Our experience building digital and classroom based simulations and learning games has led to the development our a simple but powerful approach to building effective SBL. We call this our C3 model and it is given below:
To be most effective, you need to excel in each of these three interrelated areas. If your efforts are not balanced, the effectiveness of the learning is reduced.
Supposed you attended a training session that introduced a new process for asking better questions during a sales call. What would happen if the process/content was great but when you discussed application, the context used for examples and practice was a generic selling situation that was not related to the type of calls you make? Would you be able to make the leap from that environment to the one you experience every day?
Maybe. But research shows that not everyone will make the leap with you. Research shows that learning transfer is reduced significantly in situations like this.
What if you made some adjustments to the training, creating a more authentic context for the content. What happens then? Do knowledge retention and learning transfer increase?
In all likelihood, yes. But there is still something missing that the learner needs take full advantage of the learning. When Learners practice applying knowledge and skills in the proper context, they need Coaching and Feedback around their performance. Why?
Well, not everyone “gets it right the first time.” Especially when the content presented represents a significant departure from today’s status quo. For example, maybe we already have a very different questioning process in place today that this new process will be replacing. In situations like this, it takes longer to assimilate the new knowledge and skills … and it takes coaching and feedback to continually improve performance and move Learners toward these new behaviors.
So you need all three pieces to get the best results with your SBL … “The Right Content, presented in the Right Context with the Right Coaching and Feedback .”
That’s the C3 Approach.