Crash Course in Learning Theory

A great crash course in learning theory, written by Kathy Sierra, author of the Creating Passionate Users blog.

• Talk to the brain first, mind second
• Get and keep attention; motivation
• Learning is not a one-way "push" model
• Learners are not empty vessels; create new pathways
• Provide a meaningful benefit for each topic
• Why? Who cares? So what?
• Explain before content
• Use visuals
• Pictures, diagrams, visual metaphors
• Use redundancy to increase understanding and retention
• Say the same thing but differently; different perspective; engage the senses
• Maintain interest with variety and surprise
• Use conversational language
• Use mistakes and failures
• Showing is better than describing, and letting the learner experience is even better
• SHOW don't tell
• Experience through stories and scenarios
• Use "chunking" to reduce cognitive overload
• Make the learner feel relaxed and focused
• "This IS confusing, so don't worry if it's still a little fuzzy at this point. It will start to come together once you've worked through the rest of the examples."
• Don't patronise
• Use seduction, charm, and mystery to build curiosity
• Keep them hooked; cliffhangers
• Use a spiral model to keep users engaged
• Game "levels" (goals)
• Get attention, build interest, challenging activity, payoff
• Don't rob the learner of the opportunity to think
• Ask questions, pose conflicting viewpoints, show from different perspectives, set up scenarios
• Use the 80/20 principle to reduce cognitive overload
• Knowing what NOT to include is more important than knowing what to include
• Context matters
• Place facts, concepts, procedures, examples in a bigger context
• Emotion matters
• Faces with strong expressions tap in to emotion
• Never underestimate the power of FUN to keep people engaged
• Use stories
• Asking the learner to imagine wanting to do a particular thing, and then offering an experience of what that would be like with all the ups and downs
• Use pacing and vary the parts of the brain you're exercising
• Remember it's never about you. It's about how the learner feels as a result of the learning experience.

And here's the Summary Sheet.