Written by guest blogger Shannon Tipton. Chief Learning Officer of Learning Rebels LLC and co-founder of Emerging Stronger, Shannon's mission is to modernize, upgrade and reimagine workplace learning problems. She believes that by making complex training more interesting, engaging and impactful, training is transformed from being just another organizational event to becoming part of real business solutions. 

Often when preparing to work on a project, we use the term: “right tool for the job”. But what does “right tool for the job” really mean? If you think carefully, this saying can take on a life of its own:

Using a handy tool for a purpose for which it was never intended: Using a knife to dig a hole

Using the right tool, but using it incorrectly: Using a watering can to water the grass in your front yard

Using an incorrect tool but modifying that tool to try and imitate the performance of the correct item: Sharpening a shovel to try to cut down a tree as if it were an axe.

While using tools in this way may be clever or industrious, they are not really the “right tool for the job”. As the saying goes, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So what does it really mean when we talk about “right” tools to help us get a job done? 

Just as we wouldn’t use a shovel to cut down a tree, it’s important to understand how certain tools are used to best see results. 

Recently, Emerging Stronger team have created a series of tools to help you shape the ground for your learning and development (L&D) efforts: 

Needs Analysis Tool: To ensure you are planting L&D efforts in the right place

Curation Decision Tool: That you are planting the correct plants in the right place

Communication Plan Launch Tool: Making sure people know what we’ve planted and our plan for the harvest

The Power Hour Tool: To share with the family how to maintain the garden

Improve Impact Tool: To determine if this garden is worth planting again next season.

What is remaining is the tool to help keep your community garden growing strong. When thinking about how to best support learning in the workplace, many times L&D takes the burden of tending the fields and forgetting there is a community of people who can work alongside you to keep learning momentum. 

Cultivating learning in workplace communities tool

It's no secret that workplace communities, when appropriately planned and nurtured, can create an environment for people to grow and develop as they work. Together sharing and learning to support performance and growth. 

Just as a successful gardener applies findings from the natural science of botany, taking an approach informed by learning science will help learning in a community to grow and thrive.

Is this the right tool and is this the right time? 

Are you just starting up your community, perhaps just beginning with a small plot of land and are looking for guidance as to what to grow and how? Have you started up your community of learners, and now need to keep it growing strong? Are you starting over because your community dried up? Are you looking to plant new seeds to add depth to your learning initiatives – then yes. Use this tool to cultivate learning, and:

strengthen workplace practices or performance

The purpose of this tool is to help create deliberate action to cultivate learning in workplace communities. As in most cases, one cannot simply drop seeds on hard ground and watch it grow into a delightful tomato patch. There are steps that need to be taken if you truly want to harvest the riches. With this in mind, the tool has been broken into six parts.

As with all things L&D related, “knowing the why” is not to be underestimated. If you are planning a butterfly garden, then planting a pine tree may not be helpful. 

What is your work-related purpose for this community?  Encourage people to take responsibility for their own continuous learning? Support people to learn from their work and each other? Improve performance through practice, reflection and collaboration? Or, perhaps build and sustain motivation through connection, accountability and progress. Knowing the endgame for the community allows you to start smarter.

Part one of this tool will help you determine the driving purpose of your community.

Part of preparing to grow a garden is understanding and improving the growing conditions. The best tomato garden requires sun and rich soil. If what you have is hard clay and shade, and you are determined to grow tomatoes – then you must be prepared to do the hard work of amending the soil or your garden simply will not grow. 

Part two of this tool will help you to ensure you have the right environment for your community to thrive.

Sowing simply means scattering seeds where they have the best chance to germinate.  The sowing process in learning communities is the same. Throwing dirt on the ground and walking away hoping tomatoes will grow will lead to heartbreak. Seeding your community with relevant content, questions and activities will cause strong plants that support knowledge to grow. 

Part three of this tool will show the many different formats and styles of “sowing” activities that can help learning grow.

Every garden needs regular maintenance, or it turns into a weed bed, dries up or becomes infested with pests. Knowing how to water, fertilise, weed and prune the garden is key for it to thrive. This same principles is applied with workplace communities. Leaving the community unattended and uncared for, will lead to negative results.

Part four of this tool will help to identify actions that can be taken to maintain healthy growing conditions to support learning in the community.

The ground has been prepared, seeds have been sowed and the garden has been cared for and nurtured. The garden has thrived and produced results. Now it’s time to gather and use the fruits of your careful labouring. What to do with 10 pounds of tomatoes? You’ve gone through all the labour it wouldn’t be right to let it all die on the vine. 

Part five of this tool will help you to gather and use the knowledge and information harvested in the community. 

