Learning Science Crash Course [Part 3 of 5]

This is the third waypoint on our exploratory journey through the landscape of Learning Science. We started a couple of months ago with Part 1: ‘What Learning Science teaches us about how people learn: A description of people’s brains and minds’, and then Part 2: ‘What Learning Science tells us’ about the many diverse factors that moderate learning.

This week, we’re examining the techniques used to facilitate learning, including the various instructional tactics and strategies that can improve learning experiences.

NOTE: This work is shared as part of #WorkingOutLoud as i research and write this book alongside my co-authors Sae Schatz and Geoff Stead. We note that this section in particular is still partly our notes or foundational ideas, not a polished text, and i hope you read it as such. Indeed: in the final book it’s possible that this whole ‘crash course’ series (which will be five articles in total) will simply be folded out into the wider text. We are conscious not to attempt production of an encyclopaedic tome on every aspect of learning science, not do we want something superficial and shallow. So this writing helps us to find our way.

3. Instructional methods to enhance learning Conceptual tools we can use to (try to) positively influence learning?

[1] Instructional strategies Setting out a clear learning goal, and making a plan how to achieve it

Instructional strategies are general plans that define instructional goals and ways to achieve them. Those ‘ways to achieve them’ include referencing broad paradigms such as inquiry-based learning (where students use scientific methods to explore ideas they’re curious about), cooperative learning (where groups work together to learn), problem-based learning (where learning happens in the context of realistic, typically complex and open-ended, projects), micro-learning (where concepts, typically lower-order knowledge, are delivered in bite-sized chunks as seen in apps like Duolingo), and mastery learning (where the desired performance outcomes are held constant and learners receive the necessary time and support to meet them, without progressing until mastery is achieved).

There are also a variety of learning design frameworks that we’ve categorised here, such as Gagné’s 9 Events of Instruction (a 9-step process for designing instructional experiences), Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction (a research-based set of the 5 ‘universal’ best practices for instruction, such as learning in the context of real-world problems and connecting instruction to learners’ prior knowledge), and the ARCS – or Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction – model (a 4-step process that outlines a process for motivating learners and structuring motivational learning experiences).

In Part 1 of this Learning Science Crash Course, we discussed different theoretical paradigms of learning such as behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, connectivism, experiential learning, and self-directed learning.

Each of those theories about how people learn has corresponding strategies about how to optimise those learning processes. Specialised applications of learning theory fit here, as well. For instance, Organisational Learning, Team Dimensional Training, and of course Learning in the Social Age.

[2] Instructional tactics

Picking the right blend of instructional and study techniques?

Instructional tactics are the specific techniques used to facilitate learning. Where instructional strategies define the scope and philosophy of a particular learning experience, instructional tactics are the individual tools that teachers and designers use within that scope. They’re the moment-by-moment teaching methods, homework methods, or hands-on techniques.

Roughly, instructional tactics can be divided into five conceptual subcategories, although there is a lot of overlap among these categories depending on how each tactic is applied. (In the list below, ‘teacher’ is used generically; it could mean trainer, instructor, mentor, subject-matter expert, or instructional technology.)?

• Direct instruction involves explicit teacher-centred activities, such as lectures and demonstrations. Learners are more passive, while teachers are more central.??
• Indirect instruction involves teacher-managed learner-centric learning, like guided discussions or instructor-led decision-forcing cases. The learners have more agency and involvement, but they’re still actively guided by the teacher, who remains an important participant in the process.
• Interactive learning involves learner-centric activities and peer-learning, such as fishbowl discussions or role-play exercises. In these activities, the teacher takes a peripheral role, stepping back to allow the learners to lead their own learning process (with just a bit of guidance to help them stay on track).
• Independent study involves individual, self-led learning, such as completing homework or journaling. In this case, learners are central to the process, with teachers only supporting occasionally, if at all. The assigned work is designed by a teacher or instructional designer (or other external expert) and typically evaluated with feedback provided to the learner.
• Experiential learning involves hands-on activities, such as running experiments or building models. In this case, learners are actively engaged. Teachers and peers offer more or less support. This is a broad category of learning methods, including on-the-job learning, scenario-based learning, embodied cognition, and simulation-based learning.

Research shows that the most effective teachers and instructional designers use a broad repertoire of tactics, such as direct and indirect, experience-based learning, lectures and small groups), with a lot of responsive variety. [1]

[3] Teachers and teaching A great teacher transforms learning outcomes?

Teachers, trainers, instructors, coaches, and mentors – who we’re collectively calling ‘teachers’ for the sake of simplicity – profoundly impact learning. In education settings, research findings indicate that,“…the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher” [2], and that there’s a direct linear effect between a teacher’s quality and student outcomes – an impact that’s detectable across a person’s entire life [3].?

Teaching goes beyond instructional knowledge and skills to something more holistic.

The best teachers demonstrate good leadership qualities, such as setting big-but-achievable goals, motivating learners, and encouraging learners’ agency and engagement. They communicate effectively, asking thought-provoking questions and adapting their communication styles to different people and contexts. They have a large ‘bag of tools’ and expertly pull from it a variety of instructional strategies and tactics. And they demonstrate good character, acting a role model and displaying grit and a willingness to continuously seek self-improvement. ?

[4] Feedback

Good feedback has a tremendously positive impact on learning.?

Feedback can be categorised in different ways: output versus process, summative versus formative, delayed versus immediate, positive versus negative, and based on its level (task, process, self-regulation, self) – just to name a few. The nature of the feedback naturally influences its effectiveness, sometimes even turning feedback into a negative thing. In general, though, feedback is one of the most impactful tools in a teacher or instructional designer’s toolkit.?

A handy heuristic is that effective feedback is Specific (that is, with specific details referenced rather than more general ‘good job’ sort of comments), Timely (delivered as close in time to the performance as reasonable), Actionable (has practical value and can be acted upon), and Reflective (meaning it encourages the recipient to self-reflect). You can use the mnemonic STAR to remember that feedback framework.

[5] Scaffolding Providing just enough assistance to keep learners productive, while stretching their skills.?

Lev Vygotsky gave us the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which we discussed in Part 1, and the corresponding instruction tool for it is called ‘scaffolding’. Scaffolding refers to the supports that are constructed around an experience so that someone can be in their ZPD zone – striving for a stretch goal but with enough assistance so that it’s achievable.

Examples of scaffolding include giving hints, breaking a concept into chunks, giving step-by-step instructions, or asking questions that provoke appropriate self-reflection. The latter example is often associated with metacognitive scaffolding, a particular type of scaffolding intended to help learners become more aware of their own learning processes, develop effective learning strategies, and monitor and regulate their own learning.??

[6] Practice Deliberate practise and repetition is the best way to help new information and skills to stick.

It should surprise no one that practice facilitates learning, but there’s a shockingly complex relationship between the two. Anders Ericsson gave us the ‘10,000 hours to expertise’ heuristic, and although there’s a lot of variability (that is, it’s not consistently 10,000 hours), the point is that building expertise takes time.

But beware, not all practice is equal. Someone can spend 10,000 hours repeating mistakes and reinforcing misconceptions. Learning scientists use the term ‘deliberate practice’ to differentiate between the two.

In deliberate practice the activities are structured and targeted, and practice sessions usually involve feedback, self-reflection, and intentional repetitions.?

In Part 1, we discussed memory and forgetting. Practice can help reinforce memories and stave off our gradual loss of retention, called the Ebbinghaus Curve. That principle leads us directly to the ‘Spacing Effect’ (also known as ‘Spaced Repetition’) because Ebbinghaus gave us mathematically predictable intervals for when a piece of learned information needs to be reinforced, else we forget it.

