Designing for Adult Learners

While college students are happy to work through a syllabus and achieve their grade at the end of the semester, the same is not true for adult learners in the workforce or following an online path of education.

To engage the adult learner there is a phrase that we use “What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM)”.  Adult learners need to see results fast, therefore, we need to create our modules and courses differently for them.  Telling the adult learner what is in it for them is so very important and can be linked to their needs in the workplace.

For instance: Suppose we have an electrical engineer that need to access training online because his parent company is in the USA and he is located in Ireland.  This engineer needs to access only the information that is relevant to the new tasks he will have to perform.  There is little point in going through the basics with him again as he is already qualified to do his job.  This new course may be how to programme a new electronic temperature system that collects data from a large food processing plant.

If we throw out lots of information then he will have no incentive to complete the course and you will make him feel under-qualified if you give him a full course to complete that starts off with simple engineering.

What he needs to know are the following:

• An introduction to the new system
• What are the advantages of the new system
• A video demo of the new system
• How to programme the new system
• A Software simulation (by him)
• Knowledge Check
• Final Quiz

Best Results Are Achieved By:

Giving the adult learner everything they need to cover the “What’s In It For Me” issue.  Now he is motivated and encouraged to complete the course and add to his skill-set.  Again it’s important to know that the technical jargon should be kept in line with the adult learner, always use simple words when they will do the job. WIIFM can be as simple as “at the end of this course you will be able to programme the latest version of the Temperature COllection Master”.

Again it worth remembering to keep courses and modules for adult learners short and sweet, no longer than 20 minutes.   Make sure that your title or introduction slide sets out exactly what the adult learner will be able to do after they have completed the course.

Where possible build breaks into the modules, for example, if you are demonstrating a new piece of equipment it may be useful to get the adult learner to visit the manufactures website to download the technical manual or to see what issues and faults have surfaced in the past.  You could also have them stop the module by giving them an exercise to complete before restarting the course or add in a knowledge check along the way.  This breaks the learning up and allows the adult learner to take in more of the information and process it for later.

In one of my HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points – Food Safety Course), I have the employee take an iPad and work their way through the kitchen to enter the answers to certain questions in within the course module.  This gives them both the theoretical knowledge and practical hands-on knowledge that reinforces the module and further engages the adult learner and their level of retention.

Know Your Audience

What’s important is to know your audience and deliver modules that meet their expectations? The guys that have a vast technical knowledge will want to have loads of detail, whereas the learner that works at an office desk may just want a basic outline of the task to be learned.

Learning Ways

It’s important to note that not all learners learn in the same way.  People have five learning inputs that the use to learns as follows:

• Aural (The like to just listen to a video or a recording to get the gist of the task to be learned)
• Visual (The like to see images, diagrams or sketches to understand what needs to be completed) They may say things like “I see what you’re Saying?
• Physical / Kinesthetic (these learners like the touchy, feel of the task to be completed)  They may say that doesn’t feel right to me?
• Logical (These learners like to work out the problem first and need to see things in a logical pattern) They normally create lists throughout the day.
• Verbal (These learners just need to be told how to do the task) They are happiest when you sit them down and tell them what needs to be done.  They may say I hear what you’re saying?

Most learners have at least two of these as their strong point, but many learners can use some or all of these to receive information.  Check the cues for how they learn in the descriptions above.  Remember that when you create modules for learners you have to put them at the forefront of the design and development process, how you learn is irrelevant to the learners.

As an instructional designer (ID) it is your job to incorporate as many of the ways that learners take in information into your course and modules.  That said it may be necessary to create a number of versions of the same course for different departments as they may have different requirements for the tasks they are required.  For example; I have created three versions of my HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points – Food Safety Course), as I have to deal with three different levels of requirement with level one learners requiring just an introduction to food safety, level two requiring an intermediate level of knowledge and level 3 requiring full food safety certification.

So, in conclusion, you need to give special treatment to your adult learners, keeping the information simple and fast to process.  You also need to understand that we all process information differently and you may need to create many versions or branching of your courses to allow for the requirements of the learning in their role in the business.

I hope you found this article useful and that it helps you create a better level of Adult Learning going forward.