Map It: The hands-on guide to strategic training design

A test question asks people to recall information. It takes place in an abstract world. A practice activity asks people to not only recall information but also apply it to a specific, realistic situation.

You’re about to ask your client and SME to consider problems in four categories: environment (tools and culture), knowledge, skill, and motivation. You need to decide whether you’re going to direct them to focus on one category at a time, or you’re going to be open to whatever they suggest. Directive sounds like this: “Let’s look at the environment

At first, it looks like "just" a multiple-choice question, but it's designed to simulate the kind of decision-making that people have to do on the job. It sets a scene, asks the learner to make a realistic decision, and provides options that have been carefully designed to tempt the learner to make a common mistake.

If you plan to develop an online activity, make sure your software lets you provide different feedback for each option.

necessary, explain that a skill is an ability to carry out a task involving things, people, or ideas. It gets better with practice.

As you create the persona, look for answers to the following questions. How experienced are they with the job behaviors that need improvement? How do they feel about this aspect of their job, and why? How did they respond to previous attempts to fix the problem? Where are they located? Do they work with colleagues in other time zones? Are there any

However, you need branching only if: There are multiple grey areas -- multiple decision points where people make a judgment call that can pull them on or off track. Decisions made at one point limit or expand the options available at another point. People commonly make a mistake in the process and need to recognize and recover from it later.

Obviously, people have preferences for how they learn. No one denies that. No one is saying that you and I aren't special snowflakes. But research doesn't support the claim that we should tailor our materials to specific "learning styles." Our limited resources would be better used on more effective techniques.

From "We need training on X" to "We have a performance problem. Can you help?"