Every good gardener keeps a garden journal. A journal gives a written record of the garden layouts, plant successes and failures. Allowing you to take note of plants and soil conditions so success can be repeated, and failures adjusted. This allows for proper planning. Good gardening techniques tell us to vary our approach, planting bulbs in the fall for spring or planting delicate herbs after the last frost. Keeping a calendar and planner will allow you to map how you will proceed.

Part 6 of this tool will allow you to plan your garden as it moves forward. Once you have planned how to prepare, sow, nurture and harvest – moving your plan to action becomes critical. 

Download the Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities tool now. 

As the nursery rhyme goes: “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, and so my garden grows.” And if you really want to know how to grow your garden, click here to download this step-by-step guide from Emerging Stronger developed for our publishing partner Go1.

This article is Part 3, the final in a series of blogs written by the Emerging Stronger team, each exploring the theme of workplace communities. Be sure to take a look at the other articles in the series, including:

Part 1: Cultivating learning in workplace communities by Laura Overton

Part 2: Applying learning science to workplace communities by Michelle Ockers

Want a step-by-step guide to cultivating learning in workplace communities? Download our latest toolkit from Emerging Stronger for insights on:

Sowing the right seeds to stimulate learning

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Learning Architect Shannon Tipton takes us through the journey of finding the 'right tool for the job' when it comes to L&D in the workplace. And outlines the best steps to make the most of the tools to achieve excellent workplace learning results.

Enabling L&D to develop and nurture learning that delivers a rich harvest

Go1’s Customer Success Director, James Frappell, spoke with Laura Overton and Shannon Tipton, Co-Founders of Emerging Stronger and Malcom Taylor, Senior People Development Manager, Met Office, about how L&D professionals can leverage workplace communities and foster learning among employees in a live webinar at Learning Technologies 2022. 

The webinar covered a variety of topics including how the pandemic shifted and fueled the need for workplace tech and tools, how to support learning in the workplace in a remote-first world, the biggest challenges faced in workplace communities and tips for cultivating learning in the workplace.

Collaborative workplace tools: Love or hate them?

The panelists agree the pandemic boosted collaboration due to the increased reliance on workplace tech and tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack as it encouraged collaboration with employees across the globe. While many of the panelists' respective organisations already had these practices in place, there was an ability to test and learn this new way of working that ultimately allowed the workplace communities to think more creatively and freely. 

Viewer question: Which of the following do you do to support learning in the workplace?

When viewers were posed this question, 26% answered running live sessions, 20% chose curate and post content, 14% answered reflecting and commenting, 11% answered posting questions, another 11% agreed on supporting communities of practice, 9% chose tackling challenges together, 6% supported posting nudges and reminders and only 3% answered user generated content.

The panelists agreed that while there are many different ways of supporting learning, there’s no doubt technology is bringing change, and we need to be prepared to test, learn and adapt.

The panelists largely agreed that the most exciting thing about the above ways of supporting learning are crucial in order to get people to practice and reflect. Laura commented how she'd like to see more emphasis on “UGC” and “nudges and reminders” because she’s interested in the evidence of doing these things versus the results achieved. She goes on to explain how it’s important to see how people can incorporate learning practices and take actionable steps versus simply reflecting. 

It’s agreed among the panelists there’s a white space for the application of learnings and treating learning as an actionable experience versus an event. There’s commentary about how some workplace trainings are wasted because people aren’t able to directly apply those learnings day to day.

The conversation also goes on to spotlight what the biggest opportunities are for learning in the workplace. Malcolm comments that there are several challenges that are self imposed, including time, resources, understanding tech, and creating something that's going to help people understand technology. Malcolm also goes on to talk about the importance of trusting your employees when putting tools in place versus hand holding. In regards to UGC specifically, Shannon felt her team excelled more when learning occurred naturally, curation efforts become less and employees would share content that’s more relevant to them, ultimately bringing more positivity. More often than not, workplace learning happens organically versus in a overly controlled environment.

Challenges with supporting learning in workplace communities

For Emerging Stronger specifically, Laura feels the company’s internal mindset and attitude limits the ability for open-mindedness in learning courses because they feel constrained of what they “ought to do” versus “what we could do”. Shannon speaks about how employees need a clear starting point to make these trainings accessible and attainable, and explains how Emerging Stronger developed a cheat sheet that acted as a foundation for employees to grow, learn and apply information and learnings.

Engagement is important especially at the Met Office to get people involved in peer generated content to get people involved. Malcolm feels that they set up a community practice charter with governance in order to keep content fresh, as it often can become stale and forgotten about. 

Tips for cultivating learning in workplace communities

Malcolm feels silo working and inward looking are echo chambers that can be constraining. He explains how looking externally to other organisations to get fresher ideas is vital to “metaphyfing” the issue. At the Met Office, he realizes external focus is useful to cultivate learning and keep content fresh.

