Skill
The Approach for Skill Oriented Situations
This section is going to focus on how to figure out what learning theory is most appropriate for a given skill set.
Question #1
Where does this skill take place?
Working Environment
The working environment is very important, because it can help determine what resources, supports, and scaffolds are allowed to exist.
For example, a skill set that takes place in an office has a totally different environment than a skill set that takes place on a highway out in the elements. The office worker may be allowed to maximize the use of things like job aids, while the worker on the highway won't have that luxury.
The theory selected should put the learner in the best position to perform the skill in their actual environment. For the construction worker a variation of Vygotsky scaffolding might be the best approach.
Question #2
Are supports an option?
Supports / Job Aids
Similar in concept to question #1, this question gets right to the heart of the matter. In an era when information is readily available
at everyones' fingertips, the existence of effective job aids is an area that is often overlooked.
For example, if I need to find the average of five complex numbers I can use the calculator on my phone to perform this. Or if I need to organize various cells on an Excel document but don't know how I could Google or Youtube a quick tutorial on how to do this.
Since the introduction of the new verbs "Google" and "Youtube", employers could save employees time by providing them with job aids and supports to cut down on time wasted "searching the web". These supports can come in the form of physical pieces of paper, or could be mini interactive lessons accessed on a tablet or iPhone.
See this article on how job aids benefit the field of HRD.
Question #3
Do you prefer this to be Asynchronous and Synchronous learning?
Pace of Learning
For this question, the main idea is what does the execution of the project look like. Do you want learners to do this at their own pace? Do you want them to do this during business hours or have the flexibility to do it after traditional business hours?
If the stakeholder wants this to be a Synchronous Learning experience, then it may be worth considering doing a formal training setup. And if that is the route that is taken, then the materials and project will inherently look different than an Asynchronous Learning experience.
Not sure on the difference check out this website.
So how do you use these questions?
Example
With questions 1-3 answered honestly by the stakeholder, the collected information becomes valuable for the designer. Let's look at a fictional example of a construction company that focuses on roof repair. Below are some basic answers given to the three questions by a fictional stakeholder.
The skill needed to be a successful employee at this company takes place on the client's roof. They need to be able to provide the right solution based on the specific problem which has been addressed prior to starting the project.
Employees are expected to bring all the required materials and tools with them onto the roof. We do have a limited number of iPads that could be used by newly hired employees.
Since we are constantly trying to acquire new customers and perform new skills, we don't have the time to get everyone in a room for instructor-led training. And if we did it would be during the winter, which means it would be months before they would find themselves in a situation where they would have to use that skill.
Potential Solution
Borrowing from the K12 sector, the learning pieces need to resemble a skills based approach.
The emphasis within the project should heavily prioritize practice over recall.
To help the learner make sure that they have associated the right skill with the problem, the design could utilize Associative Learning.
Successfully pairing solutions with problems on a Rise course could replicate this type of learning.
A brief Rise course could loaded onto the company iPads used by new workers on their work site.
This would allow learners to review/revisit the process involved with the specific skill.
To help reinforce the connection between an Asynchronous project and the real world, the design should include actual employees.
By including an actual supervisor or peer, this minor detail helps to make the content feel more authentic and relevant.