What is the Link Between Authentic Learning and Learner Motivation?
The best learners are the ones who are self motivated. They are eager to discover, to ask questions, and to take in the new information that can potentially change their lives. Creating motivated learners, from a corporate learning perspective especially, may seem like an uphill battle. But it’s not impossible. Read on to see how the concept of authentic learning can help your hr training and development programs become more accessible, more relatable, and more influential within your learning and development programs.
Understanding Authentic Learning
Authentic learning is best described as real life learning opportunities. The lessons that we as individuals and professionals seek out and experience each and every day. It is a style of learning that encourages students to bring the lessons to life. It creates a tangible, useful product that can have a direct impact on the world, rather than remaining an abstract thought.
Educators using authentic learning styles help guide learner by nurturing an idea and providing the planning, timeline, and resource support learner need to bring their ideas to life. In this way, the teacher becomes more of a guide, a facilitator, or a mentor, there to encourage and guide rather than to dictate learning outcomes.
Authentic learning is so powerful in part because it engages all the senses, allowing learners to create a meaningful, useful, shared experience. They are based on real or simulated tasks that provide the student with opportunities to connect directly with the real world.
Why Authentic Learning Succeeds
Authentic learning succeeds where other learning methods fail because it is driven by learner motivation and need. Too often, trainers are asked at what point their lessons will be relevant or useful to the students. This is never an issue with authentic learning because it is the students who guide the discussion. They identify what is most important, and give purpose to the learning. At no point does an authentic learning program suffer from the delivery of content for content’s sake. Every message has a purpose. Every lesson has a learner motivation and real world application. And that is what drives learner success, particularly within the corporate learning environment.
What Inspires Learners?
Learners connect best with content that is meaningful to their lives or their work. They are motivated by their own questions and authentic learning offers them the chance to get answers. Understanding the driving force behind student motivation will help guide you as a program developer to create content in a way that is more approachable, memorable, and interesting to trainees. It’s that content which will stay with them long after the program is complete. It is that kind of content which will make a difference in their professional lives and in the success of the business they work for.
Are you looking to tighten the link between learning and motivation?
To further explore alternative training methods such as authentic learning, and see how they can modernize your learning and development program, reach out to the team at Clarity Consultants today. We can help you reconnect with your students, and keep them motivated while they learn the necessary skills and information that is necessary to drive business success.
