Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

On Wednesday, I spent the majority of my morning completing an expense report for my recent business travel. I purposely waited until the end of ALL of my travel (4 separate trips) to complete it, thinking it would be easier to do it all in one sitting. Oh my, was I wrong.

I couldn't help but draw parallels to training. How often do we try and clump as much information as possible into one session thinking it will be easier/more efficient for participants to learn it all in one sitting?

I was completely overwhelmed Wednesday, as I searched my desk and travel bags and purse for receipts, then meticulously tried to recall what each receipt was for (was this lunch? dinner? was this the taxi to the airport?). My first trip, nearly six weeks ago now, I could barely recall the details.

Imagine if I had completed expense reports after each of my four business trips. Sure, it may have taken a little more time as I submitted a separate report for each trip, but my emotional state would have been significantly improved. My recall of the trips would be fresh in my mind. The whole experience would be less stressful.

Sometimes (and I'd argue more often than not) things just work better when you do a little bit at a time working toward a larger goal. Now, back to training.

Imagine “bite size” training that delivers content where the user needs it, when the user needs it, and repeats it in some interval as to allow for longer retention. Beyond improving the transfer to short-term and eventually long-term memory (shout out to John Medina’s book Brain Rules, and his recent keynote at the eLearning Guild Learning Solutions Conference), this approach also improves the learner experience by reducing stress levels. In short, it's setting the learner up for success.

How different do you feel when you attend/log in to a course that's going to be 3 hours versus one that is 30 minutes? Can your 3 hour course (or 8-hour course!) be broken into 20-minute topics that repeat over the longer session?

"Bite size" training helps give the repetition learners need while giving them the emotional well-being to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Make it just in time and you've got a powerful tool where the users are in control of where and when they learn. Make it relevant and valuable to ensure long term retention and flexibility with the content.

Now if I could just take my own advice and get those expense reports done a little more frequently.