Bespoke & Balanced: Linking to Adult
LearningTHE IMPORTANCE OF A CUSTOMIZED,
FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO ADULT LEARNING CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED... WHICH IS WHY
THIS IDEA IS THE CORNERSTONE OF ID9®
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A customized and balanced approach to learningNot everyone learns the same things in the same way. Not all participants
in an adult learning environment need to learn the same materials in the
same way, even when they are in the same training room or e-learning
program. Given this, the suggestion to vary training activities would
seem obvious, but too often even the best trainers can fall into habitual
ways of training certain topics that don’t work at an optimum level for
all participants.
The reliance on just a few training approaches may be a combination
of trainer ‘comfort’ and organizational expectations and norms.
Often training has come to represent a specific method that is
reminiscent of bygone school-days, for example mini-lectures and
hands-on activities. When trainers challenge those notions and
vary the structure of the learning environment and the methods they
use to train, participants and organizations sometimes feel lost or
become defensive of these ‘new ways’. It’s important for participants
and organizations to stretch their idea of what it means to learn.
Some participants who enter corporate training programs are concerned
about the formality of the learning environment, nervous that they may be
‘tested’, worried about other participants in their group, or have concerns
about their own academic skills and abilities. By providing learning in many
different formats building on what they already know will help participants
see that their learning skills are already in place and will help them face the
challenges of the new skills and knowledge with confidence.
“It’s important for participants and organizations to stretch their idea of
what it means to learn.”
Adult Learners: Individual Learning Preferences
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“It is the participant’s responsibility to learn and the trainer’s responsibility to create an environment in
which learning can take place.”
Who’s responsible?At the heart of our learning philosophy is the question “who
is responsible for learning, the trainer, the organization or the
participant?” It has become widely accepted that for adult learning
the responsibility should lie firmly with the participant and yet the
behavior of the trainer in the classroom and managers before,
during and after the course often mitigates against this. Trainers often
spend more than half of their training time ‘informing’ participants (via
mini-lectures) to the detriment of the participant’s active involvement
and effective learning.
Trainers without a formal training background or understanding of adult
learning styles often believe that by contributing more themselves they are
helping their participants to learn. However, participants retain more after
the course and apply skills more effectively in the workplace if they have
been actively, rather than passively, involved in the learning process.
Clearly, regardless of the subject matter, it is a balanced approach to
trainer/participant participation that will reap the greatest benefits.
It is the participant’s responsibility to learn and the trainer’s
responsibility to create an environment in which learning can take
take place. Then it is the manager’s responsibility to support the
participant to create an environment where participants are able to
apply what they have learned to their job.
Long before the training program begins it’s the responsibility of
the instructional designer to create a balanced training program
that caters for the various adult learning styles to set participants
up for learning success: that is, to have the motivation and
ability to change their behavior.
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ID9® incorporates 10 Checkpoints of Adult Learning
Within the ID9® process there are many adult learning principles taught
throughout the ID9® Silver, Gold and Platinum levels of certification.
Each activity designed using ID9® up to Level 3 (Platinum - the pinnacle
of ID9® certification) includes consideration of the following Adult
Learning Principles: Modalities (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic),
Global vs. Specific, Hemispheric Preference and Multiple Intelligences,
which will assist the instructional designer to write the training course
so that regardless of their adult learning style the course will cater
for all participants. The instructional designer should incorporate a
mix of all elements of these introductory principles for each training
topic or training session.
Creating Balanced Learning
The instructional designer’s goal is to write a balanced program
that incorporates a good blend of training methods catering for all
adult learners. If this balance is achieved, on the day of the training
the trainer can deliver the program with the assurance that the
theoretical balance is in place. This allows the trainer to concentrate
on individual participant development and classroom management.
If the course is out of balance (e.g. all lecture - catering well to auditory
learners but not the easiest learning approach for everyone else),
the trainer may be forced to repeat sections, explain things in different
ways, invent options ‘on the fly’ or manage struggling participants. All of
these issues slow down the pace of the course and in the extreme may
disengage participants or reduce their motivation to learn.
“The instructional designer should incorporate a mix of all elements of these introductory principles for each training topic
or training session.”
ID9® delivers effective, balanced training for every participantBy using ID9® to design robust and
effective training, you will add to
your knowledge about how adults
learn and how you can refine your
instructional design and or training
methods to best meet participant’s
needs. Regardless of the complexity
and difficulty of the training content,
when a sound balance of all
adult learning principles is struck
participants may remark “I feel the
course was written for me” , “the
course was well presented and the
content easy to learn”, or “the trainer
made a complex process simple”.