The topic around tracking what’s working inside these channels was also discussed. While so much learning is happening in these environments, it’s important to track and use data to drive engagement and learning. At Emerging Stronger, Sarah feels this aspect of workplace communities allows the company to surface what’s going on in the world and cites a case study “Dare to Share”. This study highlights what’s been shared, where they expect people are raising discussions at work, and if those issues are an issue where the workplace needs to intervene, etc. Tracking and assessment is vital as it’s not only proving what the company is doing right, but also to see where improvements can be made. Shannon adds that it’s ok for communities to have a natural end and companies don't have to keep them up in perpetuity.

Lastly, James ends the webinar discussion prompting the panelists to provide practical recommendations for the audience to takeaway on how we can deliver great learning experiences. Laura feels psychological safety is her main takeaway, and creating safe environments to “work out loud” and set up goals for a safe space in these communities. Malcolm stresses having structure at the start to set the rhythm to generate conversation helped the Met Office get their workplace community discussions off the ground.

Throughout Learning Technologies 2022, we ran six panel sessions over two days with an amazing lineup of specialist guest speakers of L&D analysts, researchers, and practitioners. Keen to catch up on all the fun? We've put together a wrap up of the event, including a recording of Ollie and David's session.

We'd love to see you in person (or virtually) at a Go1 or industry event soon. Check out our Events page for more information on what's on.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Along with our expert panel at Learning Technologies 2022, we explore insights, opinions and tips to effectively foster a culture of learning within workplace communities.

Connecting to the community: Practical tactics for L&D professionals

Along with our expert panel at Learning Technologies 2022, we explore insights, opinions and tips to effectively foster a culture of learning within workplace communities. 

Connecting to the community: practical tactics for L&D professionals

We are proud to announce that we have raised over $100M in our latest funding round closed in May. The new capital will help us accelerate our journey to reach a billion learners with upskilling, reskilling and knowledge tools that empower workers across the globe.

The round brings Go1’s total funding to over $400M, increasing our valuation to over $2B. Participants in the round include AirTree Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures, Five Sigma, Madrona, Salesforce Ventures, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

“Companies are embracing the opportunity to programmatically upskill, reskill and empower their workforces, and Go1 has emerged as the go-to provider of learning content to make that opportunity a reality,” said Craig Blair, Founder at AirTree Ventures. “We’re delighted to be a part of Go1’s global journey in building an enduring company at the helm of the Learning & Development ecosystem.”

“Go1 has built a platform that serves the needs of both employers looking to retain and upskill their talent and employees seeking training for their professional and personal development,” said S.Somasegar, Managing Director, Madrona. “Go1’s successful expansion into the US and other global markets means they not only serve global corporations but are uniquely suited for the far flung remote workforces of the next decade. We are excited to work with the team on the next phase of growth.” 

Here at Go1, we are continuing to invest in the rapid growth of our global ecosystem of corporate learning. North America has recently emerged as our largest market, and we have also recently announced a further step into the European market via the acquisition of Coorpacademy, which extends our French and German language content partner offerings and creator reach. 

Similarly, we've expanded our reach in Southeast Asia with offices in Malaysia and Singapore, affording multinationals and local organizations the ability to reskill the enterprise and promote ongoing learning. We've also expanded our content offering with recent announcements of Pluralsight and Harvard Business Publishing content now available to our audience of over 5 million learners. 

“Leading organizations are recognizing the acute need to future-proof their workforces by providing comprehensive learning and development opportunities,” said Andrew Barnes, CEO of Go1. “The incredible team at Go1 has made huge strides in expanding our capabilities and offerings to ensure users have access to education that supports their growth. These recent investments allow Go1 to build on that momentum to explore new content and resources, enabling our platform to meet the needs of every organization and employee, and brings us closer to our goal of supporting one billion learners globally.” 

“Digital transformation and the changing world of work have amplified the need for companies to invest in their people and uplevel their capabilities,” said Peter Mobbs, founding partner of Five Sigma, a global growth fund specializing in EdTech. “Go1 is uniquely suited to help companies tackle this challenge with a comprehensive solution for workplace learning content. We’re proud to have led this latest financing round.”

The new investment round also coincides with key appointments to the executive leadership team (pictured). In addition to recently welcoming Marc Havercroft, formerly of SAP SuccessFactors, we are so excited to welcome:

●      Ashleigh Loughnan, Chief People Officer. Loughnan has more than a decade of experience working in generalist human resources, operational, and leadership roles in both startup and public companies, including Wotif (owned by Expedia). She is responsible for creating different pathways to secure top talent and create and execute a DEI strategy.

