Learning boring stuff

Abstract

Many readers will still be able to associate sitting in a particular lesson at school that you particularly disliked. Even if you weren’t staring out of the window wishing the clock would tick faster, you were probably berating yourself about why you couldn’t understand or learn the topic.

In fact, just recently I was with my twin boys at school looking at their “GCSE Options”. The over-riding message from the academic staff was pick subjects that you enjoy and are prepared to study. The rationale being a simple one, you are more likely to get good grades at something you like than something you detest. This is all very well for teenagers at school, but what about adults in the workplace where the subject matter is mandated and the workforce find it boring?

This is a challenge for L&D professionals and compliance managers the world over. Yes, the employees (and management) know it is important, but they don’t learn and retain it and that puts the business at risk and reduces individual employee performance.

At Elephants don’t forget, we use AI to gently trick the brain into learning anything and all of our regulated clients use this functionality to guarantee that their employees learn what they regard as “boring” required learning.