Answer:
1. Build In Daily Practice
No one ever mastered a skill on the first try. Understanding concepts, definitions, and theories does not equal capability. If this were so, doctors would skip a residency program and jump straight to treating patients without supervision. Why shouldn't they? Four years of grueling medical school should have prepared them for the real world, right?
Ask any first year surgical resident whether they feel ready to take the lead in an open heart surgery. Ask yourself if you want a first year surgical resident taking the lead in your open heart surgery. Practice, yes, even for physicians, is key to capability. Practice is so important, in fact, that physicians have numerical targets to hit prior to graduating residency. At the University of Minnesota, OB/GYN residents must complete 200 deliveries, 150 C-sections, and 110 hysterectomies (though they all perform many more) before finishing residency.
2. Encourage Social Learning
Social learning means information sharing. Information shared is information repeated, and repetition increases retention. Small group exercises, on-the-job mentoring and learning networks, whether formal or informal allow learners to bounce questions and ideas off one another, creating learning experiences that foster memorability.
3. Break Learning Into Chunks
Learning can be overwhelming when viewing the big picture. Breaking down information into digestible chunks or microlearning allows learners to master a section before moving on. Eventually, the chunks create the whole. Structure your learning experience so learners complete small segments at a time.
4. Focus On One Topic At A Time
No matter how hard we try, the brain cannot actually multitask. People who believe they are multitasking are actually switching between two tasks very quickly. Whenever this switch occurs, a cognitive switching penalty takes place. Basically, the brain wastes time and loses information while rebooting. Create the learning experience to allow learners to have a singular focus.
.5. Make Learning Visual
Vision trumps all other senses in learning. This doesn't mean throw all information up on a PowerPoint. It does mean that utilizing video, posters, flow charts, flash cards, and other visual focal points will keep your learner engaged. If in the classroom, consider providing your learners with highlighters, pens and pencils to color code or recreate visuals by hand they've seen during the learning experience.
