Right, let’s crack on with the remaining five levels of Gagne’s Nine Levels of Learning. If you’ve forgotten what we covered last week, take a minute to go back and re-read them before moving onto this.
The five levels left are:
Level 5 – Semantic Encoding
This refers to the way in which you teach the new skills to the trainee. Some people learn better using graphics, others prefer lists, and some might prefer to just listen to you and make their own notes. So, you can either ask the person you are training if they have a preferred method or you can choose your own method of training and see how it goes. Some methods you could use to get your point across are stories or case studies, info-graphics or analogies.
Level 6 – Responding
This is the point at which you test what you’ve taught them so far. If that’s something practical, you can simply ask them to show you what they’ve learned. For example, if you’ve been teaching them how to use your database, simply ask them to find something on the database and then watch how they go about it. If it’s a task that requires another person to be involved, a sales pitch for example, you can be the person on the other end of the conversation. Or, if you have other members of staff who are free, you can engage them in some role playing. This would also be a great way to introduce the new employee to other members of staff.
Level 7 – Reinforcement
After they’ve shown you what they’ve learnt, it’s time for you to feedback on how well they are doing and where they need to make improvements. This reinforces the good work already done and allows for a re-visit to the areas that have not ben so well understood.
Level 8 – Retrieval
After a little more practice, you should now test your trainee again in whatever way you deem necessary. This time make sure they complete the test by themselves. Once the test is complete, give your trainee some detailed feedback about how they’ve done and what they might still need to improve on. It would be a good idea to give hints and tips on how to improve their performance so they know what to work on once the training is complete.
Level 9 – Generalisation
This part of the process refers to the trainee’s ability to use the information they’ve been learning with you. It’s very important that you allow the trainee time to practice their new skills, as it’s a great way to remember them. So, you could set up a time for them to role-play with you or other members of your team. Or, if we use the in-house database example again, you could give them a list of various things you need them to find and watch how they go about it. Start with simple stuff and work your way up to the more difficult tasks.
Well, that’s it! The full nine levels explained. What do you think? Does it sound like something you’d be interested in trying out next time you have someone to train? If it does, please let us know how well it works and what improvements or changes you’d make.
Written by Shelley Bowers