●      Ben Allen, Chief Marketing Officer. Allen brings nearly a decade of experience in B2B SaaS go-to-market leadership, including leading marketing at Snapdocs and Apttus (now Conga). He will lead Go1’s marketing strategy and execution globally from the U.S.

●      Antony Ugoni, Chief Data Officer. Ugoni has held a variety of senior leadership positions in data and analytics and is currently Chairperson on the advisory board for the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia. Ugoni will lead Go1’s data and data science teams, serving both internal business intelligence needs and enhancing the Go1 platform’s governance and utility of data.  

●      Jared Goralnick, Senior Vice President, Product Management. Goralnick has a track record of leading innovative and high-performing product teams, most recently holding the position as VP of Product at Upwork. At Go1, he will lead product development efforts globally.

We are so excited and proud to announce the results of our latest funding round closed in May. Helping with upskilling, reskilling and knowledge tools, this new capital will accelerate us on our journey to reach one billion learners.

Go1 secures fresh support of over $100 million after a year of record growth and international expansion

A complicated work request while you're on vacation. Another ‘must do’ task when your workload is already overflowing. Personal questions  that no one at your workplace really needs the answer to. If reading those scenarios made you shudder or roll your eyes, you may be part of the large number of workers that have had their boundaries crossed in the workplace. 

There's no excuse for boundary-crossing to become part of your everyday work life. So, we’re going to guide you through the importance of setting boundaries at work as an L&D manager. In doing so, we'll help you set reasonable boundaries for you and your team, while also offering tips to maintain these boundaries in the long term.   

Why L&D managers should be involved in setting boundaries 

In recent years, we’ve seen a significant rise in the number of workplaces that value learning and development. With all the evidence pointing to the benefits of L&D, this is a level of enthusiasm we want to continue. 

Therefore, involving L&D managers in the boundary setting process has many advantages. Not only will team members experience the benefits, but L&D managers will also be able to set better personal boundaries. When L&D managers lead by example and stick to the boundaries they’ve implemented, it can provide team members with the confidence to address their needs at work and be firm in the boundaries they set — even when it’s something they may have been nervous about previously.

Types of boundaries to set in your L&D team  

There are three main categories of setting boundaries at work: job responsibilities, interpersonal boundaries, and personal boundaries. Let’s look at examples of each of these categories to help define the boundaries you might want to set in your team. 

To set boundaries on job responsibilities, team members must be clear on exactly what their role involves. They should be able to answer the following questions: 

Who decides what you should be working on? 

If any of your team members are unclear on these questions, consider scheduling some one-on-one time to confirm the answers and discuss their job responsibilities. When everyone is clear on the specifics of their job responsibilities, it’s much easier to set and keep boundaries regarding your role at work. That way, if someone asks you to complete a task that falls outside of your role, you can set a clear boundary and tell them that isn't part of your job. 

Interpersonal boundaries are all about the relationships between your team members, as well as the relationships between you as a manager and your team. Examples of interpersonal boundaries at work include: the tone of voice used in the workplace, the attitude of your team members towards each other, limiting work conversation to appropriate topics, and maintaining professional conduct with colleagues you may not naturally get along with.

While reporting breaches of interpersonal boundaries to a manager can be an excellent step to establishing and maintaining boundaries, it may feel uncomfortable for employees to raise these concerns with you as an L&D manager. Accordingly, keeping an eye on your team members' interpersonal relationships is a great place to start. You can also conduct regular check-ins to ensure any breaches of interpersonal boundaries don’t get out of hand. Taking a proactive approach like this can even help stop breaches of interpersonal boundaries before they happen.

Healthy emotional boundaries are a significant factor in creating psychological safety in the workplace and can make all the difference in an employee feeling content at work. After all, happy workers are the best workers, with 13% higher productivity than those who are unhappy at work.  

Many of us dream about having the perfect work-life balance. Personal boundaries separate our work and personal life and maintain that balance. Picture this: one of your team members has booked their dream holiday. They're taking a well-deserved two weeks off. However, they’re concerned about not being available to respond to work messages or missing something important while they're away. To help this team member feel confident in their boundaries, remind them that this is their time off from work and reassure them that they have no obligation to check work emails or messages while away.

To put their mind at ease, schedule some one-on-one time to go through any deadlines or tasks that may occur while they’re away and make a game plan to either move the deadline or for someone else to complete these tasks in their absence. You could also show them how to set an ‘out of office’ message on emails and other communication mediums. Further, encourage them to temporarily delete these applications while they're away if they’re installed on their personal phone.

When L&D managers care for their team members' personal boundaries, it provides a great deal of psychological safety, reassuring employees that you care about them as a person and not just a number in the workplace.

Setting boundaries is fantastic, but boundaries are no use if they’re not communicated effectively throughout your team. While putting in the extra effort to communicate workplace boundaries may take L&D managers more time in the short term, the long-term benefits are well worth it.

