How can you create impactful learning and training experiences for adults?

When you design new training content, your goals are probably clear:

• Create material that genuinely helps learners

• Successfully share knowledge and skills

• Ensure learners retain and apply that knowledge to positive effect

But even with hours of hard work and the best intentions, trainers and learning designers don’t always hit the mark. It’s disheartening when your efforts don’t lead to lasting learning.

In Design for How People Learn, Julie Dirksen explains how to create materials that help learners acquire and retain knowledge and skills. She shares key principles around memory, learning, and attention that show us how to design effective content.

Understand your learners’ needs

Take time to understand your learners. Ask yourself: How much do they already know? What motivates them? Tailor your content to their skill levels and interests. It’s much like marketing — the more personal the experience, the more satisfied your learners will be.

Establish your learners’ WHY

A strong purpose sits behind every successful learning experience. Adults need to buy into the ‘why’ behind the learning. Make the benefits clear — show them what’s in it for them so they feel motivated to engage.

Give your learners ownership

Empower your learners by involving them in the process. Let them collaborate and co-create their learning experience. This approach boosts engagement and supports their growth as learners.

Chunk it up to make it memorable

For learning to stick, information needs to move from short-term to long-term memory. Break your content into digestible chunks — whether that means dividing text into sections or designing bite-sized modules. It makes information more memorable and manageable.

Place learning in context

Align your teaching with real-world situations where learners will apply their knowledge. Integrate real-life workplace scenarios into activities so they can see the relevance and practical use of their new skills.

Structure your lessons effectively

1. Follow these five key principles when designing lessons:
2. Focus on action, give learners chances to apply and practise new skills
3. Introduce ‘desirable difficulty’ and keep lessons challenging enough to maintain motivation
4. Make lessons interactive. Hands-on learning keeps engagement high
5. Build good habits into the learning process
6. Where possible, ‘encode’ knowledge into the environment to prevent overload

Evaluate from the start

Weave evaluation into your planning. Set clear evaluation criteria at the start so you know whether your teaching hits the mark.

Don’t forget feedback

Offer regular formal and informal feedback throughout the course. Encourage peer feedback and self-evaluation to increase engagement. And remember to collect feedback on your own delivery, a short, anonymous survey at the end of the course highlights what works well and where you can improve.

At Understood, we understand how to create varied, absorbing and exciting training content that engages learners.

And we also offer help existing trainers (and wannabe trainers) to improve their learning design skills. Check out our Trainer Transformation Masterclass – this intensive course will build ability, confidence, and design and facilitation skills, helping your trainers to harness their strengths, and to reflect and learn from their practice. 

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