Creating Memorable Learning Experiences – Part 1

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been involved with educational opportunities both as a participant and as an educator, including giving a seminar at the Christian Camping and Conference Association (3CA) national conference. As I prepared for this seminar I often referred to four very simple things I learned back when I did corporate training, four factors that help participants remember what they’ve learned.

1. Participant Centered – This is the foundational factor. The participants are always more important than content. Without their motivation to learn it doesn’t matter how good the material is. So it’s a must that the both the content and the delivery be built around what works best for the participants.
2. Hearing – People remember more when they hear it spoken, whether it’s through another participant, the teacher, a video. It’s essential that participants hear the most important content.
3. Seeing – Memory goes up significantly if participants can also see the content. This is why training so often uses such tools as PowerPoint and Keynote. When people both hear and see the key content, the likelihood of retention jumps up.
4. Doing – But the one factor that can make training unforgettable is assuring participants can do something with the content they’re learning. It can be as simple as providing handouts with blanks to be filled in off the visual presentation, to creating actual exercises that show and teach the key content to be learned. The more participants do the more they’ll remember.

By assuring these four factors are a part of any training experience will make it better, more interesting and, most importantly, more memorable.

This is part one of two posts about making the most out of training and education.