One way to ensure effective communication is to repeat yourself. That doesn't just mean saying everything twice. For example, you may have mentioned in a team meeting that you will be at a conference the following week, so you won't be able to answer emails during that time. As much as people try to listen, it can be easy to miss these details. So, to reinforce it, send a follow-up email as a reminder and include details about who your team can contact if they have urgent enquiries while you’re away.

Another way to ensure that your boundaries are communicated is by leading by example. As an L&D manager, your team members look to you for how to conduct themselves at work. So, when you set boundaries, stick to them. If someone breaches them, remind them of your boundary, the reason you set that boundary, and how important it is that you keep that boundary. Chances are, they just had a simple slip of the mind. By reminding them of your boundary and sticking to it, you’re reinforcing clear communication and setting an excellent example for the rest of your team.

Sustaining the momentum: keeping boundaries at work 

It’s no secret that the modern workforce can be difficult to keep up with. As such, things like maintaining boundaries can get forgotten as we're swept up in deadlines and other workplace priorities. However, by ensuring L&D managers help their team sustain long-term boundaries, rather than only implementing them when it’s convenient, the busy times can seem less overwhelming. As a result, team members can stay in the flow of their work for longer. 

An effective way for L&D managers to implement this is by reminding team members of the boundaries you’ve set, while also reassuring them that it's okay to establish and reinforce their personal boundaries. In doing so, L&D managers can help team members feel like their boundaries are respected and encouraged rather than being a source of tension.

Of course, in any workplace, there are extenuating circumstances where certain boundaries (like a phone call outside of office hours) may need to be crossed. When these times arise, L&D managers should assure their employees that this sort of boundary-crossing will be rare. You can explain why it happened in this instance and any steps you will take to reduce these sorts of boundary-crossings in the future. 

By demonstrating to your team members that you, as an L&D leader, care about their boundaries, you are showing that setting boundaries at work is a worthwhile effort.

To learn more, check out Go1's range of courses on setting boundaries in the workplace, including an excellent module on why boundaries are the secret to success at work and home. 

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Join us as we guide you through your boundary-setting journey as an L&D manager. We'll help you not only set reasonable boundaries, but also keep those boundaries in place.

Setting boundaries at work: how L&D managers can help

Join us as we guide you through your boundary-setting journey as an L&D manager. We'll help you not only set reasonable boundaries, but also keep those boundaries in place. 

You’re probably familiar with the concept of learning styles. Throughout school, you might have heard that people learn better when the materials match their learning style. If you’ve ever done any teaching or tutoring, you might have even attempted to tailor the work to your students’ learning styles. Intuitively, this seems to make sense. As we’re told, there are visual learners, aural learners, experiential learners, kinesthetic learners, and so on...or are there? 

What you may not realise is that there is a long-running debate in the education sector suggesting that learning styles are a myth. According to many psychologists, education professionals, and neuroscientists, learning styles are one of the most prevalent ‘neuromyths’. That is, a false idea about how the brain works or learning occurs. They’re no more real than bigfoot, or another popular neuromyth — the misconception that we only use 10% of our brains. Some sources even take this a step further, saying that “believing in learning styles has been compared to believing in fortunetelling.” 

So, with a mounting body of evidence suggesting that learning styles are a myth, we’ll dig deeper to ask if learning styles are a myth or valid. We’ll start by deconstructing the learning styles myth, examining the popularity of learning styles, before looking at studies into learning styles and finally asking once and for all: are learning styles a myth?

This article will be the first in a two-part series on learning styles. Be sure to check back in a fortnight when we ask: ‘What should L&D teams be using instead of learning styles?’

According to a wealth of research and empirical evidence, there are no two ways about it: learning styles are a myth. Anyone who’s grown up believing in learning styles might find this surprising. You might even think of yourself as having a particular learning style. So, what does this mean? Let’s dig into these findings and deconstruct the myth of learning styles. 

The idea of different ‘learning styles’ began to gain traction in the 1970s and has since become pervasive in education worldwide, with many educators trying to use learning styles to their advantage. 

These days, 93% of UK schoolteachers agree with the statement: “individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style.” Similarly, a study of higher education providers in the USA found that 64% agree that teaching to a student’s preferred learning style enhances learning. 

Further, a study of over 15,000 educators worldwide found that 89.1% believe that people learn better when instruction is matched to their learning styles, while 87.8% believe in learning styles in general. 

So far, this makes sense. Most of us are probably familiar with learning styles as a concept and received some education centring around learning styles at school or university. However, this begs the question, if learning styles are a myth, how did they become so popular?

Dr Shaylene Nancekivell, who recently conducted a study into learning styles for the Journal of Educational Psychology, offers a relatively straightforward explanation for this question: learning styles fit with how we like to perceive learning. 

