How can K12 teaching methods improve corporate training?
The world is changing rapidly, with new technologies getting invented all the time. Hence, new techniques are being tried to update employees about these technologies. K12 teaching methods are getting used to ensure that the employees pay more attention to the training. These are the major K12 teaching strategies helpful in the corporate world:
- Focus on employees:
These strategies are more attuned to the learners’ needs than the corporate teaching methods. In the corporate world, the ideology is that employees have to learn because this is their job. But the Great Resignation has proved that employees have to be engaged in training rather than imposing it. Employees have to be explained the benefits of why they should learn. It’s just like high school, where students often question why they are taught something because they need to know where they would apply this knowledge.
The ways humans can be motivated to learn are the same regardless of their age; whether they are 15 or 35 years old, they need to be given a reason. So, the corporate training strategies need to include the objectives and the result elements. The learners must find the learning relevant and be interested in it through such elements. They must know what learning aims to do. i.e., the objectives and how they can benefit from learning results.
- Include informal assessments to understand whether learners are learning:
The informal assessments are a significant part of K12 teaching strategies, but they are not considered in corporate training.
The trainers need to focus on the quality of the learning content to be effective. If the learning is not yielding the desired results, it’s time to change it rather than adhere to it the same way. Hence, the learners can be asked whether they find learning applicable through surveys and quizzes(informal assessments). Even observing them at work lets the trainers know whether the learners have grasped anything useful from learning. In schools, too, teachers use rubrics to gauge students’ skills whether the learning has delivered any desired results.
However, observation of employees’ performance can make the L&D department understand what does training lack. It’s also vital that the employees are given modeling in training because they can’t do anything involving machinery without that. But after a demo that shows the actual technique, they become experts.
- When an employee is working from home:
But it is tough to measure an employee’s performance when he is not working from the office. But when he is working from home, his performance can be also be monitored if he is using screen sharing software. Hence, in the case of software training, employers can check whether an employee is taking the proper steps. For example, The K12 teaching software allows employers to conduct online surveys about where employees have faced problems in their work, making the former know whether training needs any changes.
- Include collaboration:
Collaboration is also a crucial part of making corporate training a better experience. It’s because when employees teach others, they get helpful feedback. When employees train, they develop critical thinking because learners pose questions. The existing employees also get to harness and develop their leadership skills and improve their self-image by teaching juniors or fresh recruits. When asked to train the new hires, the current employees feel a sense of recognition. Hence, to develop the best Instructional Designing strategies, it’s better to take inspiration from K12 teaching because they care about the students.
- Give employees time to self-learn just like in schools:
Just like in schools, where the students are encouraged to pursue their passions, the same strategy can be applied in offices also. The employees could be given 20% off from their daily shift to study something. The employees who could come up with some innovative ideas were rewarded. When employees are given some free time to explore their ideas further, they get more interested in learning. Hence, the companies should not set up strict criteria for what an employee should learn. It’s because an employee might learn something outside his skills that could benefit the company. Hence, the employees should be given detailed reading materials, including hyperlinks and extra activities within the course, which might be more from a company’s perspective.
- Kolb’s learning styles:
In Corporate e-learning, the learners have to be treated the same way as in schools. They have to be segregated as per the way they imbibe information. There are 4 kinds of learners, Assimilators, Convergers, Accommodators, and Divergers, as per Kolb’s Learning styles model of 1984. When presented with sound theories, the Assimilators understand things, but Convergers need a realistic application of topics to trust their credibility. Accommodators require practical experience to trust a theory, and Divergers need to gather proof about a concept’s truthfulness. Hence, the teachers must ensure that the e-learning material is as per students’ learning styles. For example, the Divergers and Assimilators often like to chat with other learners, and for them, an LMS must have chatting options.
Hence, the teachers must check whether the learner is an Accommodator because they learn through trial and error and hence must be given the experiential approach to learning. This means they should be shown the proof of theories through experiments first. On the other hand, Convergers prefer tasks; hence, to explain a theory, they must be given some work after it. Similarly, the Divergers must be given various examples where the theory yielded truthful results. This is how using K12 teaching strategies can yield effective results in Corporate learning.
