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Learning Strategy: The Core of Instructional Design It is not enough to throw clean sentences on a page. Learning must get under the skin. I must also endure. Our strategies immerse learners, provide a connection to organizational culture and strategy, include how-it-works information (to support problem-solving), and includes strategies to keep the learning going after the class. The following headings explain a few of the principles we apply.
Learning Transfer: Learning transfer is measured by behavior change resulting from training. It is not enough to know, learners must change behavior to change business outcomes. For example, I can teach the concepts of sales technique, and you may understand this well, but not be able to practice it. Training without behavioral change will not affect the business outcome.

We achieve behavior change with through learning strategies that motivate learners to change and support their efforts with effective thought process (metacognition) support.
Schemas for Big-Picture Context Learners must retain the larger context to enable them to process and retain details. We retain that larger picture at every stage of learning. We also provide a generalized strategy for every challenge. This allows learners to rapidly grasp over-arching concepts. We provide scenarios to allow learners to practice generalizing the general strategy to specific situations.
Active and Problem-centered Learning All of our methods are geared to immerse learners into the content and support nuts and bolts understanding of the process or system. With under-the-hood understanding, learners will solve problems that are not yet cataloged. They will find answers as they are needed, because factual knowledge decays, while functional understanding endures.
Leveraging Prior Learning: With needs assessment we learn what our learners know and where they "come from." With this information, we use what they know to new new concepts. When we can relate a radically new concept to common knowledge such as steering a car, we demystify concepts and streamline learning.

Leverage Prior Learning The fastest way to "ah-ha!" is through a tie-in to what the learner already understands. Every learner knows something. Even children understand concepts like light and dark, danger from fire, and keeping out of harm's way. Most elaborate concepts have some parallel to this basic knowledge. When we use this existing knowledge to explain new concepts, we streamline comprehension.

Immersive Learning Immersive learning is a close cousin to active and problem-centered learning. The strategy here is to put the learner in an environment as close to reality as possible and provide the opportunity to practice new skills. This allows learners to test learning and to make mistakes without cost. We include peer and mentor feedback for deeper learning.