Diversity of experience in a target audience is a challenge for any instructor or designer. Some people know a lot about the subject, others know a little – and they are all in the same class. Traditional methods for dealing with a variety of experience include offering different classes categorized by skill level (e.g. Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced), varying the time allotted for a class (e.g. a Brown Bag Lunch briefing for supervisors, a half-day class for new hires), and using different delivery strategies (e.g. a WBT for more experienced learners and a face-to-face for less experienced learners). However, even using these methods, you’ll still have some diversity of experience in any given group.
From the design standpoint, assigning pre-course work, branching of content or application during the course, or using post-course assignments can help. The designer may choose a method that capitalizes on the more experienced learners by pairing them up with one or more less experienced learners (peer tutoring). Or perhaps the designer will use some other discussion technique to reveal content.
But what other strategies can an instructor use on the fly in the classroom?
I recently instructed a Web Based Training (WBT) design class where I had participants who published web-based training products, multi-media developers who programmed training products, and people who had never even seen a WBT – all in the same class. Challenging! Here are some of the things I did:
- I acknowledged up front the value that the participants brought to the workshop.
- Projects were done in small teams of 3-5 people. The more experienced could help the inexperienced and, in so doing, also have their competency acknowledged. Win-Win.
- I made sure that the more experienced participants’ expectations were met by surveying them early in the class and tying their particular concerns to specific pieces of content being covered.
- I used some of the technically adept participants as a resource during our discussions of authoring tools and LMSs (Learning Management Systems).
- I offered to use some of the more experienced participants’ products as examples during breaks and after hours to illustrate some of our teaching points.
- I allowed a limited amount of “air time” to the more experienced participants.
Perfect solutions that made everybody happy? No-o-o-o-o, but, I think the workshop was much better received than if it had been a “one-size-fits-all” – despite the diversity of experience that was in the class.
Whether designing or instructing, I’d love to hear about what has worked for you when you are dealing with diversity in the classroom.
Paul
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What survey method did you use to tie the more experienced participants’ concerns to specific pieces of content being covered?
Stephany:
We do a survey after the first hour or so of class asking the participants to: 1) Identify the top 3 priorities from the workshop objectives. 2) List additional objectives they would like to see covered. 3) Identify frustrations or concerns regarding the subject of the workshop.
The intent is to insure we do a good job meeting or managing their expectations.
Thanks for the post,
Paul
Hi
When I was a trainer, I used to pair an experienced participant with the relatively less experienced participant so that we can align individual learning goals with the training objectives and this way less experienced participants may get an experienced buddy and hence share a wonderful experience.