When are learning materials needed?

Learning materials are usually called for when we face a performance problem, any situation where there is a difference between what is happening and what is desired. However, learning materials are not necessarily the only answer, and in many cases may not even be an answer at all.

What factors affect people's performance?

People learn in order to do something better. However, four factors affect how well people can perform: knowledge, skill, motivation and environment.

Learning materials are most effective at improving knowledge and skill levels.

Motivation covers all of those factors that make a person want to do well, such as reward, interest, etc. Environment covers issues such as office space, equipment, etc.

People cannot learn anything that will make these better, in the sense that you cannot train people to be more motivated or to train the environment to be better. What you can do is to identify that negative motivational or environmental factors exist and to point them out, so that learning solutions come to be seen as part of a package, rather than as the only solution needed.

This means that even with perfect learning materials that tackle all the knowledge and skill issues, performance will not be improved if the learners are poorly motivated and have an unsatisfactory working environment.

There is a lot more to this whole topic of 'performance engineering', and if you are interested you could take a look at:

the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI)
Updating the Behavior Engineering Model, by Roger Chevalier

Why is it important to find out about these factors?

By having a clear idea about the factors that motivate the learners, you will be able to think about what you can include in your designs that will be motivating. You will also be aware of environmental factors that may have an impact, such as the availability of computers, their specifications, etc.

You need to understand how and where the training will be delivered so that you can structure materials appropriately. For example, if people often have short breaks in their workload, you could design materials that people could use during a five-minute break.

It is always important when writing to hold a picture of a potential reader in your mind. In that way you avoid designing material that patronises people or that is pitched at too high a level.

Finally, doing some analysis will help you to develop strong performance objectives. The point in learning design where success is won or lost is when the overall performance objective is written, as this specifies what the learner must be able to do and to what success criteria. Only by looking at the current levels of performance and by finding out what the required level of performance is can you gather enough information to develop the objective.

If you do not specify the performance objective correctly, the learning materials may instruct somebody to carry out the wrong task or help them to do out the correct task but inadequately.

What learning materials must do

Who is involved?