoption and application on the job, maximize retention, and make learners feel good about their own growth and development!

The question then becomes, with so many options available to create custom learning programs, how do you know if you’re designing the right solution for your organization, audience, and objectives? If not, you’re wasting your time and money.

The Blind Leading the Blind

Typically, when a new learning solution design is needed, project teams come together, including stakeholders, L&D professionals, and SMEs. And along with their relevant expertise and positive intent, they bring something else: their bias. Everyone at the table thinks they know what the best solution is from their perspective.

Some rely on their experience being in the learner’s seat, but it may have been quite a while ago. “Back when I was a new manager in the ’90s…”

Some want to push and pioneer new technology. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we made this a mobile app?”

Everyone believes they know what learners want and need. But do they really?

Lauren Granahan, Director of Organizational Effectiveness and codeveloper of SweetRush CoDesign℠ (more on that soon), compares this typical solution design process to the children’s fable of the six blind men and the elephant:

Six blind men have an opportunity to meet an elephant. They’re excited because they’ve heard a lot about the creatures but have never encountered one in person. When they’re brought to the elephant, each man approaches from a different direction. The first man touches the trunk and says, “An elephant is like a giant snake.” The second man touches the body and says, “An elephant is like a wall.” The third touches the legs and says, “An elephant is like a tree.” And this continues, with each man forming a different conclusion. Each is correct and simultaneously wrong.

How does this apply to learning solution design? Each of the project team members naturally wants to make conclusions about what’s right for the learners (and the organization), but each has only a fraction of the information.

At SweetRush we saw an opportunity to elevate our learning solution design approach—not only for blended learning solutions but all solutions. We started integrating design thinking in our process, and the gains have far exceeded our initial goal to “see the elephant.”

Design thinking—and SweetRush’s version for learning experience design, which we call CoDesign—enables:

Deep understanding and empathy for the learner audience
Alignment on audience needs
Alignment on program outcomes, performance objectives, and mental model shifts
Alignment on program constraints
Alignment on program (or component) design
Alignment on implementation and adoption (change management)
Expedited design phases
Collaboration and camaraderie in the project team (which can help later during those inevitable “bumps in the road”)

Design thinking (CoDesign) turned out to be disruptive, eye-opening, and extraordinarily effective.

Let’s find out why.

Building Empathy for Your Audience: The First Step in Design Thinking

It’s true for product development, it’s true for advertising and marketing, and it’s true for learning: If you want to know how to reach and connect with your audience, you need to build empathy for them and understand them. That happens to be the first stage of design thinking.

Each step of the process includes tailored activities that provoke deep thought and consideration as the team explores ideas and comes together to align on the best ones.

The first step, which we call “Connect,” tends to be the most eye-opening in the design thinking process. We use a variety of activities to gain a deep understanding of learners. Some activities happen live in the design thinking session—for example, a “talk show” interview with learners. Some are a hybrid of prework and live experience. One of the activities we particularly love for redesigning programs is having learners write “love letters” and “breakup letters” to the existing program. Writing happens before CoDesign, and letters are read and discussed during the session. People get very creative with these letters!

Understanding Constraints for Blended Learning: Design Thinking’s Second Step

Our ultimate goal is to create a learning solution design that’s optimal for both the learners and the organization. So it’s important to understand program constraints, which we explore in this step, “Define.” These might include anything from budget and timeline to the learning environment to the time learners have available for training. Getting these on the wall (or on a virtual whiteboard) early means that as we move to the next steps of design and start dreaming up ideas, we have a tether to the reality of what works for the organization.

“This is also when we are exploring the mental model shifts that we want learners to make as a result of learning and the performance objectives,” Lauren says. “We ensure that we have appropriately framed the challenge (the ‘how might we’) for ideation as well.”

The Define step can also help us mitigate risk and anticipate change management needs related to the learning program. In an activity called “Kill the Program,” we brainstorm the reasons a program might fail—from adoption to implementation. We then determine what we can influence through our solution design or other methods, such as communications, manager support, systems or procedural changes, and so on.

Ideating and Prototyping a Blended Learning Program: The Next Steps of Design Thinking

We now have empathy for our learners and a better understanding of their needs, and we understand the organizational constraints. Now it’s time for the magic to happen! During these next steps, which we call “Play” and “Sketch,” we generate ideas about what our blended learning program should look and feel like. Learners are a critical part of the team generating these ideas.

It’s completely normal for everyone in the room to be experiencing different feelings as we step into this stage. Some will be excited and geared-up idea machines, while some may be a little uneasy about translating all the information gathered into something concrete. An experienced design thinking facilitator can help all parties show up and be the best contributors they can be—this takes careful preparation and the ability to “read the room” and adjust on the fly.

The beauty of design thinking is that the process allows people to stretch their imaginations and then come back to gain consensus, and this happens multiple times. Each time, new ideas are added to the mix and then validated against the understanding and constraints gathered in the initial steps.

Testing and Validating with the Actual Learners: Wrapping Up the Design Thinking Process

The Sketch step resulted in a prototype. Now in our final “Align” step, that prototype gets tested. A prototype can be anything from a sketch on paper to a video storyboard to a functional mock-up of an eLearning course. The idea is to present something that the audience (learners) can react to and provide feedback on.

“It’s important to emphasize that the learners have been along for the ride throughout the CoDesign process. At this stage, they’re being leveraged as testers for the prototype we create,” Lauren says.

And in our experience, there will definitely be things to tweak. But overall, the design thinking steps set us up for success in designing a solution that learners connect with.

From Solution Design to Launching Your Blended Learning Program

The Align step validates the team’s work during CoDesign, and it solidifies buy-in and sets the team up with a clear path forward for blended learning design and development. The design thinking process overall can also yield great insights that can help with implementation and launch—for example, themes that resonate with learners that can be integrated into marketing communications.

Greater empathy, level setting on constraints, learner-centric solutions, validation, and buy-in. Reduce blind spots and bias, and maximize your time and money! What new blended learning program or redesign do you have coming up that could benefit from design thinking?

Interested in learning more about design thinking for learning? Watch this webinar!