“It seems likely that the appeal of the learning styles myth rests in its fit with the way people like to think about behavior. People prefer brain-based accounts of behavior, and they like to categorise people into types. Learning styles allow people to do both of those things," she explains. 

In many ways, this is another example of why cookie-cutter training doesn’t work. People are nuanced and defy easy categorisation, while learning is a complex, ongoing journey. It’s not as simple as saying ‘I’m X type of learner’ and always approaching learning that same way. Rather, learning is fluid and highly contextual, with the ideal learning style changing depending on the situation and subject matter. 

Dr Nancekivell adds that she is concerned learning styles “teach young children maladaptive strategies for learning”, noting that they can often do more harm than good. 

Now that we understand the prevalence of learning styles and how this came to be, it’s time to move on to the big question: are learning styles a myth? 

Many reputable sources are unequivocal on this topic: learning styles are a myth. Following countless studies, there is no empirical evidence to suggest people learn any better when the subject matter is tailored to their ‘learning style’. 

As PopSci puts it, “the evidence has been mounting that a curriculum tailored toward a specific learning style isn’t any more effective than just, well, teaching.” 

Likewise, a 2006 study by researchers Kratzig & Arbuthnott concluded that “[learning styles] are commonly justified in terms of brain function, despite educational and scientific evidence suggesting that the learning style approach is not helpful.” 

A 2017 study published in Frontiers in Psychology corroborates these findings, adding, “this idea [learning styles] has been repeatedly tested and there is currently no evidence to support it.”

The British Psychological Association Digest takes this a step further, summarising that research shows earners don’t benefit from their preferred style, teachers and students have different ideas about what learning styles work for them, and we have little insight into how much we’re actually learning from various methods.

Finally, research by the American Psychological Association puts it in no uncertain terms, saying, “there is no scientific evidence to support this common myth [of learning styles].” Quite the opposite. Their findings suggest that belief in learning styles may be actively detrimental to learners, saying, “previous research has shown that the learning styles model can undermine education in many ways.”

As such, the answer is clear: yes, learning styles — at least in the way that we currently interpret and understand them — are a myth. 

You may be thinking, these quotes are well and good, but if learning styles are a myth, where’s the proof? Thankfully, there have been numerous studies conducted on the topic of learning styles. We’ll take you through a few of them now. 

In a study of more than 100 higher education providers in the UK, 90% said that learning styles are conceptually flawed. Plus, 67% believe they pigeonhole learners, 61% think they waste resources, 56% think they create unrealistic expectations, and 48% think they are driven by profit, not helping learners. 

What’s more, before completing this study, 64% of participants said they plan their lessons to accommodate learning styles. However, after participating in the study and seeing evidence to the contrary, this figure halved to just 32%.

On the other hand, 64% agreed that participating in the study helped them understand the lack of evidence to support using learning styles. 

In another study published in Anatomical Sciences Education, researchers encouraged hundreds of undergraduate students to take a popular online learning styles quiz and then “adopt the study practices consistent with their dominant learning style.” The results were eye-opening. 

First of all, they found students’ grades did not correlate in any meaningful way with their dominant learning style, nor any learning style(s) they scored highly on. 

Further, 67% of students do not study in a way that matches their preferred learning style. Those who do study in a way that matches their preferred learning style did not achieve higher grades. 

Ultimately, the researchers concluded that this study “provides strong evidence that instructors and students should not be promoting the concept of learning styles for studying and/or for teaching interventions. Thus, the adage of ‘I can’t learn subject X because I am a visual learner’ should be put to rest once and for all.” 

Do visual learners remember pictures better?

Further studies have yielded similar results. One study, published in the British Journal of Psychology, tested students' visual and verbal memories. 

Students with an aural learning style thought they’d remember the words better, while students with a visual learning style thought they'd remember the pictures better. Nevertheless, researchers found no correlation between students’ preferred learning styles and their memory. In other words, so-called visual learners did not remember pictures better, nor did aural learners remember words better. 

A similar study, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, “found no relationship between the study subjects’ learning-style preference (visual or auditory) and their performance on reading or listening-comprehension tests. Instead, the visual learners performed best on all kinds of tests.”

These studies are only the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, there have been numerous studies conducted into learning styles, with few returning any compelling evidence that learning styles are useful for learners. 

However, this does not mean that learning styles should be dismissed entirely. We don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water, as there is still some validity to the idea that learners have different preferences — just not in the way that we currently understand learning styles.

As Education Next explains, “the belief in learning styles stems from an incorrect interpretation of valid research findings and scientifically established facts. For example, it is true that different types of information are processed in different parts of the brain. It is also true that individuals have differences in abilities and preferences.”

