From onboarding training for new employees to healthcare executive leadership training, there is always something new to be learned in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Smart learning promises to make all of this necessary knowledge acquisition much more rewarding for both the learner and the organization they serve. By transitioning participants from passive to active learning, smart learning courses promote far deeper and more profitable familiarity with the material than your standard lecture-based course.
What Is Smart Learning?
Smart learning is the process of using digital tools for educational purposes. This includes both fully online and blended learning courses. Smart learning instruction might involve watching instructional videos, completing online assessments, participating in interactive games, and more.
Why Passive Learning Fails
To better understand why smart learning is worthwhile, we must first examine the pitfalls of passive learning.
You may not have heard of the term passive learning before, but you have almost certainly encountered this type of pedagogy in your lifetime. Passive learning is what most people would call traditional learning: instruction that is absorbed passively by reading or listening to educational content.
Passive learning is the default form of education in most schools. It requires little effort on the part of the instructor and can easily disseminate knowledge to large groups. However, it offers participants no feedback on their efforts and cannot offer a rewarding experience for those who progress more quickly or slowly through the content.
How Smart Learning Promotes Active Learning
If passive learning is all about absorbing information, active learning is about putting that information into practice. This style of learning still involves some traditional coursework, such as readings and lectures. However, these components are just the start of the active learning experience.
Once course concepts have been established, participants are invited to engage with the material in unique and interesting ways. Some active learning instruction involves quizzes and tests that can be repeated until mastery is achieved. Other approaches challenge participants to interact with one another in discussions and similar activities.
Smart learning provides ample opportunities to incorporate active learning into course content. The interactivity that digital mediums provide is foundational to an active learning experience.
Why Active Learning Is Better
Smart learning’s active learning approach offers several key advantages over passive learning, including:
- Greater engagement. Some people are content reading endless paragraphs of text, but many get bored easily with this type of instruction. Active learning involves different instructional methods, including games, quizzes, roleplays, and other activities that are more likely to hold participants’ attention. This is especially helpful when tackling dense content on topics like patient advocacy in the pharmaceutical industry.
- Improved retention. Coursework that quickly covers a topic before swiftly moving on to the next rarely gives learners the time and depth of knowledge they need to retain the information long-term. Active learning presents complex topics in a variety of formats and contexts, promoting a deeper mastery of the subject matter that participants are more likely to remember for years to come.
- Better course value. The goal of any corporate training initiative is to drive higher revenue through the application of the skills that are taught. Active learning is built on creating opportunities for skill application, allowing participants to practice what they have learned in activities that mimic real-world scenarios.
Bring Smart Learning to Your Staff Today
Smart learning is inarguably the best way to disseminate information in today’s world. Why not put it to use to help you train your staff? The Brooks Group’s Learning Xperience instructional design services offer healthcare and pharmaceutical companies the chance to create their own custom training courses on any topic they choose. Contact us today to learn more about our instructional design consulting services and give your team the smart learning advantage.