The Value of Conducting a Needs Analysis—Part 3: Existing Needs

September 16, 2021June 28, 2023 by Emma Klosson

Welcome to this final post in our needs analysis blog post series. In case you missed it, in part 1, I explained how a needs analysis can save lives (well, sort of). In part 2, I walked you through a strategic-level needs analysis and how to plan for the future. In this post, I am going to show how to handle existing training needs at the individual project level.

This type of analysis should be completed on every learning project, yet it often gets missed or overlooked. My theory: People confuse project-level analysis with the strategic-level analysis and assume it will be time-consuming and complex. In reality, it’s extremely easy and straightforward to do—in fact, I’ve even written a playbook on how to get it done.

Let’s take a closer look.

Project-Level Needs Analysis

This type of analysis happens on a much smaller scale—at the project level—and is usually triggered when L&D is approached by its business partners to help with specific training requests. In fact, as a vendor, this is how we begin most of our engagements with our clients.

The objective for this analysis is simple: to design an effective learning solution that meets the needs of the business and the learner.

When to use this: Use it on every single training project. I’m serious. You should be doing this always—for real, no excuses. Trust me, you’ll thank me for it.

What happens: L&D partners with the project’s stakeholders to uncover the business needs, learner needs, and any constraints related to budget, scope, and time.

Level of complexity: While the duration of the analysis may vary depending on the size and scope of the specific project, it remains a very low complexity activity.

What this looks like: This type of needs analysis involves talking to people, gathering data, and then analyzing and synthesizing your findings. Simple!

First, you’ll need to speak to stakeholders to uncover the business needs, identify any constraints, and define what success looks like. And then you’ll need to speak to your learner audience to find out what they already know and can do, what their work life is like, and when and how they like to learn.

Of course, there are very specific questions that you’ll need to ask the stakeholders and learners—in my playbook, I list all of these for you—but it really is as simple as that.

Finished output: At the end of the analysis, L&D prepares a report that lists the needs analysis findings and recommendations and may or may not also include a high-level design.

So there you have it—my quick and easy guide to the value of conducting a needs analysis! I hope this blog series has been helpful. Wherever you are on your needs analysis journey, we have a number of resources to help.

Additional Needs Analysis Resources

For the majority of situations, you’ll need to do a project-level needs analysis. Our step-by-step guide, The Needs Analysis Playbook, will walk you through how to do this from start to finish.

Want more information about how to talk to stakeholders about their needs? Our Needs Analysis Clinic webinar focuses on the six questions you should always ask to help uncover the business needs.

Got a general question about needs analysis? Check out our needs analysis Q&A where we answer your burning questions.

Don’t see your question listed? Connect with me and I’ll answer your question.

Finally, if you are interested in partnering with SweetRush on your next learning project, contact us and we’ll be happy to find out more about your needs!

The Value of Conducting a Needs Analysis—Part 2: Plan for the Future

September 15, 2021June 28, 2023 by Emma Klosson

In part 1 of this blog post series, I explained why we invest time in a needs analysis—and how critical it is to the success of learning solutions.

In the next two posts, I’m going to walk you through two different approaches to needs analysis: the first is more strategic and is focused on the future needs of the organization as a whole, and the second is more tactical and concentrates on existing needs.

Strategic-Level Needs Analysis

This level of needs analysis is a proactive, forward-looking activity with one simple objective: to ready the workforce to meet future performance goals.

When to use this: You need to help the business identify and anticipate future training needs across an entire business group or organization.

What happens: L&D partners with senior leadership to review the company’s strategic goals—usually for the next three to five years depending on your organization’s cadence—to determine what knowledge, skills, and performance the workforce will need to meet the goals.

Level of complexity: Depending on the size of the organization and the number and scope of the strategic goals, this type of needs analysis can range from simple (for small companies with few goals) to extremely complex (think large multinational companies with multiple goals).

What this looks like at a high level: While the specific methods for conducting the tasks listed here may vary, these are the fundamental steps that L&D will need to complete:

Partner with leaders and stakeholders to identify and prioritize the strategic business goals and associated desired business and performance outcomes.
Identify the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to achieve the goals.
Conduct assessment to benchmark the existing knowledge, skill, and performance levels of the organization (performance gap analysis).
Define the learning objectives and evaluation strategy for each business goal and desired outcome.
Inventory any existing training materials and resources to see what can be leveraged (content mapping and gap analysis).

Finished output: At the end of the analysis, L&D prepares a findings and recommendations report along with a detailed solution blueprint and roadmap to help the business visualize and prioritize the solution development.

In our recent Needs Analysis Clinic webinar, a participant asked: “Do you have any recommendations for needs analysis for a large and diverse audience? I need to start working on a company-wide strategy (400+ employees). We are looking to identify the top skills needed.”

In this instance, I recommended completing a strategic-level needs analysis. To see my detailed response, click here to view the Q&As from the session and scroll down to question number three.

While the strategic approach does take a while to do and it can be complex, it only needs to be done once every three to five years or so depending on how often your company updates its strategy. And the work you do now will pay off dividends over time!

For a less complex look at needs analysis, head over to part 3 of this blog post series where I walk you through a project-level needs analysis.

For a comprehensive step-by-step guide to completing a needs analysis, download our eBook, The Needs Analysis Playbook.

The Value of Conducting a Needs Analysis—Part 1: The Why

September 11, 2021June 28, 2023 by Emma Klosson

Conducting a needs analysis is a critical step in the learning experience design process, yet it is often overlooked—or skipped over entirely. This is most likely due to a common misconception about it being a time-consuming, expensive, or overly complex undertaking.

But designing and implementing a learning experience solution without first doing a needs analysis is a huge risk. After all, if you don’t know what the underlying problem or need is, how can you be sure that what you’re creating will solve it?

It would be like a doctor prescribing treatment without having a clear understanding of who the patient is and what the symptoms are—not to mention details about the patient’s medical history, allergies, or other critical risk factors. Not only is it unlikely that the patient will get better, there’s also a pretty big chance that the doctor may end up doing more harm than good.

In this blog post series, I’ll help demystify the needs analysis process and demonstrate its value by examining why we do it as well as two different ways to approach it.

Let’s begin where all good needs analysis begins—with the why.