This is ‘participant language’ where
they feel the program was trained
to their preferred personal learning
style, not necessarily realizing that all
participants feel the same!
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© 2018, TPC - The Performance Company Pty Limited. All rights reserved
Theoretical basis of ID9®ID9® ‘automatically’ incorporates many different adult learning principles. All you have to do is follow the process, check for balance and... hey-presto!
Overarching Influence for ID9®
ID9® is a constructivist approach to learning
design that encourages collaborative
experiential learning. The ID9® framework
and process was developed by Catherine
Mattiske in 1997.
ID9® is a process that builds on learning
through the use of learning activities and
confirms new knowledge through structured
review activities.
Various learning and psychological
theories have influenced the design and
development of instructional systems design
which create the foundations of ID9®.
The following list of authors demonstrates
the ‘learning theory pathway’ which has
informed our knowledge on the application
of learning and specifically, the importance
of aligning learning interventions to
individual and corporate objectives.
Major Influential ID9® Theorists:
The ID9® framework and process (Mattiske
1997) was influenced by Benjamin Bloom
(1913 – 1999), John Dewey (1859 – 1952),
Jerome Seymore Bruner (Born 1915), Robert
Mills Gagne (1916 – 2002), Howard Earl
Gardner (Born 1943), Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1850 – 1909) and Marton and Saljo
(Published 1976). The theories and models
presented by these authors are major
influences that form the foundations of the
ID9® framework and process.
• Benjamin Bloom: Bloom’s Taxonomy
– the use of verbs to describe learning
objectives, content and outcomes
• John Dewey: Experiential learning
• Jerome Seymore Bruner:
Constructivism and the role of structure
in learning
• Robert Mills Gagne: The building block
for ID9®’s step 5 ‘Topic Rotation’
• Howard Earl Gardner: The use of
Multiple Intelligences in course design
• Hermann Ebbinghaus: Primacy and
Recency - overarching influence over
ID9® process
• Marton and Saljo: Deep Learning
principles for ID9®
Supportive ID9® Theorists:
Further theories and models which are
supportive influences to the ID9® framework
and process are John Biggs (Born 1934),
David Kolb (Born 1939), Jean Piaget
(1896 – 1980), Burrhus Frederic Skinner
(1904 – 1990), David A. (Anthony) Sousa,
Roger Sperry (1913 – 1994), and Edward
Thorndike (1874 – 1949).
• John Biggs: Constructive alignment of
learning, surface and deep learning and
the SOLO Taxonomy
• David Kolb: Experiential learning
• Jean Piaget: Constructivism,
progressively building and constructing
upon learning and the importance of
learning activities
• Burrhus Frederic Skinner: Learning
feedback, learning reinforcement and
self-paced learning
• David A. (Anthony) Sousa: Importance
of emotions, feedback, past experiences
and meaning in adult learning.
• Roger Sperry: Left-Right brain and
adult learning engagement methods
and styles
• Edward Thorndike: Adult learning theory
Other ID9® Theoretical Influences:
The work of the following authors have also
influenced or link to the ID9® framework
and process (listed in order of approximate
birth date): Socrates, Plato, Aristotle,
Thomas Hobbs, Rene Descartes, John
Locke, George Berkley, Thomas Reid,
David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
Immanuel Kant, Franz-Joseph Gall, James
Mill (father of John Stuart Mill), John Stuart
Mill, Charles Robert Darwin, William James,
Ivan Petrivich Pavlov, Mary Calkins, Edward
Bradford Titchener, James Rowland Angell,
Montessori, Carl Jung, John Broadus
Watson, Kurt Lewin, Lev Vygotsky, Carl
Rogers, Malcolm Shepherd Knowles,
Donald Kirkpatrick, David Ausubel, George
Miller, Albert Bandura, Allen Paivio, Eric
Kandel, Edward de Bono, John Favell,
Bernice McCarthy, Jay Cross, Robin Fogarty,
Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory Model, Black &
Wiliam, Honey & Mumford and Jean Lave.
Further Information
For further information on the theoretical research basis for ID9® please refer to Training Activities That Work, by Mattiske et al. Appendix A: Theoretical Research Reference.
ID9® CURRICULUM MAPPED
TO ID9® FRAMEWORK
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