The new normal after the covid times, has made virtual, self paced, and online sessions, mandatory not only in work environment but also academia. Creating an immersive online solution is one of the most difficult challenges that an instructional designer faces today. The obvious methods focus on telling -asking and performing; which at times becomes monotonous and less compelling to the learner. Short capsules where the learns could be exposed to new methods -strategies or ideas of life and skill enhancement, can go a long way in engaging the learning enthusiasts and also the disengaged learners.
Rather than the conventional methods, following are 6 immersive methods of transferring knowledge and skill:
- Create a challenging, realistic practice activity (not a knowledge check). The activity asks people to make the same decision that they need to make on the job. It’s probably a scenario or used case situations in the day to day process.
- Identify the minimum approaches that people need to know, to complete that activity or the transaction. Thinking on your feet kind of case studies -situation based decision making, handling dynamics are based on real time experiments. The more exposure you give a learner the more capable they become to face the challenges.
- Make that information available as an optional link in the activity. Let people pull the information when they need it. More autonomy while learning rather than governing the learning journey. Today’s generation z want to enjoy their own control and self-paced in a learning environment. Thus crisp short learning content which can allow the learner to take the decision to pick up a book -video -movie, self paced series of lectures or game for learning is the way forward in this industry.
- Plunge people into that activity with no presentation beforehand. Learning by doing is one of the fundamental immersive simulations that can support the learner imbibe the skill faster.
- Once people make their choice, consider showing the necessary information in the feedback. First show the consequence of the choice (continue the story). Then show the information that the learner should have looked at. Story telling in learning journey.
- Dramatise your scenario through online or offline gamification that challenges the learner to course correct. Today gamification is extensively used in virtual reality based learning and also immersive learning experience.
The result is a stream of activities in which learners pull the information they need. It’s not a presentation occasionally interrupted by an activity, its a journey of blended learning with class room, online, e-learning, coaching, mentoring combined.
If you’ve made the activities get progressively more complex, you’ll want to maintain their sequence during the spacing. Consider ending the sequence with a live discussion to help people synthesise what they’ve learned.
Another option is to make the activities available for people to try whenever they want, probably with a recommended order of completion.
Recently while discussing with one of my team members we realised that, giving employees flexibility to learn from anywhere ( mobile learning)s critical to keep them engaged and relevant in their industry.
Blended and mobile learning methods are the best way for knowledge or skill transfer. Today every professional wants to get skilled by way of attending small modules while they are on their trade-mill or listening to podcasts, gardening, eating or travelling etc.
How engaged are your learners? How can you mastermind smooth knowledge transfer? How could you get started? Look forward to more ideas from you on immersive learning experience…
To know more explore the following reads:
drsonaliduttabaanerjee 
Sonali, you are ‘spot-on’ in your Blog as regards ‘Communication’..’ You have brilliantly underscored what sometimes gets undermined.
Communication is the ‘sine-qua-non’ requirement in establishing, sustaining, and strengthening any kind of a relationship. Communication and Trust are two sides of the same coin. A relationship without communication is like living in a vacuum, and a wanton breakdown is the breakdown in a relationship. A protracted absence or break in communication, without a valid or a convincing reason, can exacerbate a relationship.
It is equally important to note the mode, tone, and tenor in communicating. Among the many vital points you have touched upon in your Blog is ’empathy’….it can foster and perpetuate a relationship, and it ought to be genuine.
While your Blog, like all your other compositions without exception, ought to be perused by one-and-all, it is important for those who are vested with apex and senior responsibilities, to understand and apply their minds, when it comes to interacting with their colleagues, peers, and reportees alike….the choice of semantics, the mode, tone, and tenor can either make or break a relationship. I felt I would do well in highlighting this, as in the course of my interactions as a professional Management & Strategic HR Consultant after a long innings in the Corporates, I notice the pain / anguish / resentment amongst some of my coachees, mentees, and clients when it comes to their relating their experiences with their seniors and principals about the treatment meted out to them at times…I am often in a position in connecting the dots leading to the reasons underlying the collapse of some such Companies, .
Sonali, please do continue rendering ‘service’ by way of such Blogs, as it widens our learning in more ways than one.
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Sonali… your Blog on ‘Learner Enagement..’ is an extremely fantastic template for those who are professionally engaged in disseminating learning, be these Coaches or Trainers or those working in the L&D function in any Organization, or the likes!
Encapsulating the course, if done deftly, without cutting corners in ensuring the takeaways at the same time, calls for a fertile imagination to be at its best when it comes to designing. Learners will gain in as much as those who organize and conduct the learning exercise. No matter how cliche it may sound, ‘after all, ‘learning is a continuous ad an endless process’, and the number who are exempted from this is zilch.
The current scenarios attach premium to courses and methodologies with ‘baptisim by fire’ being the denouement, and entailing the aquisition of skills.
Your Blog is an excellent one in its genre.
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