Why do a needs analysis?

Like a doctor performing a series of diagnostic tests, we carry out a needs analysis to uncover what the underlying problem is, whom it affects, what impact it’s having on the individual—or, in L&D’s case, what impact it’s having on the individual, the team, and the business—and what the desired outcome, aka “success,” looks like.

We then use our findings to design effective learning solutions but perhaps more importantly, to determine if training is the right and only solution.

So, what do I mean by this?

Let’s think about why we train people in the first place. We train to improve their knowledge, skills, and performance. We identify the gaps and fill them in. And when we get it right—when we develop effective training solutions—we should see performance improve, which, in turn, should impact business results.

But there are lots of things that can affect performance—many of which can fall outside the scope of training. These can include internal factors such as the learners’ mindsets, attitudes, and beliefs as well as external factors, such as an organization’s systems and tools, procedures and policies, culture, and even people.

To revisit our doctor/patient analogy for a moment, there may be instances when medication alone may not be enough to ensure a full and successful recovery. There may be other factors impacting the patient’s health condition or ability to heal such as their lifestyle, diet, stress levels, exercise routine, or sleep habits.

In fact, even the word “recovery” (success) might mean different things to different people. For some, it might mean regaining basic mobility after breaking a leg and being able to walk or drive again, whereas for others it might mean being able to compete in the Olympic Games.

The doctor needs to take everything into consideration in order to devise and prescribe the most effective treatment plan. And the same is true for learning.

So we do a needs analysis to find out what the problem is, whom it affects, what or who might be contributing to the performance problem, and what success looks like on individual and business levels. Once we have this information, we can determine whether training is the right and only solution before going on to design and develop an effective program.

At SweetRush, we’ve devised a whole new needs analysis experience that sits at the intersection of learning experience design and design thinking. To find out more about our groundbreaking CoDesign service and whether it’s a good fit for you, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

Now we know the “why.” Let’s take a look at the “how.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about strategic-level needs analysis and how it can help ready the workforce to meet future performance needs, go to part 2.

If you want to explore project-level needs analysis, what it entails—hint: it’s super easy!—and why you should include this level of analysis on every single training project, go to part 3.

If you’d like a deeper dive into why we do a needs analysis and how to conduct a project-level analysis, download our definitive guide, The Needs Analysis Playbook.

The Needs Analysis Clinic: Answers to your Questions

August 4, 2021September 14, 2022 by Emma Klosson

At our webinar, The Needs Analysis Clinic: Bring Your Learning Challenges and Get Expert Help, Emma Klosson, SweetRush Senior Instructional Designer/Learning Evangelist, and Tiffany Vojnovski, Instructional Designer/Learning Evangelist, discussed how to effectively partner with stakeholders and shared six questions you should always ask them to help set your learning solutions up for success.

They also answered your learning challenges by explaining:

How to position L&D to the business and get buy-in on the needs analysis process
How to complete a needs analysis when time and resources are stretched and stakeholders need solutions fast!
What to do with the data you gather during the needs analysis and how to use it to make solution design recommendations

We want to thank the webinar participants for their excellent questions. As promised, here are Emma’s answers to the questions she didn’t have time to answer live!

Q1. How do you get your non-L&D stakeholders away from the mindset that training “completion” or 100% participation is the measurement of success? I realize it ties into a larger learning culture issue, but always have trouble explaining how and why to measure. Any tips?

This is a great question and one that I think many people will identify and struggle with. And you’re absolutely right in thinking this is a larger learning culture issue that requires a mindset shift.

In the webinar, I talked about stepping into the shoes of a learning vendor and reflecting on how you position L&D to the business. I suggested ways you can help the business understand your services and what to expect when partnering together—for example, by documenting your processes and creating guidelines that describe how and when to engage with you. I truly believe that this is the best way to alter those mindsets and beliefs and embed the behaviors that you are looking for.

For your specific challenge, I recommend taking charge of the conversation around measurement by developing a project intake process that is focused on business and performance outcomes. Use the six stakeholder questions we shared (which you can also find in my Needs Analysis Playbook) to guide this process and the conversation that follows.

When you can steer stakeholders toward talking about the specific behaviors and measurable or observable outcomes they expect to see, it will be much easier to lead them to a solution—and evaluation strategy—that is targeted to a specific audience’s needs. The best part: you won’t even need to have the conversation about how and why to measure, because your recommendation will address all their needs.

Q2. Are there any suggestions for assessing whether the stakeholders you’re working with truly understand their audience? For example, I recently had a client who based their audience’s needs for a DEI training on an in-depth survey from 2019. I realized, belatedly, that the date should have been a red flag.

At SweetRush, we truly believe that there is no substitute for talking to the learners. Stakeholders can tell you who the target audience is and will have a sense of what their needs might be, but no one is better placed to speak to this than the learners themselves.

I recommend making room in your needs analysis process for a learner audience analysis. Take on board what the stakeholders tell you, and then ask to speak to a representative sample of the target audience as part of this process.

I’ve devoted an entire chapter of the Needs Analysis Playbook to just this topic. Head to Chapter 2, “The Learner Audience Analysis” (page 24), for my step-by-step guide to carrying out this critical task—find out who you should talk to and what information you should gather. Then head over to Chapter 4, “The Needs Analysis Report,” to find out how to synthesize your findings and present your recommendations to the stakeholders.

Q3. Do you have any recommendations for needs analysis for a large and diverse audience? I need to start working on a company-wide strategy (400+ employees). We are looking to identify the top skills needed.

This question is connected to the strategic-level needs analysis that we touched on during the webinar but didn’t go into great detail on.

If your goal is to identify the top skills needed, you’ll need to partner with your senior leadership team to discuss the company’s short- and long-term strategic goals. Focus on the measurable outcomes—for example, increase sales of a specific product/service by X%; or increase market share by X%; or grow a specific sales channel by X%. Note: the company may have several goals, and you’ll need to ask the leadership team to tell you what their priorities are—you can’t determine this yourself.

Once you know what the business priorities are, you can begin partnering with the stakeholders for those goals to identify who the target audience is and what specific competencies and skills they’ll need—what will they need to know and be able to do to achieve the desired outcomes?

