Did you take a university- or college-level biology class? If so, do you remember how the lecturer stood in front of the class going through fact after fact, process after process, bacteria, protozoa, and the like? Then you went home and propped your eyes open with toothpicks to get through a textbook that was so heavy you could have used it as a lethal weapon. You sat there night after night, going through highlighter pens as if they were tissues. How much of the content from this, or a similar class, do you actually remember?

Pop quiz!

What are the eight phases of the cell cycle and mitosis?

If, during your studies, you were given an opportunity to use this information in any way, such as staring through a microscope for hours to determine what stage a cell is at in the process, you probably do remember. How could you forget that? But, if you didn’t use this information, if you only memorized the process, you probably would have to look up the answer today. If interested, the correct answer is provided at the end of this blog post.

The key word in the previous paragraph is ‘use.’ Because learners don’t truly learn something – don’t truly process a new piece of knowledge and integrate it into their thought patterns – unless they are given an opportunity to use it in a practical way.

This is a key aspect of adult learning theory. It is also why an Instructional Designer, or ID, who is working with you will ask questions like:

1. What do you want learners to be able to do at the end of this lesson?
2. What do you want learners to be able to do better at the end of this lesson?
3. How do you expect learners to use this information?
4. How do you expect learners to apply this new knowledge in their day-to-day work environment?

People don’t learn from lists. They don’t learn from reading. They learn by doing. The doing can involve many different types of activities. They key is that the learner needs to somehow take an idea, concept, or task apart and re-assemble it. In other words, doing, using, applying, constructing, or deconstructing.

Each of us has a learning style. According to Fleming’s VAK/VARK model, each of us has a learning preference for one of the following: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic/tactile. However, even for those who are auditory learners who may get a lot out of attending a lecture, to learn something, even they need to:

• Have an experience
• Review the experience
• Come to conclusions about the experience
• Plan next steps

Listening to facts and reading about them just don’t cut it. Using ideas and concepts is the key, and that’s what we aim for at PulseLearning.

Correct Answer: Phases of cell cycle and mitosis
1. Interphase
2. Preprophase
3. Prophase
4. Prometaphase
5. Metaphase
6. Anaphase
7. Telophase
8. Cytokinesis

It’s 10:00 am and your office building just caught fire. What would you like your employees to do? Define emergency preparedness, describe the risks associated with lack of planning, or quickly and safely evacuate the building? Unless your employees are fire-proof, you are most likely to choose the last option. Our goal at PulseLearning is to create real-world action-oriented training that changes behavior and improves your bottom line. So, how does it work?

First, we work with you to identify a business goal you would like to accomplish through training such as reducing safety incident reports by 75% in 2012. Sounds simple, right? However, most training often begins by identifying the knowledge employees should gain such as the emergency planning strategies and policies. Training for action means better results. We work with you to specify how that knowledge should be applied to improve your organization’s bottom line and day-to-day operations.

Second, we target what the learner will have to do to accomplish the business goal. It is not enough to know the emergency plan. We want employees to apply it. Our Learning Specialists will work with you to design activities that require the learners to do what you need them to do. In a world of sparkling 3D apps, it is often assumed that this can only be accomplished through high budget Hollywood style simulations. However, effective action-based training can also be produced using plain text and a compelling story.

Finally, we identify the essential information that learners absolutely must know to complete the activities. Remember those emergency planning strategies and policies? We include them as resources and design activities that encourage the learner to reference them. Rather than overload the learner with information, we engage the learner by challenging what they know and, more importantly, what they do not know. We design question-provoking activities and are on hand to provide the answers learners seek. Knowledge becomes a by-product of action and not the sole foundation of training.

We believe that training should be memorable, meaningful, motivational and measurable. When a fire breaks out, we want everyone to safely and quickly evacuate the building. You can always ask them to describe the risks associated with lack of planning when they are safely on the ground floor. Rather than creating a workforce that “knows,” we want to help you train a work force that “does.” We want to help you achieve your business goal, because we know that when it comes to business, at the end of the day actions speak louder than words.

