This Tip looks at 28 different consequences of a long day to show why training days need to be shorter if we want learning to occur.
“Instant gratification takes too long.” Carrie Fisher
The mind can only absorb what the rear can endure. That philosophy should be a standard for training programs. They should last long enough to accomplish the training goal yet treat both participants and trainers in a kinder, more humane fashion.
Unfortunately, the powers that be who make the decisions about training content and length, particularly in technical areas, appear to be oblivious to the toll that long training days take on the participants’ mental and physical well being.
This is not, by the way, simply an indictment of technical training programs that are lecture-based. It doesn’t matter whether the training is lecture-based or participant-based, the end result of a training day that is too long is essentially the same.
Why Training Days Need to be Shorter
What happens when a training day is eight hours long? It’s not pretty:
Participants Get Fatigued and Can’t Concentrate
1. The participants get fatigued.
2. It is difficult for them to concentrate.
Learning is Sporadic and Not Absorbed
3. Learning is sporadic.
4. The trainer “covers” the content. But the participants don’t absorb it.
No Energy or Patience
5. The trainer loses energy.
6. Patience grows thin.
Clock Watching
7. Everyone watches the clock.
8. Participant log hours, not learning
Learner Overload
9. We cram too much content into the day.
10. Learner overload occurs.
Rules, Exceptions and Caffeine
11. We teach rules and the exceptions at the same time, cancelling each other out.
12. Participants and trainers caffeinate up, which wreaks havoc with their equilibrium.
Uninterested and Sloppy
13. Participants are unable to maintain interest in what their peers are saying or doing.
14. Class work gets sloppy.
Illegible Writing and Pointer Strobe Effect
15. The trainer’s writing gets unreadable.
16. Because the trainer’s arm is tired, laser pointing is less accurate and has a strobe effect.
Survival and Wait Out the Clock
17. The focus is on survival rather than learning.
18. The name of the game is wait out the clock.
Minimal Learning Retention or Transfer
19. The likelihood of learning retention is minimal.
20. The probability of learning transfer is miniscule.
Overwhelm and Exhaustion
21. The content seems overwhelming.
22. Participants associate learned skills with exhaustion.
Break Times Get Longer
23. Participants do not want to return to the classroom.
24. Break times get longer and longer as participants straggle in.
No Volunteers, No Questions
25. No one wants to volunteer.
26. No one asks questions, so no one answers them.
Training Gets a Bad Name
27. Note taking becomes nonexistent.
28. Participants perceive training as a negative rather than a positive event.
There is absolutely nothing to recommend an overlong training day. Eight hours of training in one day are too much. For some content, it is possible that even six hours of training are too much. It depends on the complexity of the content and the learning activities. They need to both engage the participants and help them to learn and to practice what they learned.
They say that good things come in small packages. That’s another good standard for training content and length!
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