Once you have your top skills identified, you can complete a benchmark assessment of the target audience’s current competency and skill levels. Identify where the gaps are and who the experts (SMEs) are—you’ll need the SMEs later on, when you design and develop the solution!

Next, conduct an inventory of your existing training materials and resources, to see what content already exists and where the gaps are—this is also known as curriculum- or content-mapping.

Finally, use your findings to develop and then present a strategic roadmap that shows the leaders and stakeholders what needs to be done and how you recommend getting there.

We recently worked with a client who did something similar. Here’s their story: The company, a global retail brand, sells its products through its own-brand global retail stores and dot-com business. It also sells products through global distributors—both online and in brick and mortar stores. As part of its five-year strategy, the company wanted to grow its online sales business with digital retail partners.

The stakeholder for this goal partnered with the company’s global sales L&D team to identify the target audience, the global wholesale team, and the skills and competencies they’d need to drive this growth—eCommerce.

The L&D team completed a content-mapping exercise and identified an internal thought partner. They then contacted external vendors, including SweetRush, to help develop content to fill in the gaps.

Together with their partners, the L&D team went on to develop a comprehensive, three-tiered eCommerce training strategy for their target audience of 2,000+ global sales professionals.

Good luck!

Q4. How much energy do I put into developing content for a temporary work system? The systems will be retired and replaced with a new business solution. In the interim, I am concerned that I may overdevelop.

The short answer to this question is: as little as possible!

That said, it really depends on how crucial the system is to the business. I would recommend looking at critical tasks first and focusing on those. What are the areas that people struggle with most, and what impact does that have on productivity or other critical outcomes? Solve those problems first.

If you know which solution will be replacing your current one, you might want to identify what, if any, overlaps or similarities there might be between the two, to see whether content you develop now can be repurposed later on. This doesn’t even have to be system-related—think about the learner WIIFM and any mindsets or beliefs that you might need to shift as a result of the change and start there.

Q5. How do I do a more in-depth needs analysis for remote departments? Let’s say we need a needs analysis for the accounting department. Although I will be able to talk to the leader and learners, I won’t be able to observe them actually doing their job, to really comprehend their needs.

When it comes to assessing the needs of an entire department, you’ll need to partner with the leaders and stakeholders first, to get aligned on their performance goals and desired outcomes. Use the six stakeholder questions we shared to help uncover these. (You can also see the answer I gave to Q3, above.) Once you know what those goals are, you can turn your attention to the learners.

While there will be some situations where there is no substitute for observation—procedural task-based training comes to mind here—you won’t always need to observe learners doing their job to fully understand their needs. You can do this by asking them targeted questions and by collaborating with subject matter experts (SMEs), who are currently performing the role or tasks instead. And I say this with experience! Having worked for a fully-remote learning vendor for the past five years, I’ve relied heavily on collaboration from learners and SMEs to help uncover their needs successfully.

If you do need to observe the learners and you can’t be with them in person, I recommend partnering with leadership to identify individuals who can help you complete a job-task-inventory (JTI).

Target both highly experienced and lesser experienced individuals to keep records of how they perform the specific task or duty that you need to develop training on. There are lots of great JTI templates available online. I like to include the following information in mine:

What is the name of the task?
What are the specific steps—and substeps—within the task?
What knowledge is required to complete the steps/substeps?
What tools or technology is required to complete the steps/substeps?
What other resources do you rely on to complete the steps/substeps? (Think people, performance support, etc.)

Regardless of the format you use, make sure that you teach the learners how to complete the JTI. Walk and talk them through the document and leave them with guidelines that illustrate what good looks like (WGLL) and what bad or not-so-good looks like (WBLL).

Another great option is to use video. Assuming this is allowed, ask your target learners to record themselves completing their tasks. Ask them to talk through everything they are doing as they are doing it. This is a great option if the job requires them to make decisions or exercise judgement-making skills—you can ask the learner to explain where the decision points are and what logic or skill they are using to inform their choices.

Q6. How can I measure the impact in dollars of not training?

This is a tough question to answer, particularly without knowing where specifically you are hoping to add value. Assuming your focus is on productivity, you could perform a time and motion study. Track how much time it’s currently taking to perform a specific task and compare that to the time or manpower that will be saved by improving an aspect of that task. Don’t forget to factor in your estimated costs for designing, developing, and implementing the training—along with any costs associated with learner participation (time away from work) and running fees (venue hire or technology, for example)—when you are doing your calculations.

I recommend looking at the Philips model of evaluation (Level 5 Evaluation: ROI) to help with this work—or to determine if your training initiative is a suitable candidate for this approach.

You might also want to consider the intangible costs of not doing training, such as the impact on employee engagement and even attrition rates. Partner with your HR team here to study exit interview data and employee engagement survey results, to discover if there is any evidence to support this impact.

Q7. What if a manager doesn’t really know what they should do because he/she is new? (For example, a small company with 25 employees.)

Since I’m not sure who asked this question, I’m going to answer it from two different points of view.

If you are an L&D practitioner or leader: My advice is to partner closely with the manager and educate them on the value you can provide. Find out about the company’s strategy and short- and long-term business goals, and work together to identify what skills the workforce will need to help meet them. Once you have a clear picture of the business’ and learners’ needs—and you have spoken to the learners and mapped out your constraints!—present your findings and recommendations in a way that will help the manager identify and prioritize the options for closing the performance gaps.

If you are the manager: Grab your L&D partner and share your vision and strategy with them. What are your short- and long-term performance goals? Where do you see opportunities to upskill your team to help meet those goals? What are the performance gaps now? And what performance gaps might you anticipate as you look to the future? How will you know that you have achieved those goals? What does success look like to you?

If you don’t have an L&D person yet, consider partnering with a vendor or augmenting your team with temporary expert help. SweetRush can help with this. Head over to our Get in Touch page to share your needs with us.

Q8. Any recommendations on an LMS for small businesses?

Our clients typically have a preferred enterprise LMS, and our job is to make sure our courses work flawlessly within their system—a fun and sometimes challenging task! From time to time, we do consult with clients to choose an LMS as part of a larger project scope.

