How People Learn

In my four years of classroom training, I have noticed a variety of things that, for lack of a better way to characterize them, just seem to work. I have, only in recent years as an instructional designer and as a participant in this program at ECU, received formal instruction in the processes of learning. So, I will focus on my classroom experience, which, in the interest of disclosure, is exclusively with adult learners.

First, people respond to interactivity—the more, the better. A hands-on approach to learning with ample opportunity to try different tasks in a safe environment set up to resemble as closely as possible to the real thing is what learners consistently rate as a most effective learning experience.

Second, repetition as a form of practice helps reinforce learning—again, the more, the better.

Third, people like to have their prior knowledge acknowledged and respected. Conversely, others in the group do not always wish to hear ad nauseam about the prior knowledge of their peers. This is something that can be a bit delicate to manager, but it generally involved allowing the person to wax about their experience in whatever the context. As a trainer I would then have to bring it around back to the topic and attempt to act as a moderator in keep all on task.

As a trainer, I probably engaged in constructivism most of all. Wherever I could, I would try to draw our customer experiences back to the real-life experiences of my trainees. I would also attempt to use a fair amount of analogies as a way to show my trainees how seemingly complex concepts were really not very different from things they experience in their day-to-day living. On my better days, I would use dual-coding by presenting multiple ways of looking at the same situation.

These days, as an instructional designer, I am more of a behaviorist in that I am more focused on setting very specific objectives. I also attempt to keep my material in check through information processing and keeping my presentation of information in manageable groups, which I have also heard referred to a “chunking.”

I would like to work more with the Anchored Instruction theory by presenting more learning using realistic case studies. Since the audience I design for has to frequently engage in solving customers’ problems, I think that would be very beneficial for building their ability to take given information and guidelines and create empowered solutions.

Instructional Technology Job Search

I decided that I would look in the open job market rather than in something specifically tailored to our profession, such as ASTD; for this, I went with http://www.monster.com/.

There was not much to be found in the Greensboro area, so I decided to look where a wealth of money flows into lucrative government contracts: Washington, DC. It did not disappoint. After looking at several jobs, I found this one at a company called ICF International out of Chantilly, VA. The position is that of a Senior Instructional Systems Designer serving the United States Marine Corps as a client.

The position would involve designing and developing instructional materials such as instructor-led training, e-Learning solutions, job aids, scenario case studies, and on-the-job training with high levels of innovation and creativity. The position would be very project oriented in the ISD ADDIE model.

The position requires at least 9 to 11 years of instructional design and experience and a Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Education or a related field. Additional requirements are experience working with Federal agencies and the Department of Defense.

When I first looked at this I thought, "I am woefully under qualified for this position." But upon further review, I satisfied myself with the knowledge that I have done many of the things in the job description and done them well. I also have experience with the Department of Defense from my time in the Navy. Where I am lacking is in sheer volume of experience and degree credentials. As I am not in a Master's program (I am working towards a Performance Improvement Certificate), I'm not sure I would ever quite meet the qualifications, unless I could sell them on my experience and abilities and relegate the degree requirements to "nice to have."

I can definitely say that I would enjoy the challenges of a position like this and that living in the Washington, DC area would be kind of fun, provided I lived near Quantico where the bulk of the work would take place. I would certainly want to minimize commuting in the D.C. area as much as possible.