Training is more than taking charge of the inputs you feed your mind through formal training programs. The Internet however and its limitless potential to teach the modern workforce something valuable for their daily functions at work is one of the biggest sources of work related learning today. How can you maximize the workforce’s time in learning online? How can you train people to better absorb learning inputs while surfing the Internet?
Teach people to tell a story
Without the right strategies, what people read online can leave them as soon as they shut down their PC’s. This is just how the brain works. It cannot and will not absorb everything it is fed with. The secret is to teach people to make a story of the input they just picked up online. If it is about treating customers better, they can apply the idea by integrating it into a story about a cashier and how she was able to serve the customer better by vocalizing the transaction she is handling with him/her (just an example). By composing this story, the brain can better recall it. The idea is even strengthened and improved every time the story is shared!
Encourage people to teach others
The principle is: if you want to be better at something, teach about that something. It is the same in this case. If you want the input you read online to stick in your long term memory, teach the input, idea, concept or whatever to your peers at work, your family members, and to your friends. The more you share the idea the stronger it holds on to your brain. So teach people to teach what they learned.
Put emphasis on sleep
In this fast paced world we live in now, sleep is often seen as an awful waste of time. But skipping it is actually more counterproductive than spending more time up learning some more. The brain has a threshold of the amount of information it can store and it also get stressed out. Not having enough breaks and quality sleep can hamper its ability to pick up ideas and do something worthwhile about these ideas. You want to teach people how to be effective learners online? Teach them to value and power of a good night’s sleep!
Tell people to imagine applications for the new learning
Visualization is a powerful skill of the human mind. It enables people to imagine and yes, synthesize and analyze concepts better. So if people read something interesting online, teach them to visualize how they can use the data. They can imagine themselves applying the leadership styles of Sun Tzu (again, just an example) and visualize how each part of the newly learned leadership concepts fits into the current situation he or she is in the context of leadership. This should make the new learning stick as the brain gets excited with its future application.
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