A participant asked a question that derailed my training plan. I was annoyed at first. Then another participant shared context that made it all make sense. I had to smile when I looked back on the interaction, but in the moment, I was completely taken by surprise.
I was facilitating a train-the-trainer session with a group of trainers working in the medical device industry and had just started to explain that a trainee’s supervisor is the single most important factor in whether or not new skills ever get used on a job. Drawing on research from Mary Broad and John Newstrom’s book, Transfer of Training, I was in my element presenting the data:
A trainee can be as motivated as we want them to be, but if they’re not sent to the right training at the right time, if they’re not supported and held accountable, if they aren’t afforded the time and space to try something new, the likelihood of them applying new learnings is much lower. Likewise, we as trainers can put together the most amazing learning experience, but for similar reasons, our trainees may not be able to apply what they’ve learned if it was the wrong topic for them, if they’re not supported and/or held accountable.
Then, one of the trainers in my group asked a simple question that derailed my entire plan:
“So, would sales reps be the same as a ‘supervisor’ in our case?”
Honestly, my first instinct was to be annoyed. The question was ruining the data I was presenting.
But as other heads around the room began to nod, another participant chimed in: “I can totally see that. We’re often presenting to people who are the only people in their practice, or they have small practices, so they don’t actually have a supervisor. And you were saying the reason a supervisor is so important for the ‘stickiness’ of training is because they are the ones who are supposed to identify the right people to go to the right training, and then they’re supposed to follow up on the training. Our people often don’t have a ‘supervisor’ to do that; it’s our sales reps who recommend our different trainings to them. And then they follow up afterwards.”
And just like that, it all made sense. My students were translating a universal principle into their specific reality.
6 Principles of Dialogue Education in Action
My audience in this train-the-trainer session was primarily delivering training to people who didn’t have a traditional supervisor. This wasn’t something I fully grasped until a dialogue sprang up in the middle of the point that I was making.
I had a choice. I could insist that the model I’ve always presented was absolute. I could thank my participants for their thoughts and then gently but firmly reassert my control over the conversation as a facilitator who should be the expert and generally hold a monopoly on all that is wise and true about the topic.
Or, I could cede my traditional power and listen to what my participants were saying. I could listen to them struggle with a concept, and then come to their own ah-ha that was related to the point I was making, and more transferable than any explanation I could have given.
What I experienced in that moment was the magic of Dialogue Education. Developed by Jane Vella, this approach isn’t about the trainer having all the answers. It’s about creating a conversation where learners become co-creators of their own knowledge.
Dialogue Education is a popular education approach to adult learning first described by Jane Vella in the 1980s. It draws on adult learning theories from Paulo Freire, Kurt Lewin, Malcolm Knowles, and Benjamin Bloom, synthesizing them into practical principles and practices for learning design and facilitation. Dialogue Education shifts the focus from what the trainer says to what the learner does, turning learners from passive recipients into active participants in learning through dialogue, fostering more meaningful and behavior-changing outcomes (source: Wikipedia).
I have led hundreds of sessions as a trainer and facilitator and I talk about Jane Vella’s 12 Principles of Dialogue Education in almost every session I lead, but rarely have I experienced some of these specific principles in the moment, so vividly and clearly.
If you’re looking for a learning theory that’s both effective and engaging, these principles are the foundation.
- Safety. This conversation took place about ¾ of the way through our first day together, and at this point, the participants clearly felt the environment was safe enough to put forward a hypothesis that went a little counter to what their instructor was saying. Sometimes disagreeing with a presenter who brings data to the table is a risky venture, but these participants felt this was an environment where that risk could be rewarded.
- Sound Relationships. With this principle of Dialogue Education, there is an essential choice to make: As the facilitator, are you also willing to demonstrate a sense of inquiry and curiosity about the learners? Or do you prefer a power relationship in which the facilitator dominates the learners? I don’t care how much you know about your topic; the latter option is rarely (if ever) a good option. And the relationship that a trainer builds with their learners will fundamentally impact the opportunity to learn for both sides – learner and trainer.
- Praxis. This is a funny word that my learners often have a question about. It means “action with reflection”. This conversation only emerged because the participants had been given time to discuss strategies to engage a trainee’s supervisor in small groups. When we don’t open opportunities for dialogue, when we just give information or a job aid and then move on to the next topic, we rob our learners of an opportunity to actively think about how to apply the information in their own lives.
- Respect. This word can mean lots of things to lots of people. Through the lens of Dialogue Education, this basically means that we as trainers can’t just treat our learners as objects that should simply open their heads and allow information to be dumped inside. Instead, learners should be treated as capable adults who bring their own experience and knowledge to the room. By listening to my participants, I showed that I respected their insights, which allowed a more brilliant and relevant idea to emerge.
- Immediacy. As trainers, we need to help our learners see how our information can help them to solve a challenge or problem, ideally tomorrow. If I kept talking about “supervisors” or “managers”, this concept would have remained at the theoretical level. When the conversation began to happen, it suddenly shifted to an immediate change they could make: They could connect with their colleagues who were sales reps and look for ways to make the training “sticky”.
- Clear Roles. Another name for this particular principle could be “humility”. If the learners see their trainer as “the professor” with whom there is no possibility of disagreement, the dialogue is dead in the water, and so too is the ability to make any concept more meaningful.
Why Dialogue-Based Learning is a Must for Adult Learners
This wasn’t a one-time thing. This is just the most recent in a string of examples that I continuously reflect on when it comes to the effectiveness of taking a dialogue-first approach to training.
This isn’t just my experience. In studies of adult learners ranging from ESL to literacy, health, and professional development, using a dialogue-based approach to instructional design has been proven to increase engagement, learner confidence in the subject, and social participation in the topic at hand. Of course, some of these studies also found the implementation of dialogue education to be easier said than done. It does indeed take time, practice, effort, and skill. I believe it all begins with the buy-in that this approach is simply a better way to facilitate information.
Incorporating principles of dialogue education into your training isn’t “touchy feely”. And it’s not about adding activities for the sake of engagement. This is about building a learning experience that is truly meaningful and relevant to the people in the room. By honoring their experience, making content relevant to their lives, and empowering them to take ownership of their own learning, Dialogue Education delivers superior results for adult learners.
If you’d like to learn more about Dialogue Education, you should check out Jane Vella’s book, Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach. You can also listen to a podcast I had an opportunity to record with Ms. Vella on the power of dialogue.