Our instructional designers are finding more and more that employers are looking for creative training solutions. The fact is, employees don’t want training that shoves them back into an old-style school desk. It’s not that employees don’t want to learn, they do. As in everything, it’s the ‘how’ not the ‘what’ that matters most.

Employees long for training that is engaging on more than one level. They want it to be creative and even – goodness gracious – entertaining. An added bonus is that the training encourages deep and thought-provoking learning. The kind of training that they’ll tell their friends about.  

The question is, how do you do that? Concrete connections to the real world help. For example, if you’re training staff for customer service, put them behind an actual (virtual) desk and give them everyday issues to resolve.

In line with this, we’ve developed a series of ethical scenarios for one of our clients. In one scenario from this series, an employee dies in a car accident. When cleaning out this employee’s desk, the manager finds a half-written suicide note. The learner, who is placed in the role of the manager, is given three paths to choose from. Does the learner tell others about the note or does keep it to themselves? No one path is more right or more wrong, but each has benefits and challenges. When one pass through the scenario is completed by the learner, they can try another path to see the result.

This kind of learning experience provides for deeper thought. It allows learners to explore the gray areas they have control over rather than dictating what is right or wrong from on high. Employees find this empowering because they face choices in their work every day. To have training that admits this means the company they work for understands their plight.

Creative solutions require taking the time to step back and think through the training a little more thoroughly. By taking that time to reflect up front, we find that the training we develop with our client partners has more depth and strikes a deeper chord with their employee learners.

PulseLearning is delighted to announce the launch of our new eCommerce site for the UK market. Customers are now able to purchase eLearning solutions from PulseLearning online.

Our courses offer compliance training for the Care, Retail and Hospitality sectors in the UK. These eLearning courses are aimed at large or small businesses and individuals.

PulseLearning is leveraging its world-class content and sector-specific experts to create hours of engaging and interactive online learning.

Our courses provide a complete education and training solution that overcome the day-to-day barriers to achieving compliance in a regulated environment. These barriers include dispersed workforces, high employee turnover and non-native speakers.

The courses cover areas such as Food Safety, Health and Safety, Licensing Law Awareness, Award for Personal Licence Holders (APLH) and Common Induction Standards.

For more information and to purchase these course visit: https://mypulselearning.com/brouchure/index.php

We are pleased to announce Dan Braunm, our New Senior Vice President, North American Sales. Dan is focused on bring high quality and innovative learning solutions to our customers.  Experienced at both start-ups and large enterprises, Dan is an entrepreneurial and award-winning executive with over 20 years of experience in global education services. His breadth of knowledge, which encompasses the sale, delivery, development and innovation of education for high tech markets, also includes management of marketing, operations (both financial and technical), and P&Ls.

Dan successfully leverages the power of blending formal learning with social collaborative and mobile application environments to develop innovative learning programs that can help drive product adoption, increase customer satisfaction, and create competitive differentiators.

Prior to joining PulseLearning, Dan has held VP of Education positions as CA Technologies, Oracle, and Siebel. He graduated from Miami University with a BS in Business Administration.

In keeping with our model of global vision and local engagement, we are pleased to introduce our new Director of Learning & Operations, Brenden Carter. Based in Melbourne, Australia he will support our clients and development team as we continue to grow.

Some history

Brenden has a diverse background in commercial eLearning and corporate management of learning solutions. He offers both a vendor’s perspective, but also a client’s. His most recent role being with Sensis as the Learning Technology Manager, overseeing the internal design and development of eLearning, vendor management and LMS administration functions. Brenden has overseen the delivery of hundreds of learning solutions for some of Australia’s largest companies, in both design and production manager roles.

Within PulseLearning, Brenden will lead the Australian design and development teams and oversee our program management. He will also be actively involved in our solution design and learning product development offerings.