hard on a position paper on Instruction vs. Information and Impact vs. Impression. We will roll out segments from the paper here on our blog and will post the full paper to our website in the future. The first segment is copied below ...The need for effective instruction transcends age, and applies to so many situations outside of formal learning settings. Any effort to inform audiences via the web, face-to-face interaction, printed documents, video and so on, will not succeed without built-in ways to help audiences find relevance, reflect on the information, and assess how the information is applicable in their lives.
Absent these qualities, the onus is completely on the audience to personalize and connect with the information. More often than not, the information comes across in a non-engaging way. The result is no impact.
In this era of information "at our fingertips" (dare I say "information overload"), we hope you will find that our approach to engaging and educating audiences is instructive - that it effectively illustrates the differences between simply passing on information vs. truly instructing to make a lasting impact that moves people to action.
-Bruce Nofsinger, Principal, Topics Education
Absent these qualities, the onus is completely on the audience to personalize and connect with the information. More often than not, the information comes across in a non-engaging way. The result is no impact.
In this era of information "at our fingertips" (dare I say "information overload"), we hope you will find that our approach to engaging and educating audiences is instructive - that it effectively illustrates the differences between simply passing on information vs. truly instructing to make a lasting impact that moves people to action.
-Bruce Nofsinger, Principal, Topics Education
Bruce is right to focus on the needs of the audience. I am a professor of writing and a plain language trainer and consultant for Fortune 100 and 500 companies. In my 25 years of experience, I know two critical means of improving instruction: interactivity and clarity.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing more deadly than passing off lengthy lectures as instruction. Adults need to be actively involved in their education, not by just listening but by practicing what they are learning. Interactivity throughout any type of instruction will ensure that the audience will learn more and retain it longer. We remember 90% of what we DO during instructional periods.
Secondly, clarity in written materials is essential. The field of education, like most other professional areas, suffers from a predominance of jargon and ineffective writing. Plain language, a focus on language the audience can understand, demands that when writing to a lay audience, we use simple elements of clarity. A recent study at Stanford University showed that when material is written in a complex manner, readers thought the writer was not smart. In other words, it is easy to be complex; being simple is what's difficult.
Business, too, suffers from a lack of plain language in most of their transactional material as well as much of their instructional material.
Information becomes instruction when it is presented using interactive and clarity. Instruction becomes learning when the audience is engaged. There will be little engagement without interactivity and clarity.