During my working life to date, I had the good fortune to be part of a training team, tasked to train approximately 600 staff in a new IT system. The existing system was quite archaic and the new system presented a significant learning curve. The saying that underpinned the approach to training was “less is more”. Minimum technical guidance was provided, via navigation sheets, so the learner would engage more and thus understand the system quicker. The transition to the new IT system was problematic and I still wonder could the training material have had a greater impact.
Cognitive psychology studies mental processes e.g. attention, language use, memory, perception problem solving and thinking. Within cognitive psychology the term “schema” refers to information that is congruent with existing knowledge (Kesteren et al, How Schema and novelty augment memory formation). Schema could be considered to be a scaffold or frame to organise the retrieval of information. The thinking is that we can remember new information more readily when we can link it to existing information.
Interesting then to consider, that when writers and readers share the same schemata, the writer can share less information. I use the word can advisedly. The reason is that metaphors, examples, analogies and definitions are the processes by which writers talk to or stimulate a readers schemata. Thus in the context of preparing training material or writing technical supports, the potential to use these processes needs to be understood in order to maximise the opportunity form more effective learning.
So, linking the idea of schema back to the less is more approach discussed in paragraph one raises a question for me.
Q: What would I do differently if I was in charge of the training to move to a new IT system?
A: Build analogies from the existing IT system.
Create metaphors using some of the steps in the existing IT system.
Find a way to visually present the existing IT system and map the similarities and changes to the
new IT system.
When writing technical guides, reference the existing IT system.
In conclusion, it is very important to understand the audience you are writing for. Understanding how schemata work presents another frame to consider using and exploring when preparing material. And lastly, when replacing old with new as in this instance, use the old to help the audience understand the new.
