With so many distractions, staying focused on anything is a real
challenge. At OutCons, we aim to change that and enable quality learning. Too
many people get carried away by social media and their smart phone apps, which turn
out to be a burden for lifelong learning and successful career development. One
research suggests that the average person unlocks their phone 110 times a day!
If we assume that a person’s day is 16 hours long, that accounts for roughly
one smart phone pick-up every 15 minutes! And if all other activities the
average working person has are added, it makes it very difficult for an
educator to help someone learn, stay focused, and remember the learning
material in order to implement it later.
How can you help your learners focus on the content?
1. Organize!
1. Organize!
The key factor is the organization
of the learning process. Make
sure you establish an easy to understand schedule and course length. In our
experience, breaking up learning into smaller chunks (5-10 minutes max) will
help your learners focus and then get the break they are looking for. A good distribution system (like Ayris) can
help you distribute multiple chunks of learning, let your learners step away
and then promt them to return through notifications and events. Within the
calendar in the Programs menu of Ayris, you can schedule events for the
upcoming weeks, months or even years. All you need to do is plan and organize
the events, and Ayris will do the rest for you.2. Set Goals/Gates
Set goals after each step of the education process. Setting an exam or questionnaire survey to supplement each course will allow you to keep track of learners’ performance and knowledge obtained. Engage all users by setting personal goals too. This will challenge the learners and they will be more willing to commit to the task and complete it.
3. Communicate the Schedule
Make learners aware
of the time they need to
accomplish the course. If they are behind
schedule, you have the option to send them a customized notification to proceed
with the assignment when they can, by utilizing distribution tools like Ayris. All
you need to do is be realistic about these time estimates and give students
ample time to accomplish the course at their own pace. In this way, you will
also have an indication of how committed the student is to learn and develop.
Many organizations we have worked with have giant libraries
of content. One client we worked with had almost a one learning course per
employee! This client continued to post
new courses in an effort freshen up their available courses, but failed to
retire out dated content. This made it difficult for users to find new and
releveant training. Distributions system make it so only the courses that are
assigned to users are available to view.
Once your learners have gone through their program, allow
for time to apply the learning and relax to prepare for the next challenge!