There are lots of great resources you can use to compare and contrast different learning management systems. Our friends at eLearning Industry have a directory of LMS providers you can search—you can then filter the results based on your needs.

Good luck!

———————-

Thanks again all for your great questions! It’s great to see that you are as passionate about needs analysis as I am!

If you want to listen back to the webinar recording, you can do that here. If you haven’t already done so, download your copy of The Needs Analysis Playbook, our step-by-step guide to needs analysis. The book is packed with useful tips and practical advice for doing a stakeholder and learner audience analysis, identifying the project’s constraints, and preparing a needs analysis report.

Finally, if you’d like to stay in touch with me and to continue the needs analysis conversation, you can find me on LinkedIn.

Happy analyzing!
Emma

Press Play: 5 Tips for Writing Audio Scripts

March 30, 2021June 28, 2023 by Emma Klosson

Do you fancy yourself the Greta Gerwig or Bong Joon Ho of the eLearning world? Do you want to write blockbuster audio scripts that will make stars of your on-screen characters and have your audience reaching for popcorn and hoping for a sequel? Most importantly, do you want to be able to connect with your audience members and elicit a meaningful response from them?

If you’re already visualizing your acceptance speech, keep reading for our top five tips for writing audio scripts.

From Blockbusters to Rotten Tomatoes: The Payoff and Pitfalls of Writing Audio Scripts

Instructional designers are no strangers to writing. You write educational, instructive, and insightful content every day. You may even write training scripts for role-play activities, or speaker notes for facilitators. But scriptwriting requires a different skill set. You need to think more like a screenwriter. You need to set the tone. You need to win over your audience. You need to get it rooting for the main characters—better yet, your audience needs to be the hero of your story. And you need to do all of this in a way that feels authentic and relatable.

When you can do this, you’ll create rich learning experiences that enhance engagement, build empathy, elicit an emotional response, and motivate the learner to take action.

And if you miss the mark, if you create experiences that don’t feel authentic or relatable, you run the risk of distracting the members of your audience or, even worse, alienating, angering, frustrating, or offending them.

So how do you ensure that your audio script will be Certified Fresh and not deemed a Rotten Tomato?

Tip 1: Use the Right Voice

Unlike dialogue, which is specific to the actual words your characters will be speaking, voice has more to do with the general feeling you want to evoke.

Voice is usually driven by your client, their brand, and how they talk to their customers.

A simple way to find out more about your customer and their voice is to visit their website. Make a beeline for their About Us and Our Story pages. Here, you’ll find out who your client is, where they came from, and what they’re about. More importantly, you’ll see how they like to present themselves to the world and how they talk to their customers.

As you’re reading, notice the language they use and how it makes you feel. Is the language formal or casual? Technical or simple? Does it feel inspiring, intellectual, playful? Pay attention to the voice, and try to use the same language and echo the same feeling when you’re writing audio scripts.

If in Doubt, Ask!

Stakeholders may want to use a different voice for their training, so be sure to ask your what they’re looking for before you start writing your scripts. If you’re using the company voice, ask to see a copy of the brand or style guidelines. Most of these now include examples of the brand voice along with general branding guidelines. Review this carefully, and discuss anything you’re unclear on with the stakeholder.

Tip 2: Use the Right Tone

To home in on the tone, think about what you’re trying to do. Are you trying to educate and inspire your audience? Do you need to sell them on an idea or persuade them to do or try something new? Perhaps you need to warn them about the dangers of something?

The intention (or purpose) of your training will inform the tone you use when writing audio scripts.

Note: It’s important to think about any disconnects between voice and tone at this stage. While it’s possible to approach more serious subjects with a lighter tone, it’s a skill that requires a practiced hand. Getting it wrong could be disastrous. Work with the stakeholders to get this part right.

Tip 3: Create Character Personas

If your goal is to represent the learner on-screen, you’ll need to create dialogue that they recognize and can relate to. Use the words they use. Say the things they say.

What’s the best way to find out what they say and how they say it? Talk to the learners! Find out who they are and what they’re like.

Once you have a sense of the people you’re writing for—and the people you’re writing about—you can develop character personas. The character persona is a brief statement that describes who the character is, what they do, what they find challenging, and what they might be thinking or feeling in times of calm or stress. The persona provides guidelines not only for the audio script writing but also for the voiceover actors and the design teams who are bringing the characters to life.

Taking this one step further at SweetRush, our Instructional Designers and Creative Directors are spending more and more time working on characters’ backstories. They begin by sketching them out on a virtual whiteboard before introducing them to the illustrators and voice-over actors. Taking the time to complete this step allows the characters’ personalities to shine through.

We recommend taking this extra step if you’re writing characters for a long program or a series of programs—or if the characters play a large part in your story and content.

Writing Audio Scripts — Heather is one of six characters we developed for new people manager qualification program with our partner SHRM. As the learning progressed, so, too, did the characters. Instructional Designers mapped out each character’s background and onward journey before writing the audio scripts.

Audio Script — The character of Malik has appeared in no fewer than 28 eLearning courses! Malik has four coworkers, and each, like him, has unique skills and experiences as well as some vulnerabilities. The SweetRush team used character personas to not only steer and direct the scriptwriting but also ensure attention to detail and consistency concerning nuances and character quirks.

Tip 4: Include Direction for the Voice-Over Actor

The voice-over actors typically won’t see the entire eLearning script or know the entire story. They’ll see only their lines. It’s really important, therefore, to give them what they need to bring your characters to life in the way you want.

Share the character personas and context with the actors. Provide the actors with background on your characters along with instructions on how to portray them. Here are a couple of examples:

Character	The setup	Tips for playing this character
Maya	Maya is an experienced recruiter. She’s interviewing Jose for a potential promotion opportunity.	Maya is a seasoned professional who knows exactly what to ask to gain the insights she needs from candidates. She’s very deliberate in her approach and uses her active listening skills to give candidates the time and space they need to respond. She wants candidates to feel at ease. Use a warm, open, friendly, and relaxed tone when playing Maya unless otherwise directed.
Jose	Jose is a highly skilled key accounts manager. He recently applied for a promotion to team lead and will be interviewing with Maya.	Jose is applying for an internal promotion. He’s usually quite confident and in control during work situations and is well liked by his peers, but he’s feeling anxious about the interview. He really wants this position, but he doesn’t interview often, and he’s worried he’ll say or do the wrong thing. Pay attention to the shifts in Jose’s tone as directed. He’ll start out anxious and flustered. As the interview proceeds, he’ll become more calm and relaxed.

