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As learning provider I have been utterly compelled to read articles about the science behind learning, as shown in one notable example, the Learning that lasts through AGES report. Neuroscience research is now showing that it’s far better to actually break-up learning sessions in order to facilitate successful, long-term learning and memory recall.
How science is helping us understand how we learn
The Learning that lasts though AGES report explains how, thanks to neuroscience research, we learn, and thanks to this scientific, quantifiable knowledge, how we might optimize the formation of what we remember using four key pillars around which the process of learning and memory retention and recall, is based:-
The 4 Pillars of the AGES model
Attention
Generation
Emotion
Spacing
In fact, this scientific model which is creating a real buzz in the L&D sector, was the one that I intuitively and instinctively took when I first started to develop the Creativedge 90 minute training back in the 1990’s. Now, thanks to the AGES report, HR’s and L&D professionals are equipped with a greater understanding of just how people learn and retain information, and with this, can select the most effective learning programmes possible for their workforce, which can ultimately impact overall company performance and productivity.
How the AGES model appears in bite-size training
It’s no surprise then, if you read the AGES report and then look at how 90 minute training works, why companies are using bite-size training for their staff. We understand that people will learn, and actually respond better to what they learn, when knowledge is given to them in certain ways identified by neuroscience. This being the case, in order to maximise the memory and recall of information, we designed Creativedge learning material and training to also meet the science based principles of attention, generation, emotion and spacing, extoled in the AGES report.
The 90 minute Training not only features relevant and varied content in sessions designed to keep the learners’ attention,but it also allows participants to choose and identify the particular training sessions they most want and need, in other words, training that’s self-generated.
However, just as the AGES report highlights, in order for training to remain in our memory in long-term, it also needs to be delivered in a way which triggers an emotionalresponse. Some of the ways we feature in our training include role play and scenario setting, and sometimes even games, where appropriate! Game based exercises are highly interactive, participatory and feature an element of novelty and entertainment. Again, according to the AGES report, doing this this may be the way to stimulate positive emotions towards learning for the participant, and that sense of positive anticipation may have an impact on vividness of the memory of their training experience, which in turn supports the formation of new learning which can be saved and recalled later. This is a common issue I hear time and time again from companies about their training: how can they provide staff with effective, useable, relevant training that ‘sticks’ for the long term? And it’s here where I think the ‘spaced’nature of bite-size training really comes into play and holds its own.
Each 90 minute bite-sized session quickly cuts to the chase by delivering digestible ‘chunks’ of training in focused sessions that take full advantage of our optimum period of concentration, allowing information to be not only rapidly absorbed, but more importantly, to stay there for future recall. Delivering learning in short bursts over time is more effective than cramming learning into training ‘away-days’. As the AGES report explains, ‘utilizing more spacing of learning instead of massing and repetition, with more dispersed content, such as turning a three-day learning event into six half-day events over a longer period’ is an approach which learning providers should seriously consider’.
In short, I think that knowing about the science of learning helps to give learning buyers, providers and learners themselves, the information they need to make informed decisions about their workplace learning. The emerging science of learning, as featured in the AGES model, underscores the importance of rethinking what is taught in workplace training, how it is taught, and its use and repetition after training is over. That’s what companies ultimately want to see happen from their training.
Creativedge Training & Development are a leading 90 Minute Bite-sized training company that have been delivering flexible, practical and powerful bite-sized training since 2001. Over the past 12 years Creativedge have designed and developed a portfolio of over 120 bite-sized courses covering Management & Leadership, Personal Performance, Communication Skills, Customer Service & Sales and Business Skills.
Creativedge have delivered thousands of bite-sized courses to organisations across all industries and sectors including both the private and public sector.
