The local ice cream shop near me has what is called the “Brain Freeze Challenge”. The idea is that if you can eat 8 scoops of ice cream, 6 liquid toppings and 4 candy toppings (essentially 3 pounds if ice cream and toppings) in thirty minutes, you win a free t-shirt…ice cream gluttony. Feeling daring this week, I went there with a group of friends and two of us decided to take the challenge…
After finishing, I couldn’t help but thinking how this experience was like attending an intense training session. At the end of the bowl of ice cream I was beyond full, I had no desire to have any more, and while it was pleasure at first, by the end, I just wanted it to be over and in a few days, many of the details of the experience will be lost. This is very similar to how I feel after attending an intense training or conference (what I would call training gluttony). I arrive, excited about the information I am about to learn and I start eagerly. Somewhere in the middle, my brain gets overly full and I start to think about it all being over instead of taking in the information being presented.
Sometimes these training sessions are a necessity, so how do we help learners not succumb to training gluttony?
Let’s look at ways to avoid the downsides of training gluttony:
- Change Activity/Topic every 20-30 minutes
- Take regular breaks
- Develop familiarity with the material beforehand*
- Provide resources to remind participants of covered material*
Change Activity/Topic every 20-30 minutes
While a great deal of research has been done on attention span, the results are varied based on many different conditions. From the point of lectures, they have found that scores on quizzes on the material after a 20 or 50 minute lecture do not have a significant difference. Research has also shown that after 20 minutes, the amount of reported time not focused on the speaker increases. Keeping these in mind, changing topics or activities, helps learners have increased attention and keep periods of inattention down.
Take Regular Breaks
During learning activities, a lot of information is being absorbed. During breaks, or periods away from the learning activity, memories about the information is strengthened and the brain has time to process and develop connections between the new material and previous knowledge. Research has suggested that breaks should occur every 90 minutes.
Develop Familiarity With the Material Beforehand
When people are familiar with a topic and the material being covered, their brain is better able to process new material. When learners are going to be participating in training gluttony, it is helpful to provide resources ahead of time that will help them to become familiar with the material. This could be related articles and/or videos, foundation material about the topics to be covered, or just an outline or agenda that will instigate their brain to consider the ideas ahead of time.
Provide Resources to Remind participants of Covered Material
Often times information exists in our brain but we can’t access it, or don’t remember it. Proving materials such as job aids, notes, or graphic representations triggers that material that we are not easily accessing. When our brain first heard the material, it may not have had time to determine and file the information into the correct type of memory in the brain. The tools provided to the learner will help them recall the material later when their brain will have time to properly organize the material and develop connections to other information
When a day-long or multiple day training is necessary, with careful planning, we, as instructional designers and trainers, can help learners to not succumb to training gluttony. By providing the right materials before hand, structuring the time appropriately and providing supports afterwards, we can make sure that while our learner’s may feel full, they can manage and process the experience and maximize retention and enjoyment of the experience.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, I finished my ice cream with 8 minutes to spare…