I saw something in the morning news that reminded me about some basic principles I should keep in mind when developing new courses for staff. Leapfrog was having a toy testing lab today at the Delta Chelsea in Toronto. Basically they bring 50 kids a day (for the week I believe), babies to 6 years old, and let them test out all the new toys they are thinking of developing and marketing.
The key thing that the spokes person said for me is that the toys that did the best were the ones that were brightly colours, lots of interaction, and had immediate feed back. They pressed something, something else lit up or made a noise.
Seems simple, but I think it’s something to keep in mind for adults training and especially when developing courses for the up-and-coming workers. They are even more hardwired to expect immediate results to their actions. Think of the connections they demand to have with their friends (Facebook, Twitter, etc). Course material must have that same instant gratification to keep them intrigued and interested enough to continue through.