e-Learning Leadership Blog

All I Need to Know about Instructional Design I Learned from a Blue Jay

by Ethan Edwards, chief instructional strategist

My house is surrounded by a dozen 150-year-old pecan trees plus about 20 other smaller trees that form a rich shade canopy around the house and apparently, judging by the immense activity this spring, create an ideal bird sanctuary. I’m overwhelmed by the richness and diversity of bird life surrounding me. On one recent morning I took this picture of a young blue jay out of the nest for the first time struggling to fly. As I watched him and snuck in as close as I dared to take this photo, I was very aware of the presence of the little fellow’s mother (or perhaps father…not sure about blue jay child-rearing responsibilities) flitting and chattering and watching and protecting her young. I left them alone in their training but it is amazing to think that the little bird was probably flying successfully within just a few hours.

Admittedly, the differences between this learning and the kind of training that most of us in the online training world face are immense. Yet, one can’t help but find some whimsical parallels if one attempts to extrapolate from this experience to improve our efforts at training.

Some important lessons:   

• Training only really has impact when performance is involved. I’m sure the mother jay didn’t spend several days questioning her offspring on the history of bird flight, or making him match bird parts to each function (feet for landing, wings for flapping, etc.) or responding to T and F questions (True or False: Flying is just one possible way to move from one location to another). I’m sure the hatchling became aware of much from observation but the learning occurred when he was forced (or fell) out of the nest and had to figure out how to get back in it. Too often e-learning is stuck on “content” and never gives the learner the chance to perform.
   
• The challenge had specific meaning to the learner. He wasn’t sitting there thinking “This is a pointless waste of time. I don’t know why I’m being asked to do this.” Instead, he understood the benefit and was motivated to solve that problem. Too often, I find that e-learning sort of ignores the real-life challenge and masks it with the usually meaningless and arbitrary challenge of the instructional strategy (you must earn 70%, you must contribute three posts to the discussion forum, etc.)
   
• There was obvious risk in the learning environment. That little bird was subject to any number of real life hazards in attempting to master flight. I don’t propose that e-learning should elevate risk to matters of life and death actually, but tangible risks and consequences of not learning provide considerable incentive for efficient learning.
  
  
• Perhaps, commensurate with the risk, the learning environment had constant and vigilant supervision by an expert (the mother jay). The instructor’s commitment extended beyond sitting in the nest waiting to print LMS reports listing how many birdlings succeeded in learning to fly. She was right there. Our organizations are so eager to “automate” learning that some vital opportunities for connection sometimes get lost. I know many asynchronous e-learning courses that would be improved simply if there was a discussion forum connected with the course in which students might still connect with an expert for special issues. Or places for hybrid interactions that might combine online performance elements with workplace challenges and teacher interaction might be hugely beneficial. Our simplistic ideas of “blended learning” rarely go past the idea of having a class for part of the instruction and e-learning for another part. But sometimes we mistakenly believe that creating an online curriculum removes our experts and instructors from any personal responsibility. Especially with opportunities in front of us with mobile devices and social media platforms, the potential value of this kind of integration seems even more powerful.
   
• Success in the instruction was based on mastery. Success was not determined by an arbitrary minimum standard of achievable mediocrity. Instead, the training event continued until the bird achieved at least a minimal mastery of flying. In many e-learning plans, completion criteria allow learners to finish with a considerable portion of the content (sometimes 20-30%) is left undone.
  
  

Of course I’ve taken some liberties with assigning motives to the birds, but I do take some encouragement in remembering what common sense should tell us about the nature of instruction.