Add direction and prompts to specify tone, inflection, and emotion. Is your character nervous, angry, or elated? Are they trying to inspire, educate, or warn the learner? Annotate your scripts with these directions so the actor can match the emotion and tone you wish to convey.

Example:

Maya [warm, friendly]:	“Thanks for taking the time to meet with us today, Jose.”
Jose [confident then flustered]:	“Yeah, no problem. … I mean, thank you … for meeting with me. I’m excited about this.”

Provide instructions for the pronunciation of jargon or unusual words. Spell out jargon phonetically, or better yet, record an example for the actor to have as a reference.

Pop into the “booth” and give direction. If you have access to the actor, schedule time up front to brief them on the overall project and story, the script, and any nuances or special pronunciation that they should be aware of.

Specify how numbers and acronyms should be pronounced. Should the number “123” be spoken as “one, two, three” or “one hundred twenty-three”? Is ACT pronounced like the word “act” or “A, C, T?” Remove any doubts by adding in this detail.

Read it aloud. Before you hand the script off to the production team or actor, read it aloud. Does the dialogue sound natural? Have you provided enough direction around tone and emotions? Hearing your script read aloud will help you catch anything you might have missed.

Tip 5: Get Inspired!

Our final tip is all about getting inspired. Voice, tone, and authenticity are all key elements of great audio script writing. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t play around with themes or get inspiration from outside the workplace to build your stories.

Here are some of our favorite places to draw inspiration from:

Television and movies: Pay attention to how the writers and actors build suspense in drama. Observe the dialogue and timing used in comedies.
Advertising: This is short-form persuasive writing at its best. Pay attention to how writers pack a punch while being economical with their words.
Podcasts and radio: Neither format relies on visual aids, so how do they gain and maintain your attention? Do they use different guests and voices? How do they make the experience more dynamic?
Novels and audiobooks: Get inspired by stories and narratives, and pay attention to how writers show versus tell.
Articles and print media: Pay attention to the different tones used—are they informative? Instructive? Educational? How do they engage and inspire you to take action?

Remember Heather from the SHRM people manager qualification program? We took inspiration from outside the workplace to create a learning experience that centers around six friends who regularly meet up in a coffee shop to talk about life and work.

Sound familiar?

Wherever you get your inspiration from, keep a record of the things you like. Carry a notebook or make audio recordings on your phone. Make notes or write prompts to remind you of what you liked and where you might use a similar technique in your next audio script.

Elevate Your Audio Script Writing

Well-written audio scripts can enhance learner engagement, build empathy, and elicit an emotional response from your audience. To nail the voice and tone and create authentic and realistic dialogue, engage both the stakeholders and the learner audience in the process.

For more ideas for bringing your characters to life, check out our eBook Virtual Training—SweetRush Style: 5 Inspiring Case Studies for a Learner-Centered Approach. It’s packed with real-world examples and tips and tricks from our experts, and you’re bound to find something in it to inspire your next audio script!

Power Pellets: 10 Steps to Winning at Nanolearning

November 11, 2020June 6, 2023 by Tiffany Vojnovski

Anyone who’s ever fast-forwarded a video or jumped to the summary of an article knows that when delivering content, brevity is king.

Our collective fatigue with screens, schedules, and shifting priorities makes getting to the point more urgent than ever—and our learners feel the same.

With emails, IMs, and all kinds of alerts interrupting our learners every five minutes,¹ we’re fighting a constant battle for their attention. Some experts suggest that learners can devote only 1% of their workweek to training and development. Over a 40-hour week, that adds up to a meager 24 minutes.

And those 24 minutes are probably scattered: Most learners won’t (can’t?) even watch a video that lasts longer than four minutes.¹

How do we reach them amid the noise and bustle of the information arcade?

The Need for Nanolearning

With alerts and notifications bombarding them day and night, learners are distracted all the time. Those pings and dings aren’t emotionally neutral, either: They contribute to a state of constant stress.

Add in other pressures—from health, finances, and family, to the year 2020 as a whole—and their ability to focus plummets even further.

Learners under stress can be physically unable to process large amounts of detailed information. When they need to know something, they need resources that respect their limited bandwidth and attention.

Enter our hero: nanolearning.

What Is Nanolearning?

Nanolearning is a bite-sized learning solution that:

Ranges from one to 15 minutes in duration
Focuses on one to three concepts or learning objectives
Is accessed on a “pull,” or voluntary basis, at the learner’s moment of need
Is often electronic in format—though it doesn’t have to be
Nanolearning is the term we use at SweetRush for bite-sized learning; you may be more familiar with the term microlearning. These two terms—and probably others—likely evolved in parallel, as different L&D teams addressed the growing need for shorter, moment-of-need learning.

At 10^-9, or one-billionth, a nano is actually smaller than a micro (10^-6, or one-millionth). Keeping nano in the name reminds us to show our maxed-out learners some love—by way of the shortest, most power-packed learning pellets possible.

For L&D purposes, though, nanolearning and microlearning are synonyms. As you read on, feel free to plug in your own favorite term for bite-sized learning.

Why Nanolearning?

We have a tendency to remember the first and last things we learn—that’s why studying in short bursts is more productive than pulling an all-nighter. In nanolearning, too, we teach our learners more by not telling them too much at once.

Surprise! We also learn better when we’re interested in the material—and when we understand why we need it. Anyone who’s searched “How to repair a dishwasher” or “How to tie a tie” under duress knows that need is a great motivator.

And here’s a treat for L&D folks: Nanolearning strengthens our relationship with our learners. By letting them graze, we gain their trust. By planting power pellets they can actually use, we show that we understand their needs.

Next time they have a question, they won’t ghost us in favor of Google.

10 Steps to Nanolearning

Ready to try nanolearning? These 10 steps will get you through the maze.

