There is a cuss word in training and education circles. It begins with "FU" like other cuss words, but it ends in "N"..."Fun". A quick way to have a design dismissed from consideration is to bring up the need for a "fun factor". Never mind that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Never mind that making content interesting can move it through the first stages of Krathwohl's Affective Domain of Learning (at least Receiving and Responding). In that mindset, though, serious training can't include anything frivolous.
When I was teaching programming, I found that if my students had interesting projects to work on, they could learn the most intricate and tricky structures. When they couldn't see the purpose of an exercise, they had difficulty working through it, let alone learning and retaining its principles. If the exercise/project were to build a computer game, my students pitched themselves enthusiastically into the effort... and they learned from it. Though the underlying programming principles were exactly the same for both game and dry exercise, the students were far more ready to learn with the game. In short, it was fun.
I have a colleague, Dave Swenson, who advises to “Find a way to get students out of their seats.” I know that’s critical in motivational-type training. Is it possible in corporate software training? I’m certain of it. Another colleague, Dave Brady, is constantly advising, “Hands-on! Hands-on! Hands-on!” He wants students learning by doing, not by hearing. What they don't realize is that they're both advising to find the fun factor in training. The other thing they don't realize is they're preaching to the choir. I'm big on using the biggest cuss word in training: "Fun".
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