Focus Magazine - Winter 2017 - 50

TECHNOLOGY

Learning leaders are
constantly exploring how
to leverage the power of
simulation while striving to
accelerate learning, improve
outcomes and measure the
impact.

training enables learners to acquire new knowledge and to
practice applying new skills all within realistic contexts. It
can accelerate the development of professional expertise
while providing a complex model of reality that allows
learners to practice the skills they need in a relatively riskfree environment.
We, as learning leaders, are constantly exploring how to
leverage the power of simulation while striving to accelerate
learning, improve outcomes and measure the impact of that
training. Simulation allows learners to learn and practice
skills in a risk-free environment.
Another example is using story-driven learning, which
has been shown to improve understanding and retention. It
places the learner into a real-world story as the main
character. is story unfolds based on the decisions that

learners make. Research shows that by making decisions
and experiencing consequences, both optimal and
suboptimal, learners will improve their ability and
confidence to apply their knowledge in real life situations -
which is the goal of training. A well-designed simulation
should be short in duration, typically 10 minutes or less,
and have data capture capabilities providing actionable
insights to organizations that assess improvement and that
identify needs.
It is also important to consider using a branching logic
model that allows for adaptive, experiential learning. is
not only benefits learners but also provides the ability to
create all types of activities based on diﬀerent learning
models, for example spaced learning, flipped classroom or
blended learning. Perhaps most importantly, the learning
experience must be engaging and interesting for learners,
which is most easily accomplished with a story-based,
branched logic model.
A learning experience should not stop with completion,
it should entail a design to collect metrics that will help
learning leaders measure business impact and identify gaps
to help enable personalized learning plans. Strategic metrics
enable leaders to quantify the value of training and the
long-term improvements that can be correlated with
eﬀective learning experiences.
Metrics that help leaders better understand not only the
choices made by the learners throughout the simulation,
but also the drivers of those decisions (and behaviors) are
the most eﬀective.
It's time to bring agility, personalization and
measurement to training design as a best practice. We need
designers and trainers that not only bring content expertise
but also deliver a learning experience that allows for
deliberate practice to improve suboptimal behaviors while
reinforcing optimal behaviors. ■

Gayle Shaw-Hones, RN, Ph.D., is director of learning and development for Kynectiv. Email Gayle at gayleshawhones@kynectiv.com.

FOCUS | Winter 2017 | www.L-TEN.org

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Winter 2017