How often do you consider “difficulty” when designing training? Perhaps you’re designing e-learning with interactive scenarios and gamification. Or maybe you’re designing case study scenarios or role play activities. Most of the time, when it comes to difficulty, the consideration is usually “is this too hard?” There are concerns from designers, project managers, and stakeholders that anything difficult will put learners off, cause retention issues, or lead to unpredictable training timelines. “We just need our learners to easily complete the course” might be something you’ve heard. However, I’d argue that, when done appropriately, difficulty can be a valuable tool to use in the learning process. What do I mean by that? And, by the way, what do I really mean by “difficulty?” Well, let’s talk about it!
First, what do I mean when I talk about “difficulty” in training? I’m certainly not talking about design choices that intend to deceive learners into failure. Trick questions or technicalities meant to confuse learners aren’t “difficulty” and detract from learning. I’m talking about having meaning and purpose behind the activities we design, rather than allowing our learning to become a glorified checkbox where learners can easily skirt through without paying much attention.
For example, let’s say we’re designing case study scenarios for an instructor-led class. We should strive for these case studies to start simple, but grow in complexity and difficulty until they reach or surpass the reality of the job they’re being trained for. If the job the learners are being trained for can be described as “difficult”, it stands to reason that the training should be, as well. Too often I’ve heard graduated learners say that their training didn’t really prepare them for the job. They’ll say that practice was very simple in training, and far more complex on the job. There is a risk, as stakeholders often point out, of putting off learners or experiencing retention issues. But we’ve all heard that training should be a “safe place to fail.” Learners need to be able to experience and learn from failure in training. If a learner quits because training is too difficult, this is better than them realizing this after graduating training, when they’re being counted on to perform the job they were trained for. Making training easier doesn’t make the job easier.
Let’s say we’re designing role play activities for customer or technical support. By the end of training, these activities should have ramped to the difficulty that is realistic to be experienced when helping real customers. And when it comes to the role play aspect of it, not every activity should be with a “nice customer” because the reality is, that’s not the real world. Learners should be prepared for that.
We can even present scenarios or games to learners that we don’t expect them to be able to accomplish. If we set the expectation correctly, that we don’t expect them to find success on certain activities, most learners will understand that it’s a learning experience rather than an assessment. Others may take it as a challenge. Some of them may even surprise you and prove you wrong. But you’re doing your job well if, after training, learners feel like they were prepared for the realities of the job.
Difficulty in gamification is also an interesting thing to think about. Typically, we learn about a topic and then play a game on it for reinforcement. But why not start with the game and make it brutally difficult? This can act as a WIIFM, showing the learners just how much they have to learn about a topic. Then we learn about the topic and maybe play the game again to see improvement. If it’s difficult enough, this can add replayability. Add a score and now learners can see their progress and compete with each other for high scores leading to more practice and repetition. And starting with difficulty upfront, in the right circumstances, could be a way to allow learners to “test out” of a course if they’re proficient from the beginning.
Learning when, where, and how to use difficulty takes practice on the part of the designer, not to mention the change management skills to gain buy-in from all stakeholders. But it can help create more proactive training that takes the training wheels off while it’s still safe to fail. When you account for your target audience, subject matter, and job being trained – not being afraid of challenging your learners will serve them well after training.