So, how do we make learning stick? Should we still be trying to accommodate different learning styles in the workplace? Does technology impact learning styles? We’ll go into all this and more in the second part of our learning styles series in a fortnight, where we ask: ‘What should L&D teams be using instead of learning styles?’

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

With a mounting body of evidence suggesting that learning styles are a myth, we’ll dig deeper to ask if learning styles are a myth or valid.

Are learning styles a myth or valid?

Written by guest blogger Michelle Ockers, Organisational Learning Strategist. Michelle is the founder of Learning Uncut and co-founder of Emerging Stronger. She helps workplace leaders to develop a high impact learning and development function and believes that learning can be key in improving business performance. Michelle holds the strong belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn and perform at their best.

In a previous article, Laura Overton outlined the rich opportunity for learning to be cultivated in workplace communities and discussed the need to get back to basics to achieve this. Yet there are myths that can lead us up the garden path and straying away from critical basics. Ground yourself in learning science. 

Enterprise collaboration tools keep people connected across the many spaces where they now work. In the first article in this series Laura Overton outlined how at Emerging Stronger we see these new spaces of work as fertile ground for learning. It feels like learning in the flow of work may finally be within our grasp, particularly as we are swimming in content and people are increasingly comfortable using collaboration technology.

Just as a successful gardener applies findings from the natural science of botany, taking an approach informed by learning science will help learning in a community to grow and thrive. Let’s explore three compelling myths that too often lead us up the garden path and see how learning science can help us nip them in the bud!

Myth #1 - Consuming content means learning is happening

When the pandemic hit we saw an explosion in people accessing digital content. Research by Fosway in May 2020 showed that 71% of L&D leaders experienced an increased demand for digital learning content from learners. It’s easy to measure content ‘hits’ - and of course, helpful to know what content people are finding useful. Accurate, relevant content is critical to learning.  

However, consumption of content alone does not mean that learning is happening. Even if we are thoughtfully curating content and sharing it in workplace communities we are missing a significant opportunity to seed learning in richer ways.

Questions are a powerful way to improve recall and deepen understanding. Try these two approaches to using questions when you post content in communities:

Reflection - Invite individual reflection on key takeaways and how they compare to their own experience.

Elaboration - Ask people whether they agree with key points in the content, and why or why not, inviting them to explain their thinking.

Myth #2 - We no longer need knowledge as we can look it up

We can look up almost anything online inside or outside of our organisation when and where we need it. It’s enticing to think that there’s no point learning and memorising things when we can look everything up online. Of course, we can - and should - look up facts and simple processes online rather than having to remember them. 

However, information and knowledge are different things. When we look things up what we find is largely facts or information. We have to judge the validity of what we find and interpret it to make it meaningful.

This requires that we have a ‘map of the world’ to make sense of and use what we find. Knowledge is this map, composed of existing mental frameworks, experience and expertise. In short, we need knowledge to do something useful with information, as the example below illustrates.

Grow knowledge in workplace communities using proven methods such as:

Retrieval practice - Post case studies and scenarios, or run activities where people can seek input on challenges, providing an opportunity to retrieve and apply knowledge, deepening understanding.

Elaboration - Encourage people to relate new concepts or ideas to existing knowledge and create connections by asking how they could use the concepts in their work.

Myth #3 - Digital means people are learning differently

Technology has provided new digital spaces for people to work and learn. It provides access to a far greater volume of content, both inside and outside of organisations. Searching the internet has been likened to trying to drink from a firehose. By necessity, how we search for and filter information has changed as we seek to quickly decide what content is worthy of our attention.

However, it has not fundamentally changed the mechanisms by which we learn. In his book Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions. Clark Quinn debunks the myth that digital means we learn differently. He points out that “learning itself, which changes the brain wiring, is a process of action and reflection.” While digital spaces may have changed the environment in which learning is occurring, “it’s using the same mechanisms of neural strengthening.”

So, if our brains work in the same way, we need to tune into how we can encourage people to learn in workplace communities. We can do this by sowing questions and activities in ways such as:

Spaced practice - Set challenges or run activities that provide multiple practice opportunities over a period of time.

Feedback - Invite people to demonstrate or walk through how they do something and guide constructive peer feedback.

Take a leaf out of the book of successful gardeners who carefully cultivate the right growing conditions to produce a rich harvest. Sowing is about seeding the learning process in your community with relevant and effective content, questions and activities. Dig into learning science so you know what seeds to sow and why, providing essential nutrients to grow learning.

The Emerging Stronger team has created a new tool to help you spot opportunities and cultivate learning in workplace communities. Download the tool here and look at the next article in this series where Shannon Tipton outlines how to use the tool.

