Jolly Holden: Expert Insights Into Distance Learning and Webinars

Estimated reading time: 18 minutes

Matties: Interesting. And what about the amount of data that you put on one image?

Holden: Now you're getting into what I teach. That is called cognitive load, and it came out in neuroscience in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Human’s brains have bad short-term memory. Think of an Apple II with 48K, and that's where we are in the brain: billions of cells of long-term memory. With our short term memory, we can only hold three to five concepts for 30–40 seconds before the brain discards it if it’s not reinforced. The brain discounts 90% of all the information our eyes take in—meaning sensory input—before it gets to our short-term memory or input into long-term memory (Figure 1).

Figure 1: How the brain learns—cognitive information processing model.

Matties: The amount of data on one image should be very focused and limited to that immediate point.

Holden: Yes. In the U.S., we read left to right, so if you have text in an image, it should be close together with the image to the right of the text. In my presentations, I may have something that's complex with hidden text and pop-up windows. I’ll introduce one paragraph on a concept, make sure the students understand, and then open up another text box and close the other one out. I have them focus on one concept for 30–40 seconds because I know if that's not reinforced, it's never going to make it to long-term memory.

Further, there’s a difference between attention and retention. First, get their attention. Then, cognitive load is about retention. There are lots of different techniques to get people’s attention. This concept is called chunking—small bits of information. Remember, cognitive load is all about three to five concepts for 30–40 seconds to be reinforced. Therefore, you introduce concepts to them and chunk it into a few points or a paragraph accompanied by a visual aid. Then, the brain will create neurons linked to the text, audio, and visual image, which is retention—moving information from short-term to long-term memory.

I have what's called a "knowledge check." After about three slides, I say, "Here are some questions for you.” That is a question stem, and the answers reinforce what they already knew, hopefully. But if they didn't, and it's hanging on the periphery of long-term memory, every time you learn something, your brain creates a neuron. Any information linked to that neuron is linked to another neuron and so on. You always try to reinforce prior content because it creates more neurons and triggers activate long-term memory.

Have you ever been in a car listening to an oldies station, and you hear an old song and instantly remember a time and place? You might think, “Where in the world did all that information come from?" That was stored in long-term memory, and it took a trigger [the song] to set it off. Once your neuron and the long-term memory were activated, they were linked to another neuron, which continues. The stronger the response or the input, the more likely it's going to make the long-term memory.

Johnson: In the example of a company choosing to develop job training for their staff, employees are sequestered at home, and management is trying to use this time to build skillsets, and the company put together some training, so the staff comes back from this lockdown better skilled and cross-trained. What are some of the common pitfalls that they will want to make sure to avoid while putting together this rapidly deployed training program?

Holden: One of the things I teach is instructional design. First, what's your target audience? Who are they, meaning their demographics? Can you get them all in one place? If they're spread throughout the U.S. or world, that's going to determine the type of media you're going to deliver the content through.

Second, develop your learning objectives. That's the foundation of anything that you want to design for your target audience are those learning objectives that drive it. What do you want them to learn? Remain focused on that so that you don’t get sidetracked, and then you develop your content based on that.

Human performance, it's a systematic approach. We call it instructional systems design, meaning it’s based on systems engineering. In the education training world, we borrowed a lot from the engineering world and learned a lot from it. Having a systems approach was one of those things.

Matties: How would you measure the success factor in distance learning?

Holden: Two ways. One is the sum of the evaluations. On the educational side, we have to assess learning; accreditation requires this, and there are several ways to do it. You have standardized tests and/or criterion reference tests, as well as authentic assessment. My university doesn’t administer tests, but they have to put together a project similar to a thesis that’s related to the particular discipline. You also have to consider if you’re going to assess learning, and if so, how?

The second is called formative evaluation. What techniques can you use? The most common form is surveys. Was your intent for them to learn or to provide them with information? You need to develop metrics before you put anything together to evaluate how effective the material is. Without the metrics, you're flying blind.

Matties: I agree. You have to know what you're measuring before you release the training to students.

Holden: At a previous company, our team launched a new technology service for the internet. When we first launched it, our call center averaged about 15 minutes for call resolution. As a trainer, they came to the training department and said, "Fix it." I said, "What do you mean fix? What would ‘fixed’ be to you?" They explained that they wanted their average time from 15 minutes to be halved. That established the goal. Then, it was asked, “What metrics are used to measure that time?” They said, “From the time the phone rings to the time they hang up.” Then, I knew where we wanted to be.

It took about three months for that training to be developed, and the goal was reached. They also went from five telecommunications lines down to two or three because they used less bandwidth on the phones than before. That was not part of my metric, but it contributed to their bottom line and saved them money.

Matties: Any closing thoughts?

Holden: There are different definitions of the same term out there; distance learning is a common term, as is distance education. In the corporate world, they refer to it as e-learning, while higher education refers to it as online learning. School districts throughout the United States call it digital learning or remote learning. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” All of these terms refer to the same thing.

Matties: Thank you very much for your thoughts.

Holden: Thank you.

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