Maximise Participant Learning During Training
How can we improve the positive emotions experienced by learners?
Of course in the current cost-of-living climate, the positive benefits for learners of taking part in a training programme to support career growth and future opportunities are clear. Nonetheless, we can improve the positive emotions experienced by our participants if we carefully plan to do so.
Almost any course contains people who are anxious about how their performance compares to those around them, and anxieties can be due to the style of the trainer. Such negative emotions have the propensity to impair learning and retention.
This means that the emotional state of participants is a consideration that trainers should take seriously.
There are a few preparation steps you can take ahead of training delivery to improve the positive emotions of learners:
1. Consider how you can maximise positive feelings during the first 15 to 45 minutes of the course.
When positive emotions are created at the outset, they tend to endure. Many trainers use the start of a course to draw attention to housekeeping rules, which is a dull way to begin. You can review the rules after the first break. Instead, plan to open with insights and exercises that will engage your audience. ?
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2. Design a brief pre-work exercise that will enable you to engage participants at the outset, actively bringing them into the session and into your team.
Examples include asking participants to submit in advance their answers to three questions, for example, one unique feature about you that you are willing to share; one main objective for the course; one piece of music you would bring with you to a desert island.
When you have such an array of information about your participants ahead of the course, you can plan to mention their names and some of their answers in your introduction. When participants hear their names mentioned aloud or see a chart in which their choice of music is displayed, they will feel included. Further, you can ask them to participate by explaining the reasons behind their answers (such as choice of music) to the group.
3. Become thoroughly acquainted with the technology that will facilitate the learning before you begin
This means that you can avoid having to disadvantage one group of participants over another. For example, avoid having to tell participants ‘I’ll have to get to the new team members later’, which can result in part of the group perceiving themselves as a lower priority.
The happier your participants feel, the more they are going to learn. Also, remember that it is the beginning of your course that has the most effect on establishing this positive emotional state.
My final thoughts are most of my less successful training sessions were due to lack of preparation. My most successful sessions were when I was fully comfortable with my training notes and participant training aids.