Identify the need. Ask your team: What processes could be broken down into smaller skills or steps? What are learners’ most frequently asked questions? What procedures do they perform less often—and what performance supports could help them when they need to refresh? Not sure? Interview your learners and their managers. The design thinking process is a great investment when you’re not sure what learners need—or what they already know. Your team can leverage this methodology live or remotely.
Find a home for your nanolearning. Nanolearning is mobile-friendly; before you commit to mobile, though, make sure your learners can access their phones during the day. Visit their work sites and observe whether phones are allowed on the factory floor, or if salespeople carry a tablet. Then, consider the operating system needs and find a single solution to house your content. Learners don’t want to download and log into multiple apps—that makes them ghost.
Choose your media. As you’re touring your learners’ work sites, dig deeper. Are they able to play videos at their workstations, or are they road warriors who prefer podcasts? If work conditions vary, consider offering your nanolearning in multiple modalities. Logistics are critical, but your learners’ preferences are just as important. How do they learn new skills or hobbies outside of work? If you’re not sure, this is another great case for conducting learner interviews—or investing in the entire design thinking process.
Sell your nanolearning. How will learners know your nanolearning is available—and worth checking out? Create a communications plan to inform learners about what’s available, when and why they’ll need it, where to find it, and what’s in it for them. Engage internal influencers—that is, champions and peers—to be the face of your campaign. With peers attesting to its value, your campaign won’t feel like another announcement from on high.
Keep modules short. Requests for “one more thing” are the sworn enemies of nanolearning. With the best of intentions, stakeholders sometimes get nervous about all of the material a nanolearning module doesn’t cover. Address those concerns—your stakeholder may have a case for another module—but remind them that the cognitive punch of nanolearning depends on brevity. Remember that four-minute window? It’s fragile. Don’t let the “Can we just” gremlins break it.
Lead with the WIIFM. The title of each nanolearning module should make a clear offer about the task or skill it covers, for example: “How to make a sales call.” Avoid descriptions like “Customer Service 101” or “Intermediate Sales.” Learners don’t have our bird’s-eye view of the content. They don’t know whether their question is elementary or intermediate—and they won’t stick around to find out.
Index your content. Make your modules searchable, using intuitive terms. Tag them with “How do I…/How to + task.” If there’s a specialized or technical name for the task, include that as well. But don’t make the learner guess at terminology they don’t yet know. That adds time and frustration—and increases the risk of ghosting.
Limit the scope of your modules to three (or fewer!) learning objectives. Learners who can search for what they don’t know have a good understanding of what they need. Trust them, and don’t sneak in extras! Most searchable tasks and questions don’t require a lot of context. If you were searching for videos on how to tie a bow tie, you wouldn’t want to learn the history of ties; how they’re manufactured; and how to tie a regular tie, a bolo tie, shoelaces, etc. Answer the question learners searched for—and no more. It’s fair game to recommend related resources. Just don’t expect to rope learners in right now: Meet their need and set them free.
Curate—don’t recreate. Your team doesn’t have to create all of your content from scratch. Even organizations with heavily branded processes can benefit from third-party content. Learners enjoy hearing different voices, and they benefit from multiple perspectives in their own—and adjacent—industries. By referencing the larger conversation, you also model best practices for staying current. New and seasoned learners alike can benefit from suggestions of thought leaders and organizations to follow.
Create a culture of sharing. Whether they’re attending webinars or following trending topics on LinkedIn, many of your learners already engage in informal learning. Give them a space to share and discuss the articles, blogs, and other media that inspire them. Nanolearning shouldn’t be a closed system: It should be a forum for connection and conversation. Encourage your learners to co-create with you to build a sense of shared ownership—and a direct window into their needs.

Want more support? Give us a shout—we’re happy to help you connect the dots.

References

Deloitte Development, LLC, “Meet the Modern Learner” [digital image], (2014).
Emma Klosson, “How to Design a Virtual Workshop: 5 Lessons Learned in Virtual Design Thinking,” eLearning Industry, (2020).
Lauren Granahan, “Be a Learning Hero: Use Design Thinking”

Best Practices When Converting Instructor-Led Training to Virtual Training

April 15, 2020September 14, 2022 by Waylen Miki

Do you have in-person sessions approaching that you need to quickly convert to virtual instructor-led training? Our team of experts provides best practices, tips, and tricks to help you be successful.

Many organizations are facing the challenge of maintaining their learning programs during the COVID-19 crisis. Some require entirely new training to address the shifting needs of the business. For example, this auto manufacturer has converted one of its car plants to make ventilator masks. This means that training for new skills and processes may be required—and time is a huge factor. Learning and Development professionals are heeding the call.

With the need to cancel in-person training and gatherings, you may be looking to quickly shift to virtual instructor-led learning in a matter of weeks (or even days). This can be a massive change-management moment for an organization. But you’re not alone. Overnight, almost every person has had to transform his or her way of working, communicating, gathering socially, and learning. Like a technological Big Bang, digital transformation just happened on a global scale.

First and foremost: You can handle this challenge! Here are some tips to begin the conversion process.

Map learning objectives to virtual instructor-led training

You need to identify what you want/need people to know/be able to do. Next, you can chunk existing content related to your objectives, bucket it into modules, and determine the most effective way to sequence it in your virtual presentation.

Answer these questions:

What makes sense to be taught first?
What topics can be combined?
How many sessions do you think you’ll require to teach each module?

You will likely already have many of the learning materials needed for virtual training. Identify existing instructor-led training (ILT) content that is related to those objectives, and begin the process of curating what to keep and what can go.

Prepare the virtual presentation

When it comes to building your presentation (slide deck), enhance existing content with additional slides to reinforce, explain, and support what you are trying to teach. Remember that attention can be lost if your presentation is overly complex, wordy, and long. Keep your sessions short and to the point, your language simple and straightforward, and avoid any extraneous information.

Remember—think visually. Too much text on a slide can overwhelm your audience.

Consider your videoconferencing needs

Conferencing tools are all different, and you should consider which one will best serve your needs. Some are robust and complex, best for large groups, while others are simple and ideal for quick one-on-ones. Some videoconferencing services may require your team to download specific software. This can add to the learning curve and setup time.

