5 Methods you Should Never Ever use when Trying to Teach Something

Imagine you just landed a job and it’s your first day, you go in ready to be trained so you can do the best you can and be successful at this new job of yours. After you’re introduced to a few of your co-workers, they show you to the area where you’ll be working, but instead of training you they tell you they train with the trial by fire method and you’re on your own, no walk through, no asking questions, nothing. They just leave you alone to your own devices and you have to figure it out. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Some people can learn through the trial by fire method, but a lot of people just get confused and fumble around until someone corrects them. So why would you extend the process by making them suffer through that? Lets make things easier on everyone and properly teach people.

Everyone has his or her own way to learn or a way that helps them understand the best, but some methods don’t help anyone and usually make things harder or could put people in danger. So we’ve come up with a short list of methods you should never ever use when trying to teach someone.

Trial By Fire
With this method the ‘victim’ is basically going into the situation blind, they don’t know what to expect, and if they’re operating machinery they could hurt themselves or someone else because they don’t have the proper training. Just remember, if you play with fire you get burned.

The Pacifist
Don’t be this guy. If you can’t take a stand and lead the person you’re teaching it’s basically the same as the trial by fire method. People want to be taught, it’s in our nature, so take a stand and lead them. If you do take the lead, they’ll respect you more and see you as a mentor or someone who they can ask questions, and they’ll do the job correctly. It’s a win win.

The Drill Sergeant
Attention! If you’re super aggressive and down right intimidating to your student, they’ll be scared to ask you questions or approach you when they need help with an issue. This can be especially harmful because they won’t ask you when they’re unsure of something, and when they fail because they don’t understand chances are they’ll probably give up. Can I get a sir yes sir?!

The Riddler
Do you like it when someone answers your questions with another question? Do you like having to do way more work to get the information you need, when someone could have just told you? Do you like risking the chance of entirely failing because instead of answering your question they asked you one? Or do you like when someone is straightforward and tells you how it is, and exactly what you need to know? Just tell people how it is, don’t ask questions. If this is you, watch out for a bat-themed superhero, he might be after you.

No Supplement
Most people can’t learn just from hearing, they need examples and visual references to remember what they’re learning. If you don’t supplement what you’re trying to teach with visual aids or some way to remember what you’ve taught then nothing will stick with the learner, it will go in one ear and out the other. How do I do this again?

With the pace that society moves today people expect learning to be quick, easy, and even enjoyable. The issue with learning being quick and easy is that if it’s too quick then they most likely didn’t learn much. The hard part is finding an easy way to make learning quick, easy, and enjoyable for the trainee. Luckily, KMI learning can make that happen, they can tailor an e-learning program to your standards; it can be basic or completely customized to your needs.
E-learning makes the process interesting by integrating interactions so the user isn’t just watching a video and attempting to soak up all the information.

While e-learning isn’t the answer for everyone, it definitely can be a HUGE tool for anyone.

If you liked this article you might also enjoy Audience Based eLearning: eLearning has Redefined the Learner, but the Learner has to Define eLearning and The road to eLearning hell is paved with great intentions, good content… and lousy delivery.