4MAT & E-Learning

We all know the value of applying the 4MAT model to our face-to-face teaching and training but there is no doubt the internet and particularly the web are changing the way training is delivered in a significant way. At the moment most of our clients are moving into the e-learning space—either developing new content, or trying to rewrite current courses to fit into the online environment.

While I believe that the model applies everywhere, I think that it is particularly important in the e-learning environment. Although online learning presents a unique opportunity, it also presents challenges and from my experience the two biggest ones that are faced when trying to apply 4MAT into this medium are providing the right opportunities in 1R ie building a powerful connect piece that engages the learner from the beginning; and maintaining the balance between right and left brain activities.

For some learners the online environment is not their preferred way to learn and so a powerful connect piece can be the difference between completing a program or not (recent stats indicate a fairly high non-completion rate for online courses). Also, while there are some fabulous applications that can be used to generate activities in the right-mode octants—how can we construct the learning so that a) participants complete them and b) they are debriefed in a way that provides strong connections regarding the relevance of these activities to the content so that they don’t just click through to the next screen in the training?

Some of the activities that are proving to be popular with groups we are working with include:

• completing questionnaires/surveys;
• producing a slide show using images or film clips then posting comments via online chats or bulletin boards;
• producing a slide show using images or film clips then posting comments via online chats or bulletin boards;
• producing a slide show using images or film clips then posting comments via online chats or bulletin boards;

What do you find works for you in the e-learning space?