Adult Learning Techniques in HASC’s Safety Essentials Course

I wrote this little draft of a white paper (still have work to do on it) but once I'm done I doubt I'll feel comfy publishing it here, so I'll just post the draft. 

The Health and Safety Council (HASC) recognizes the challenges industry faces to develop a safe and well-trained workforce. With over 30 years of excellence in building safe workplaces, HASC is proud to bring Safety Essentials to industry. HASC developed Safety Essentials using the R4 Learner Retention Model which focuses on Relevance, Rigor, Reinforcement, and Reflection. 

Safety Essentials utilizes several advanced adult learning theories to ensure the learner is challenged and engaged but also leaves with the knowledge needed to safely perform work. Additionally, Safety Essentials was tailored to reach every learner at every level. To do this Safety Essentials utilizes explainer videos, analogies, interactions, continuous testing, and engaging content so that the information can be easily remembered and put to use by the learner at the jobsite.

Using Analogies for Scaffolding

Using Analogies to help learners process new information and understand complex procedures is a well-established concept. Constructivist learning theory, which is linked to many adult learning theorists including developmental psychologist Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, is the idea that “learning is the process of constructing new knowledge on the foundations of existing knowledge.”  Building on this foundational andragogic theory, analogical scaffolding is the idea of using analogies to help learners understand new concepts by using information they already know. 

Taking a simple and familiar concept and expanding on it to help learners understand far more complex processes has proven to make training more successful for the learners’ long-term memory development, engagement, and their conceptual understanding.  Studies of active learning strategies such as those by Gray and Holyoak writing for the Official Journal of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, have shown that “using a familiar real-world experience as a source analog may increase student motivation, as the analogy provides an example of the application and relevance” of the subject matter.   

Other benefits to the learner that come from using analogies include greater relaxation and acceptance of the material by the learner. Studies that have shown that “students visibly relaxed . . . as if they were listening to a story . . . (this) analogy served to scaffold complex content by bridging from the known to the unknown.  This ability to help learners understand the complex by using their own established history of understanding has proven to:

- Provide clearer understanding for the learner,

- Teaches concepts from multiple, more intimate, perspectives

- Uses learner’s real-world experience to heighten understanding,

- Attracts and keeps the learners’ interest,

- Enhances learner motivation, and 

- Improves creative thinking 

Explainer Videos and Animations

A second innovative technique that is included in HASC’s Safety Essentials course that helps learners remain engaged with the information being presented and form resilient, long-term memories is the use of digital storytelling through animations and explainer videos. There is a long, established, and proven history of the effectiveness of digital storytelling for learner understanding. 

Digital storytelling includes the use of long-form videos, movies, and documentaries to convey information, however, there is the opportunity to overwhelm the learner through cognitive overload, or the feeling that learners get of “drinking from a fire hose.” Explainer videos, and short animations by their nature, help to overcome this challenge. Explainer videos engage multiple senses for the learner, utilize animations, illustrations, graphics, photos, and scenes to convey course information, and are usually short, ie. only one to three minutes in length.  The Journal for Education and Learning performed a study on interactivity and presentation styles on learner knowledge transfer and cognitive activity that found that “the presentation factor is more important for learning success than the interaction factor and explainer videos perform significantly better than the PowerPoint presentation.”  

Studies such as those by the Computers and Education Journal have shown that “segmentation of animations, . . . presenting them in pieces rather than as a continuous stream of information, has been shown to have a beneficial (impact) on cognitive load and learning for novices.”  Long-form video content can have an adverse effect on learner retention and attention. Time needs to be provided to the learner after videos and animations to allow learners to reflect, process, and understand the new information that has just been presented. Safety Essentials has taken this into account through tailoring the animations and explainer videos to the learners’ advantage.

Finally, as the International Journal for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning found, “visual analogies have been effective at reducing anxiety and at helping students focus on learning. They also make “learning more fun, relevant, and meaningful.”  Both the use of analogies and the visual nature of the digital storytelling content in HASC’s Safety Essentials course help learners understand in a more relaxed, and confident manner. A qualitative study of students’ feelings and beliefs following courses that included these features found that “students believed interactive digital storytelling facilitated engagement, scaffolded their learning, and supported learning gains. Students believed interactive video helped hold their attention while presenting manageable chunks of content.” 

Overcoming Test Anxiety

Another challenge that many adult learners face is the anxiety and fear that come with testing. Test anxiety is a common difficulty with adult learners that can lead to negative results for the learners, failing courses and wasted time.   

Safety Essentials overcomes this challenge by providing cumulative testing throughout the course rather than one long exam at the end of the course. This type of testing allows test questions to act as knowledge checks and reinforcement exercises, as well as evaluation of understanding. Additionally, studies have shown that “when frequency of testing increases then there is an increase involving students, responding to questions, and discussing reading materials.”  The improvements in success for adult learners have not been insignificant and there is “evidence that frequent testing and repetition of tested items can improve course performance up to about 10%.” 

The benefits of providing testing throughout rather than a final exam can also be shown in the learners’ motivation and engagement. A study by the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning found that “quizzing was associated with increases in both the number of student questions and comments made at the beginning of class and the number of students who reported that they came to class having read the assigned material. It was suggested that the immediate feedback provided by quizzes is particularly efficient in identifying areas of misunderstanding and in challenging students.” 

Conclusion

HASC has engineered Safety Essentials to be more effective, engaging, and meaningful for learners. The adult learning techniques that are integrated into Safety Essentials can ensure that learners are as safe as possible on the jobsite.