Volume 20, Number 4
June 2003
ADULT LEARNING STYLES
By Storm Evans
In the business world we talk about "training" instead of
"teaching." In order to be effective as trainers, we must
remember first that our job is to teach. In order to teach we
must set objectives. What do we want our students to be able to
do when the class ends? In order to teach we must ask for
feedback from our students so we can assess whether they're
learning. We talk to them individually and look into our
students' eyes. In order to teach we must repeat, repeat, repeat.
Everyone needs repetition to learn. In order to teach we must be
sensitive to our students' needs, not rush them, and exercise
patience. Even though they are, in some cases, powerful
well-educated professionals, we must encourage them.
Learning about Learning
People have different learning styles. Some individuals learn in
a holistic way, wanting to know the whole process before they
press the first key. During training, the holistic student often
will want to discuss the process as well as practice it. Other
people learn in a very "serialistic" way. These people want to
know which keys to press to do a particular task-they'll put
together as much of the big picture as they need as they go
along. Some people learn best by doing, and others don't want to
touch the keyboard until they've digested the information and are
on their own. Lawyers for the most part are pragmatic, left-brain
thinkers; they don't want to engage in bonding, touchy-feely
warm-ups, nor do they want their information presented in
fancifully creative ways. In general they want to learn what they
need to know in the shortest possible amount of time, understand
how the new skills will help them, and get good at it fast.
Teachers in the business world must write materials, develop
training methods, and utilize a measure of control during
sessions to ensure that the needs of all types of learners are
met. Unfortunately, no one sorts the students into neat groups
for us before the training session. Only by working with people
can we understand how they learn.
People must be sold on the benefit of the changes that new
software or hardware, new skills, and procedures will require.
Written materials can better anticipate the needs of all types of
learners if each how-to section is preceded by an explanation of
what the course will accomplish and how the results will benefit
the attendees. You can't tell adult learners that learning is
"for their own good," as you can sometimes get away with telling
your children.
One major difference between teaching five-year-olds to ride a
bicycle and teaching adults to code cites for a table of
authorities is that children have all the time in the world to
learn to ride that bike-they want to learn that skill more than
anything else and will stick with it until they get it down. A
busy secretary or associate has other pressures and may find that
stopping to learn a new system slows the process down. An adult
must be able to put the new skill to work immediately. A degree
of fine-tuning and improvement can be worked in, but in general
adults will never take the time a child would.
I once read of an experiment on learning in which a group of
people was taught to tie a knot. There were two sets of
instructions, one easy, one hard; the group was taught the hard
way first. The students practiced, were timed, and perfected
their skill. The group then was taught to tie the knot the easier
way. They were relieved to learn it and used the easier way
whenever they could. The students next were put in high-pressure
situations in which they were asked to tie the knot; all resorted
to doing it the hard way, the way they learned first.
What this means for teachers in the business world is that we
never "untrain" our students. What we must do is train them to do
their jobs efficiently and effectively most of the time, which
will require periodically updating skills and procedures. Here
are some dos and don'ts for teaching in the business setting.
Keep the following points in mind, and you'll find your students
do most of your work for you.
Dos
-Set learning objectives: When my students leave this training
session, they will be able to __________________. The first word
in the blank should be a strong action verb. Good example: "will
be able to underline a word." Bad example: "will be able to
understand how to enter time." Better example: "will be able to
create and save a time entry."
-Plan training to meet the needs of the individual. For some,
training demonstrations for an entire law office or a department
held in a conference room with a projector can be effective. For
others, classroom-based, hands-on training will be most
effective. For many people (i.e., attorneys who did not grow up
with their hands permanently affixed to a keyboard), one-on-one
training is best. A good training program includes all of the
above.
-Make learning as simple a process as you can. Build flexible
training schedules with evening and weekend classes if that best
meets your students' needs.
-Prepare written materials. Customize the training with screen
shots for your particular implementation. Keep the training
materials brief and include step-by-step instructions. Written
materials do not look like a brief-they must have white space and
must be organized so students can tell where the logical breaks
are. Further, written materials tell students not only what to do
but what to expect. If the computer moves from one screen to
another, tell the student when that happens.
-Fine-tune the written materials. Before you use them with your
students, have someone who does not know how to use the software
use the materials. Fine-tune the materials based on the user's
feedback.
-Train in two-hour segments. The most effective training is
task-based, so students learn to accomplish one or two new things
each hour. The remainder of the two-hour session is devoted to
overview, review, and discussion. If you must train for four
hours or longer, break the training into two segments, with a
definite beginning and end.
-Conduct lunch-hour seminars. Select a manageable topic, schedule
the lunch, and present an overview session on the topic. Be sure
to include a handout showing what you discussed.
-Plan for "just-in-time" training. For example, a training
session on generating tables of authorities is important to
prepare a secretary for the task, but the student will probably
not remember how to do it by the time the need arises. Have the
written materials ready and, when the appropriate project
arrives, spend time with the secretary as he creates his first
table or two.
-Put all training materials on the server. As you create the
training materials, put them in a logical place on the server,
with the file path of the folder and specific training document
in the footer. Make sure everyone knows where the materials
are.
-Laminate brightly colored crib sheets for important tasks the
student may use only rarely.
-Take control in the classroom. You are training at the
instruction of the firm-do your job. Bring the students back to
the topic whenever needed. The people in the room are no longer
"partners," they are students. This will be easier if you are
well organized, knowledgeable, firm, and humble.
-Learn from your students. If someone asks a questions for which
you have no answer, write it down, figure it out on break or
after class, and inform the students. You may realize further
sessions are now in order, or you may revamp training for
subsequent classes in order to cover the subject.
-Use evaluation materials or follow up with students after an
appropriate period of time to ensure they can use the information
conveyed during the training.
Don'ts
-Avoid making assumptions. A good legal secretary or good IS tech
may not necessarily be a good teacher. If that person is required
to train others, work with her to develop basic training skills,
and follow up on how the training went.
-Watch your level of expectation. Few people learn from reading a
manual, for example-whether you or the vendor wrote it. Never
hand someone a manual and expect him to figure it out for
himself, unless the person specifically requests this
format.
-Match material to the job. Don't train a lawyer to edit text the
same way you would a secretary. Your students come with different
skills and responsibilities; tailor your training to suit
needs.
-Don't rely on razzle-dazzle. Training must be results-oriented,
not just sales hype. The fact that someone in the office knows
the software well or that the vendor offers "free" training
doesn't mean people will learn. In fact, people are often
intimidated by others who make a new skill look too easy.
-Resist the urge to write the definitive training tome. Short
training handouts with step-by-step instructions are effective; a
two-inch three-ring binder of information is not. In fact many
people return large binders of training materials, saying they
just take up too much space.
-Don't assume that because you had a training session and handed
out instruction outlines, your staff knows exactly how to do what
they were taught. Plan to hold review sessions and/or readjust
your training until you're certain that people do know what
they're doing.
Storm Evans is a practice support consultant specializing in
assisting lawyers in the Philadelphia area.
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