Why more content doesn’t mean more learning
Organisations have access to more learning content than ever before. But making information available does not automatically create meaningful learning or lasting behaviour change.
Daniel Osborn has worked in Impact’s digital team for ten years, with experience spanning digital transformation, product development and technical consultancy. He has worked directly with clients to explore how technology can support learning, adapting existing tools and co-designing solutions around their needs.
In episode two of our mini-series on Air and digital learning, Dan Jones talks to Daniel about why context matters as much as content, how technology can support experiential learning, and why organisations should focus on outcomes rather than features. Their conversation also explores why meaningful digital learning should encourage people to step away from the screen, try something in real life, learn with their peers and reflect on what happened.
Watch the full episode here:
Why doesn’t more content create meaningful learning or behaviour change?
Giving people content has never been a way of creating meaningful learning or behaviour change, whether that’s reading a book, listening to a lecture, watching a video or reading a blog. Digital technology is very good at delivering content. You can do lots of flashy things with it and it looks amazing, but that doesn’t actually give you the learning that you want. Content is everywhere and it’s free. You can get anything you want, at any time, in any medium. So you’ve got to be very discerning about what content you’re using and what you’re using it for.
It’s not just about the content; it’s also about the context. You need content; there’s knowledge and skills transfer that you’re going to get from it. But you’ve got to make sure it fits the context in which the learner is working, trying to learn and trying to change their behaviour.
What should learning technology do?
The focus should be on the learning and what the learner needs. We want the technology to support that and enable what we’re doing with experiential learning. The technology should sink into the background – and be almost invisible. The best post-programme feedback I see is when Air doesn’t get mentioned, because learners shouldn’t be focused on the technology, they should be focusing on their learning and the experience.
How can digital learning get people away from the screen?
We want learners to get away from the technology, get away from the screen and do something in real life, experience something, and then come back to their peers to reflect, think, learn and maybe get some additional inspiration and knowledge from the platform.
The behaviour change and the real learning is going to come from those challenges and experiences. This might be a detailed brief ahead of running a meeting, a topic to discuss with their team, an opportunity to practise listening and giving feedback or a much more informal exercise like sitting in a restaurant on your own and noticing what’s happening. Everyone will have a different approach and a unique experience and will hopefully learn from that. Afterwards, when they come back and reflect on what’s happened, why and how they’ve done it, then that’s when the real learning kicks in.
Why should digital learning be embedded in people’s real work?
Air allows us to embed the participant’s learning experience into their day to day, which is much more the reality for people. Air brings learning into the moment. Participants are learning as they do things rather than going away trying to learn something, then taking it back into the office, that’s much more difficult. The world has changed. The work has changed. You have to keep learning and improving all the time.
Can technology widen access without diminishing the learning experience?
Employing technology properly gives us the opportunity to really broaden access. That’s not to say it doesn’t work for small groups – but technology allows you to run a programme over a longer period of time and reach a distributed team. It gives participants the chance to go and do the activities, to spend time to really learn and reflect, rather than having a very concentrated 3 or 4 days when they’ve all got to come together in one place. This embeds it in their work as well.
Why should learning outcomes come before technology?
It’s not really about the tool, it’s about what we do with it. That’s all about the inventiveness and creativity and the brilliance of our designers. That’s not really about the technology, but it’s about the technology enables them to apply that in a different way and reach a broader audience and have a bigger impact.
Learning hasn’t changed. People’s needs fundamentally haven’t changed. Technology is now just an enabler to allow us to do it in a different way and to maybe reach a different audience. But it’s not about the technology.
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