This article is Part 2 in a series of blogs written by the Emerging Stronger team, each exploring the theme of workplace communities. Be sure to take a look at the other articles in the series, including:

Part 3: Enabling L&D to develop and nurture learning that delivers a rich harvest by Shannon Tipton

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Organisational Learning Strategist Michelle Ockers tackles some learning myths that can lead workplaces to stray from critical learning basics. And provides practical steps to take on how to effectively execute these basics.

Applying learning science to workplace communities

As part of a series of unique panel discussions hosted at London’s 2022 Learning Technologies event, Amanda Nolon, Co-Founder of Niles-Nolen, Brian Murphy Senior Director, Employee Skilling Microsoft and Elisabetta Galli, Global Head of Learning & Development at Lightsource BP joined Ollie Browning VP of Sales EMEA Go1 to discuss future proofing learning strategies. 

Following introductions from Ollie and each of his guests, the first panelist to speak up is Amanda Nolon. She points out how great it is to have a content aggregator hosting the discussion as for her,too often, people forget about content and what it actually represents, or the power it can yield. She talks of the pandemic, and how it accelerated trends that had already started to take shape in the world of L&D. 

The need for upskilling has now more than ever before become crucial, but how can we take it to its full potential? Brian jumps in here to stress the need for hyper personalisation and for business to be able to cater to an effective virtual delivery. He mentions that since the pandemic, we spend on average 250% more time in meetings, with working days extending by 45 minutes at a minimum. Brian stresses the importance to look at the bigger picture when creating learning experiences, making sure that they don’t add to the already mountainous workload and busy working days of employees. 

Elisabetta supports Brian in this thinking and claims that businesses, though making progress, still have many steps to take before they achieve the right balance for success in the long term which can only really start with a great workforce culture. The group looked at the top 5 drivers of great workforce culture, notably; opportunities to learn and grow (which used to rank 9th in 2019), belonging, organisational values, support for well-being and finally, collaboration.  

Amanda is adamant that the right learning programmes need to be connected to wider business strategy, offering employee skills to thrive in their careers as well as reaching their personal goals. Real success is doing the best for the company and the best for yourself simultaneously. 

Brian states that ‘more content is not the answer’ on this all the panelists agree and, after they turn to the audience to see how they might describe their upskilling strategy they give them a few tips on how to be most effective: 

Businesses need to be clearer with their objectives and put more effort into what individuals actually need

Companies should make additional efforts to be transparent and clear in everything they do - even if it may not be the most positive information and messages - it's important to tackle hurdles, changes and challenges together

Companies should self reflect and learn new skills on a constant basis 

Following this, Ollie asks the panel a series of questions, looking for tangible answers from these experts, to give the audience actionable takeaways. 

How can we best support our employees to make or have time for L&D? 

Amanda jumps in on this one saying that it would be ideal if L&D could be part of individual and managers yearly KPIs. If we make sure that learning and upskilling is truly aligned with the business strategy and aligned with the individual's personal objectives, then time will be made and objectives will be met. Brian talks of the ‘fill the cup with less, make the cup bigger’ analogy - stating that we have lots of new tools and hyper developed tech which helps us ‘fill the cup with less’ but we also need to extend people’s understanding how how learning happens - eg; learning in the flow of work, network exposures etc, to ‘make the cup bigger’. 

How can we make it easier for us to apply our learning?

‘People learn in different ways’, says Elisabetta, ‘some people prefer to listen to something while others might prefer to write it down in order to assimilate’. We need to have diverse offerings when it comes to learning so that people can choose the types of content they will engage with, but also when they will do it. Digital learning is a great way to give learners that freedom, however it is important to make sure the learners remain accountable. 

What other drivers can we look at to reach more success? 

The team expresses and demonstrates how talent mobility can also be a key success driver, keeping employees engaged and stimulated and retaining talent in business twice as long. The panel then looks at how success can be measured. Ollie confirms that consumption and usage can not be the only value of success but rather, where people might be using content and why. Brian explains that there is no one size fits all and that we need to pay careful attention to all learners and their needs, be it in one office, or across different markets as these needs will change from one team, and one country to the next. 

Finally, the discussion wraps up around the great resignation and its causes and potential future. All the group agrees that people no longer want to deal with toxic environments or long working hours and want to align to their companies purpose. Businesses need to reshuffle their own priorities and their principle so that individuals can find their home and until this is addressed, we’ll continue to see waves of exodus for a variety of companies across all sectors. 

Throughout Learning Technologies 2022, we ran six panel sessions over two days with an amazing lineup of specialist guest speakers of L&D analysts, researchers, and practitioners. Keen to catch up on all the fun? We've put together a wrap up of the event, including session recordings.

Next in our series of Learning Technologies panel discussions, our experts explore how to close skill gaps through a relevant and scaleable future proof strategy