The methodology you choose is the way you present material (e.g., slides, discussion, case study, role play, group problem solving). As you design your training, you want to choose methodology that will be appropriate to your subject, engage the audience, and make the content memorable.

 

Often, learning objectives and the accompanying task analysis suggest design choices and methodology. If the target audience is suppose to visually “recognize” something, then you will need slides or photographs to make the training/education experience provide a good “cue” that now is the time to exercise this skill. For example, a training program that teaches firefighters how to recognize signs of impending building collapse better show some good slides on building fatigue and failure. Similarly, training programs to help interpret nonverbal cues from clients (whether through body language or auditory signals) should present pictorial and auditory material. An article entitled Training Mental Health Professionals to Assess and Manage Suicidal Behavior: Can Provider Confidence and Practice Behaviors be Altered? demonstrates the influence that well-designed learning objectives and training can make. It discusses results of a systematic research study to determine the impact of clinical suicidology training in changing providers’ attitudes and behaviors. Study results suggest that a brief and carefully developed workshop training experience can change provider perceptions and behaviors that impact critical care.

 

If the target audience is expected to listen for something they might hear, such as a statement that might be made to a counselor, it is usually better to give examples of these types of statements than to describe them because it gives a better cue—for example: statements that might indicate major depression. For this reason, handbooks that explain the use of therapeutic techniques such as Motivational Interviewing typically include sections of dialogue that show the interplay between counselor and client. Without specific examples such as these, the “idea” of what is to be done remains theoretical, and the learner has no clear path to transfer theory to practice.

 

It is important to think about the context where the target audience will perform this behavior (e.g., why do so many commercials show people in the act of making decisions in the grocery store?). If you can integrate the cue in the environment, it’s that much stronger. 

 

Sometimes, of course, you don’t have the resources to do what you’d like. You might want a professional video, but instead have to use a live demonstration of the technique. The key is to get as close as you can to the characteristics of the medium that matches your goal, given the resources and time constraints you are working with.