Do you see value in recording your virtual session for later consumption? Remember that while Webex, GoToMeeting, and Zoom have recording capabilities, some others don’t. And be aware: In many cases, only the moderator has recording privileges. So if you have asked a nonparticipant to set up the meeting (say, an office administrator), he or she is going to need to be present (at least at the beginning) to start recording. Take a deep dive into the functionality of your conferencing tools to determine what works best for your team, your facilitator, and your presentation.

Here are some tools that you will find helpful in establishing virtual learning for larger groups:

Polls are a great way to gather information in the moment and can build engagement for a live presentation. Polls can be used to level-set, gauge where your learners are, and assess understanding.
Whiteboards are a great tool to enable collaboration in real time. People can share thoughts and ideas while adding elements to a communal space, helping them feel more connected to the training.
Chat windows or the ability to “raise your hand” to talk ensure that everyone has the opportunity to provide feedback. Even those who might be introverted and normally reticent to add their voice at an in-person gathering.
Breakout rooms are an excellent way to do synchronous, deeper work together that can then be brought back to the larger group. You should consider providing additional instructions to ensure people know what they’re doing. Also, a moderator or facilitator can ensure that the virtual rooms are functioning as expected and address any questions or issues that learners may have.

Manage your expectations and your time

It may take some extra time and training to ensure that your people have access to the technology and are comfortable using it. You can support your team by helping them establish a home office or workspace from which they can access training. Provide additional sessions to enable your team to get familiar with the virtual instructor-led training platform or tools you are using. Remember that not every member of your team is tech-savvy, so be patient and helpful.

A virtual meeting can require more minutes off the top than an in-person meeting. Everyone needs to get settled in and comfortable, and ready to learn. People need time to adjust to the technology and the interface, ways to comment and provide feedback, etc. Also—don’t forget to build in breaks so learners can refresh themselves.

You will need to ensure that you have a strong facilitator with an understanding of the topics being taught, the technology being used, and the best practices for facilitating a virtual program. This might entail added time to train the trainer and onboard new facilitators by helping them practice before they teach.

On a positive note

While this might seem like a daunting task, it can be a great opportunity for you to review and refresh existing training materials. This can help make the transition to virtual instructor-led training easier in the future as well as addressing any issues in the content before you return to business as usual. If you haven’t developed a virtual training session before, you’ll get a first-hand view of the efficiencies and benefits of virtual learning.

Converting ILT to virtual instructor-led training takes planning, strategy, and an optimistic approach to make it a reality. We’re here to help and offer advice. Our team has decades of experience in virtual learning and people management, both in-person and remote, with countless success stories and lessons learned. We have been extremely successful operating as a virtual company for over 10 years. Let us know if we can help you in any way.

For more guidance, we recommend that you check out this guide for a more detailed list of best practices and tips for converting ILT to virtual instructor-led training from the SweetRush Instructional Design team!

Are you interested in more information about converting in-person training to virtual learning? Check this out:

Converting instructor-led training to digital learning

Be a Learning Hero: Use Design Thinking

April 7, 2020September 14, 2022 by Lauren Granahan

If you’ve ever been frustrated by poorly designed training that didn’t consider your needs as a learner, trust us, there’s a better way. Enter design thinking for learning, which we call CoDesign.

Let’s face it—company-sanctioned learning has a bad reputation. Yes, I work for SweetRush—the top eLearning company in the world—and I just wrote that. While I have spent my career thinking about ways to overcome this reputation, I too am put in the learner seat sometimes; and, frankly, most of the stuff out there sucks.

My Own Experience with Corporate Compliance Training

Due to a change in the law, I had the…pleasure…of sitting through an hour-long sexual harassment module recently. It was an off-the-shelf program produced by…well, not SweetRush. During each of those 60 minutes, I felt the acute pain of an adult learner in the corporate world today. I kept asking myself, “Who thought this would hold my attention?” “Am I actually learning anything from this?” and, a sadder question, “Did the learning designer even care to ask these questions?”

As learners, a few things are known: Compliance training isn’t negotiable; task-based learning and professional development are important for us to be effective and grow in our careers. But, what if I told you that YOU can be a learning hero and help design learning experiences that hit the mark for you and your peers? What if you had a say in what that learning looks, sounds, and feels like? What if it were tailored to you and your peers, and drew you in and made you actually want to do it?

I invite you to be a learning hero.

The Design Thinking Methodology

At SweetRush, we’re integrating the design thinking methodology with learning design, which we call CoDesign. This is a new way to use design thinking, which traditionally is used for product and software development. No matter the end product you have in mind, the key thing to know about design thinking is that it puts a magnifying glass on users before doing any design.

Through the use of various activities, designers empathize with the user’s world, e.g., what they care about and what their lives are like, in order to truly understand what would work for them. Then, they begin designing, often alongside those users, and engage the users in testing their early ideas and prototypes, getting their feedback, and integrating it into revised ideas that are tested again.

Bottom line, it’s an iterative process that starts with a foundation of deep understanding of the user and continues with the user engaged in the design, which produces an end result that’s actually useful!

Applying Design Thinking in Learning and Development

Now let’s talk about how we’re using design thinking to achieve better learning design. Surprisingly, most learning designers skip right to design, taking the word of stakeholders or leaders in the organization for what will “work” for the learner audience without taking the time to ask the actual learners.

This is where you and your cape come in! Let’s say we are about to start designing a learning experience to help you gain new leadership skills. Rather than taking the word of others about what you like and who you are, what if we invited you and a cross-section of your peers (other leaders) to join a design thinking event?

We’ll deeply get to know you and your colleagues—what you enjoy doing in your off time, how you like to learn, and what you know already about specific leadership topics. With that information, we can then work together to design something that you’ll actually learn from and enjoy.

You’ll remain engaged in that process and, when the program is actually ready, and you and your peers sit down to learn, you’ll be the learning hero who deserves the kudos because…it won’t suck. It’ll be designed with the learner in mind, all thanks to you and your hero colleagues.

Grab your cape and come CoDesign with us and, together, we can work to change the reputation of company-sanctioned learning!

Read more about CoDesign, SweetRush’s approach to design thinking for learning: