WIIFM: Beyond Traditional Learning Objectives
Recently, I had an interesting conversation with one of our clients who sought our support in developing e-Learning modules. During our kick-off meeting, we delved into fundamental e-Learning principles. I started by guiding them on how to integrate the story, navigation, audio and visual support, and interactive elements seamlessly.
As I examined their source materials (a PowerPoint used for classroom training) I noticed the common practice of listing learning objectives at the start of their sessions. "Is this how you would like to start the e-Learning module as well?", I asked.
You might frown now: "Why is she questioning such a fundamental principle as "learning objectives"…
Questioning learning objectives?
Let me clarify that I do not question the importance of having clear learning objectives. However, I am challenging the conventional approach of making them explicit to the learner audience. Surprisingly, I'm not alone in this inquiry. Christy Tucker's blog (link to blog below) mainly lists arguments against. She quotes the research from Will Thalheimer to back up her arguments, for example:
You might be surprised to know that learning objectives help learners focus on the information targeted by learning objectives, but actually diminish their attention on information in the learning materials not targeted by learning objectives.
Although this is a very good argument, my main issue has more to do with engagement and keeping the learner interested and motivated to follow the training. Do you find a list of learning objectives appealing? Exactly.
What is the alternative?
Christy Tucker:
Rather than telling them the formal learning objectives, we need something written for that audience; a different set of objectives or goals that explains “What’s in it for me?” to the learners. Thalheimer has called these “focusing objectives”: the objectives we use to help learners focus on what’s important in training.
This is exactly what I was hinting at earlier this week and something we, at Arboth, apply in our e-Learning modules on a daily basis: we tell stories to convey the WIIFM (What's in it for me)-factor to the learners!
Illustrative examples:
Imagine the complex world of scientific publications within a pharmaceutical company: bringing together the opportunities to publish, timelines, channels, formats, different stakeholders, regulation, the data itself,… We sketched this complexity at the beginning of an e-Learning series, highlighting 3 important elements: strategy, stakeholders and implementation, which were narrowed down in follow-up modules. I may not have written ABCD Learning Objectives in the training itself, but I am quite sure that we did grab learner's attention, motivating them to be aware of these elements in their future scientific publications.
Next example: a training on "Cryogenic nitrogen and associated dangers". We started this training with an impactful image: An industry hall, exit door in the back and some materials obstructing the exit. All of a sudden, a cryogenic fog sets up, making it impossible to see the floor. Question to the learner was: Find your way out, without stumbling (and thus suffocating). Remember the materials? Remember you are dealing with nitrogen? Without explicitly listing learning objectives in the beginning of the e-Learning, we captured learners' attention, making them eager to learn more about other characteristics of nitrogen and the safety measures in such environments.
You might think now that we only create worst-case scenario's. That's of course not the case. In a people manager's training, we focus from the start on what questions new people managers might have performing their job. So we framed the protagonist as a new people manager who is asking questions, reaching out to colleagues, seeking information,… on themes such as 'rewards and recognition', ‘promotions‘, 'conversations', and so on.
In all of these examples, the learning objectives were made explicit between customer and developer. However, we deliberately chose not to communicate them as such to the learners. Conveying the WIIFM it is. And stories can help you focus your learners. By the way, did you know a conversational tone leads to better learning retention?
Get in touch: we are happy to bring your learning objectives to live.