Navigating the learning labyrinth
Why every learning experience needs a ‘red thread’.
In a previous edition of the L&D Dispatch, Ross G explored the topic of ‘desirable difficulty’ through the lens of maze-design.
Like a good maze, a learning experience needs to be just difficult enough to test the learner’s capabilities, but not so difficult that they decide to give up.
As Ross G put it:
‘An optimum learning experience, that triggers real change in the learner, is one where they feel challenged but succeed.’
I like Other Ross’s maze/learning design analogy. But, while speaking to a client last week, I realized that it can be stretched even further. Before I get to that, allow me a brief digression into Greek mythology…
In the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of thread. By leaving a trail of thread behind him as he travels to the heart of the labyrinth, Theseus is able to find his way out after slaying the monster.
This myth gives rise to the concept of the ‘red thread’: a central message, theme, or organizing idea that connects different elements of a story, an argument, or even a learning experience.
Red threads are particularly important in long-term programmes with multiple touch-points, which can easily feel like a disorienting collection of ‘stuff’ if there isn’t something to tie it all together.
So, how do we incorporate red threads into the programmes we design at Mind Tools?
Here are two illustrative examples:
🦸 Using recurring characters and scenarios — Burberry
In partnership with Burberry, we developed a series of digital DE&I ‘episodes’ that were gradually released to colleagues over time.
As we covered a range of topics in the series, from mitigating bias to practicing allyship, we used recurring characters and scenarios as a red thread, establishing a sense of continuity between each episode.
This allowed colleagues to explore different concepts through a familiar lens, while reinforcing key messages from previous instalments.
📃 Developing practical action plans — Scottish Enterprise
To help Scottish entrepreneurs prepare to export their goods and services overseas, we worked with Scottish Enterprise to develop an award-winning programme that blended digital-learning modules, online workshops, and 1:1 consultancy sessions.
For this project, the red thread was an export plan that participants developed iteratively over time, until they had a working document that they could use to refine their strategy, identify partners and unlock funding.
Like Ariadne’s ball of yarn, the red threads in both of these cases are simple yet effective. They’re easily overlooked, but our heroes might well get lost without them.
Want to share your thoughts on this week’s Dispatch? Need help defining a red thread for your learning programme? Then get in touch by emailing custom@mindtools.com or reply to this newsletter from your inbox.
🎧 On the podcast
Learning measurement is difficult, complex, and expensive. Or is it?
In Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring, Dr Alaina Szlachta applies a ‘Build-Borrow-Buy’ approach to learning measurement. Alaina joined Owen and me on the Mind Tools L&D Podcast last week to discuss:
the importance of asking the right questions
how to bake measurement into your programs
what ‘Build’, ‘Borrow’ and ‘Buy’ look like in practice.
Check out the episode below. 👇
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify or the podcast page of our website. Want to share your thoughts? Get in touch @RossDickieMT, @RossGarnerMT or #MindToolsPodcast
📖 Deep dive
On the topic of measurement and evaluation, regular Dispatch readers will know I’m a big fan of Dr Will Thalheimer’s ‘Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model’ (LTEM).
At the end of October, Will released Version 13 of LTEM, which includes several important updates and an accompanying report.
One of the key changes with the latest iteration of LTEM is the division of Tier 4 (Knowledge) into two levels: 4A (Foundational Knowledge) and 4B (Trivial Knowledge).
As Will writes:
‘When we measure trivial knowledge during learning or right afterward—a too-common practice—we experience two crippling learning-evaluation problems:
• Knowing unimportant facts and terminology will not enable decision making and task performance. To put it simply, trivial knowledge does not typically enable performance.
• Retrieving information so soon after learning is an untenable metric because immediate recitation does not guarantee the ability to retrieve information later. Our most common practice in measuring knowledge—trivial information measured soon after learning—is not acceptable.’
If you’re not already familiar with Will’s work, the latest version of LTEM and the accompanying report are a great place to start.
Thalheimer, W. (2024). ‘The Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model: Sending Messages and Nudging Evidence-Informed Thinking to Enable Learning Effectiveness’
👹 Missing links
🧑🏫 AI tutors double rates of learning in less learning time
A recent study from Harvard (currently under peer review) has found that, when given access to an AI tutor designed using pedagogical principles, students not only learn at a faster rate, but they do so in less time. In this edition of her newsletter, Dr Philippa Hardman unpacks the study’s methodology and its findings, and explores what they might mean for the future of education.
🏃 This is your brain on 26.2 miles
According to renowned coach Joe Vigil, the most important distance in marathon-running isn’t 26.2 miles — it’s ‘the nine inches above the shoulders’. Completing a marathon is as much a psychological test of endurance as it is a physical one. So what do marathoners think about as they pound the pavement? This NYT article seeks to answer that question.
📰 The only good Superman story
On a more trivial note, I enjoyed this recent article from Patrick Lenton which (correctly, in my view) defines the 90’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as ‘the only good Superman story’. Unlike the more recent, po-faced Zack Snyder movies, Lois & Clark doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it doesn’t have any fancy special effects. Instead, it’s basically a workplace rom-com with occasional superheroing — and better for it.
👋 And finally…
One of nature’s greatest wonders — haggis nesting season.
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