Training from the BACK of the Room! (TBR)

 

(Blog post contributed by TBR-VE™ and TCC Certifier Jean-Paul Bayley): Content delivery is the area which is the easiest for a trainer to mess up. Old habits return. Slipping into lecture feels “natural.” Like a treasured belonging, lecture is hard to let go of. Here is why and how to change that.

The bottom line is: learners struggle to focus on long lectures. After 10 minutes or so, learners become distracted. It takes more effort to concentrate. As we trainers deliver more content via lecture, learners’ brains become cognitively overloaded.

In the 10 years or so that I have been a trainer, I have delivered well over 100 training courses. I have discovered three brain-friendly content delivery tips that I use now every time I deliver a class, workshop, or training program.

Brain-Friendly Content Delivery Tip #1: Time yourself when talking.

How it works: Have a timer running when you deliver content via a lecture-format. From time to time, check the clock. If you have been talking at learners for 10 minutes or more, stop lecturing and insert an activity which reviews the content and engages learners at the same time. A simple “Pair-Share” will do the trick. Tell learners to turn to the person nearest them and state what they learned from the lecture segment. When you follow this simple idea, learners will stay alert and focused.

Brain-friendly Content Delivery Tip #2: Give learners time for note-taking.

How it works: Research suggests that our learners learn better when they listen and then pause their listening to take notes. Taking notes while listening at the same time is less effective for learning. So, after a short content piece, pause your lecture. Ask a powerful question about the content you have just delivered. Then give learners time to write down their responses to the question. Or just give them a few minutes to summarize in written-format what you’ve said.

Brain-Friendly Content Delivery Tip #3: Hand content delivery over to the learners.

How it works: To get learners learning, get them working. Two ways to get learners working are (from Training from the BACK of the Room!):

1) Play the Myth or Fact Game.

– Create topic-related true and false statements. Print the statements sets of cards, one statement per card.
– Create answer sheets which say if a statement is a myth or a fact. The sheets also explain why each statement is a myth or fact.
– Hand out a set of cards to each group of learners.
– Invite each group to work together to sort the cards into myths or facts.
– When they are done, give each group an answer sheet.
– Debrief the game with the whole class.

2) Do a Data Hunt and Gallery Walk.

– Create a poster for each topic area you are covering and fix each poster to the wall.
– Provide textbooks or URLs where learners can find information about the topics.
– Invite learners to walk around and read each poster. Ask them to add information they have found about that topic area by printing their new information on each chart. NOTE: they mustn’t duplicate any information! (This makes them read what’s on the poster!)

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If you want to learn more about how to apply the science of learning in your training, join hundreds of trainers from dozens of countries who have attended a 2-day, in-person TBR Practitioner class. In this highly-interactive class, attendees learned to:

– Leverage cognitive neuroscience to create truly effective learning experiences.
– Captivate and engage learners in ways they never thought possible.
– Acquire a simple 4-step instructional design and delivery model for learner-centered learning.
– Apply 6 learning principles that make learning stick.

Find more about the TBR Practitioner Class here: https://actineo.xyz/tbr

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About the Author: 

Jean-Paul Bayley lives in the UK and is a partner of Actineo Consulting LLP, a Business Agility Consultancy. He is also a TBR-VE™ Certifier and the Trainer Certification Course (TCC) Certifier for European/Asian countries. He is a top contributor to this TBR blog. Below are a number of his most popular posts:  

One Big Mistake I Made When I First Started Teaching Adults
How to Conduct a Safe Teach-Back
TBR, Psychological Safety, and C1-Connection Activities
Training and Learning Myths and Facts
Cognitive Load and Learning
Is Live Virtual Learning Really Helping Learners?
Blackout Bingo for Priming Learners
Small Trumps Large when Training Online
When Everything is Suddenly Virtual
3 Anti-Patterns of Training
Anti-Patterns of Training – Part Two

For questions about TBR Practitioner Classes or how to become a TBR Certified Trainer, email Jean-Paul at [email protected].  And be sure to view his other interesting and informative posts on LinkedIn.