Many learning apps (such as Babbel, Memrise, Drops, and Duolingo) use this principle to remind learners to review previously learnt content at certain times, gradually reinforcing learning over time and allowing for better consolidation of the material in long-term memory.

In the commercial space of learning, this is somewhere that we have seen great innovation and impact of this underlying research.

[7] Learning Experience Design LXD maximises learning impact by blending together learning, design and other behavioural principles.

Learning experience design (often abbreviated as LX or LXD) grew out of User Experience (UX) design, and originally it was a combination of UX with Learning Science principles – turning design thinking, usability, human-centred design, and interaction design methods towards enhancing learning.?

Today, LXD also integrates principles from marketing, communications, and Nudge Theory. Nudges make use of our human ‘glitches’ (our ‘predictable irrationalities’ as Dan Ariely might say), and it uses principles uncovered through behavioural economics, influence, and persuasion to gently encourage positive actions through UX interventions without removing freedom of choice.?

LXD combines these principles (such as UX and Nudge) with Learning Science to advance learning goals.?

For example this might include using Robert Cialdini’s ‘Six Principles of Influence’ (that is, reciprocity, consistency, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity) to encourage pro-learning behaviours, such as using leaderboards and ‘keep up with your peers’ push-messages on an app to increase learners’ engagement by tweaking our inherent social natures.?

Similarly, LXD might use Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s Nudge techniques. Examples might be encouraging a learner to complete ‘just one’ micro-lesson before the end of the day, to help them overcome the inertia at the start of studying. And, perhaps, that recommended micro-lesson was selected by using the Spacing Effect, that is, by identifying what concept the learner is likely just about to forget, and then nudging them to reinforce that memory at this time.

Many, many instructional technologies – including some of the most popular learning apps – make use of LXD principles.?

[8] Game-related methods Play and simulation are powerful ways to embed new knowledge and skills.

Game-related methods include gamification and game-based learning, which includes specific subtypes such as digital game-based learning, serious games, war games, teaching games for understanding, and game-based flipped learning. Game-based learning often uses digital games, but that’s not a requirement. For example, military schools make extensive use of cardboard maps and physical chits in educational war games (which, despite their name, don’t always involve conventional warfare as the main subject).?

Gamification is slightly different from game-based learning. It’s a technique for applying game-like elements to some other context, like a lesson. That lesson doesn’t need to become a full-fledged game to be ‘gamified’. For instance, someone might add a points system and peer competition to a learning activity.

Examples of game-related methods for learning might include:

• Adding points and a leaderboard to encourage learner motivation.
• Breaking learning content into progressive ‘missions’ and ‘levels’.
• Rewarding learners’ progress with badges or positive messages, like playful animations.

Beware ‘chocolate covered broccoli’! (That’s the term for a bad experience with a veneer of ‘fun’ added to it.) A poorly designed learning experience won’t magically become better by adding game mechanics to it. Be thoughtful about how best to use these methods.

Summary

As you can see, we already have a wealth of knowledge about how people think and learn. There are well established instructional methods and tactics we can build on today to create richer, more impactful learning experiences.

But do we use them?

Sadly, not enough. Many traditional L&D teams seem to be trapped in a world of generic seminars with smile-sheet assessments, sages-on-stages instruction, and chocolate-covered-broccoli group activities – without any followup with scaffolded practice.

If this feels familiar, please help your organisation to unlock the treasure trove of learning value that can be enabled by Learning Science, such as the techniques we’ve shared here. They really work! (If you don’t believe us, check out the empirical research on meta-analytical effect sizes for learning interventions.)

References

[1] Darling-Hammond, L. (1999). Teacher quality and student achievement: A review of state policy evidence. Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington.

[2] Sanders, W. L., Wright, S. P., & Horn, S. P. (1997). Teacher and classroom context effects on student achievement: Implications for teacher evaluation. Journal of personnel evaluation in education, 11, 57-67.

[3] Hanushek, E. A. (2011). How much is a good teacher worth? Education Next, Summer 2011, pp. 41-45.