WARNING: What you are about to read is a new concept. Do not read unless you are ready for a new concept.
Here’s something to think about: Why does training have to be, uh, training? As training developers and designers, we all live in the world of “tell learners what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them.” It’s an old saw—maybe too old.
I’m beginning to see a shift away from always instructing to this paradigm, though. Maybe agile learning or SAM have something to do with this. Or maybe we’re getting smarter about what online learning can do. But whatever the reasons, as delivery methods begin to change, so too does the actual training.
Of the last five or so projects I’ve worked on, two of them delivered audience-directed training at the beginning of each lesson. By audience-directed, I mean that the first part of a lesson doesn’t have to be actual training, but rather something specifically to assist learners with their emotional intelligence and prepare them to receive the learning content. I call this meta training.
Meta what?
There’s frequent mention of metadata all over the internet, but what is it? The Wikipedia definition is complex, but simply put, meta “anything” is data about the “thing.” In other words, it is data about the data.
In e-learning, our data is the training content that we deliver, which comes in many forms these days—from live learning to online courseware to webinars to simulations and games. In my view, the one thing that meta training is not, is that old saw discussed earlier. It is not about telling the learners what the lesson is about.
Are you confused yet? Let me demonstrate by outlining a few examples. In explaining the following examples, I wanted to demonstrate who the audience is, and the raison d'être for calling them meta training.
Example 1: Carlito series
This meta training in this example is a video series about Carlito, a nice guy who frequently screws up on the job because he doesn’t pay attention to his training.
The audience is about 25-35 years old, with educational attainment of a HS diploma or GED, and mostly male. While this cohort was raised on video games, they weren’t necessarily good students, nor were they used to training that was presented both online and in the classroom.
The video used for the Carlito series (actually a Photeo animation) had nothing to do with the training itself. Instead, each episode (there are 41) took something from that week’s lesson and turned it on its head to demonstrate how, if Carlito had paid attention, the mistake wouldn’t have happened. This was teaching pure emotional intelligence to this audience.
Example 2: Seinfeld-style skits
This second example might be a little closer to the training, but it’s still about the training and not the training itself. Learners view video skits that focus on the upcoming training.
The audience is comprised of recent college graduates entering the workforce for the first time. The video skits use real actors and script, and resemble Seinfeld sketches, in which four principal actors sit in a restaurant and talk about various things.
Here the actors are talking about one of their group taking the initiative. Each of the 14 scripts is a little parable about various aspects of getting along in the workplace, such as embracing diversity or displaying personal judgment. In my opinion, these training skits were about preparing the emotional intelligence of the learners for the actual content that were expected to learn.
Example 3: Cancer diagnosis videos
Some might consider this third example a bit of a stretch, but I think it’s meta. This training is a complete video for newly diagnosed cancer patients and how the diagnosis affects their mind when they first receive it.
The training isn’t about the course of the disease, how the therapy might affect the viewer, or actions they might need to take during their course of treatment. Instead, the video is about how people react mentally to the course of the disease, as told through the words and thoughts of cancer patients.
I believe this is meta training because it’s more of an emotional intelligence training for something that for many is a devastating diagnosis.
Bottom line
Perhaps it is time to take the training out of the training and start thinking about how people are affected by what they about to learn. Let’s give our learning audiences some tools for upping their emotional intelligence, and call it meta training.
