Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change

Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change

by Julie Dirksen
Released September 2023
Publisher(s): New Riders
ISBN: 9780138237394

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Book description

What do you do when your learners know what to do but still arent doing it?

Training is created with the goal of changing learners behaviors, but anyone who has created learning experiences knows that theres a big gap between knowing and doing. You can create an engaging learning experience that informs and helps people remember, but often those people go back to their regular world and continue to do things the same way they always have.

In the last few decades, the fields of psychology, behavioral economics, and other behavioral sciences have brought an enormous amount of scientific research into helping people with behavior change. Only a fraction of that research has made its way back into learning design.

Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change shows you how to add critical tools to your learning design toolbox to affect behavior change. Youll find out how to use frameworks and strategies from behavioral science to help you research and analyze challenges, feel more confident that youre solving the right problem, and design and test solutions that can help people with difficult behavior changes.

By the end of this book, youll be able to

  • Map the change journey of your learners and identify their path

  • Assess and clearly communicate the value of the change

  • Use motivation models to better understand what learners really care about

  • Utilize evidence-based models like the COM-B Model to analyze behavior-change challenges

  • Use a diagnostic checklist to determine whether you actually have a training problem

  • Identify behavior-change techniques to address your specific challenges

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Credits
  5. Pearson’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Contents
  8. Preface
    1. Who is This Book not So Much For?
    2. Is This Book for Behavioral Designers?
    3. What is This Book Trying to Do?
    4. How Does This Match Up with My Previous Book?
    5. Who am I to Write This Book?
  9. 1. Talking to the Elephant
    1. So Why?
    2. Aren’t People Just Stubborn/Clueless/Lazy?
    3. How Does Learning Fit In?
    4. What Else Matters?
    5. Meet the Elephant
    6. Who Are You Talking To?
    7. Talk to the Elephant
    8. Talk to the Rider and the Elephant
    9. About the Examples in This Book
    10. Key Points
  10. 2. Taking a Systems View
    1. “We Need Training”
    2. Systems Thinking
    3. Tuning a System
    4. How This Impacts Behavior-Change Projects
    5. How This Impacts Learning Design
    6. Key Points
  11. 3. Moving Along the Change Path
    1. How the Change Process Impacts Learning Design
    2. Approach 1: Design for the Whole Process
    3. Approach 2: Meet People Where They Are
    4. Approach 3: Leave Tools Along the Way
    5. Stages of Change
    6. Change Ladder
    7. The Learning Journey
    8. Key Points
  12. 4. Communicating Value
    1. What’s It Worth?
    2. Calculating Value
    3. So How Does This Impact Training?
    4. Key Points
  13. 5. Understanding Motivation
    1. They’re Just Lazy
    2. It’s Not About Motivating People
    3. Persistence of Motivation
    4. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
    5. Motivation Theory
    6. Motivation as a Continuum
    7. Strategies to Foster Motivation
    8. Talk to Your Learners
    9. Key Points
  14. 6. Analyzing Behaviors
    1. The Behaviour Change Wheel
    2. Specifying the Behavior
    3. COM-B
    4. Using COM-B to Analyze Behaviors
    5. Key Points
  15. 7. Determining If It’s a Training Problem
    1. Diagnosis of the Problem: What Are the Causes, and Can Learning Help?
    2. Lack of Feedback
    3. Unclear Goals
    4. Unlearning an Existing Behavior
    5. Unawareness of Consequences/Bigger Picture
    6. Lack of Environment or Process Support
    7. Anxiety/Fear/Discomfort
    8. Lack of Confidence/Belief About Capabilities
    9. Mistrust
    10. Social Proof
    11. Lack of Autonomy/Ownership
    12. Learned Helplessness
    13. Misaligned Incentives
    14. Lack of Identity or Value Alignment
    15. Emotional Reaction
    16. Handwashing Total Up
    17. Example: Networking for College Graduates
    18. Key Point
  16. 8. Mapping To Solutions
    1. Meet Miguel and Lisa
    2. Intervention Types
    3. Mapping COM-B to Intervention Types
    4. Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs)
  17. 9. Using Persuasion and Motivation Techniques
    1. Meet Evan
    2. Behaviour Change Techniques
  18. 10. Using Planning, Practice & Feedback
    1. Meet Angelika
    2. Behaviour Change Techniques
    3. Feedback and Monitoring
  19. 11. Using Environmental and Social Support
    1. Meet Anh
    2. Behaviour Change Techniques
  20. 12. Values and Identity
    1. Meet Nate
    2. Behaviour Change Techniques
  21. 13. Designing Responsibly
    1. Ethical Issues with Behavior-Change Design
    2. Key Questions to Ask
  22. 14. Putting It All Together: a Case Example
    1. Meet Rita
    2. Understanding the Challenge
    3. Choosing the Behavior(s)
    4. Research and Analysis
    5. Where Are They Getting Stuck?
    6. Is It Training?
    7. Using COM-B
    8. Intervention Domains
    9. BCT Selection
    10. Learning Strategy
    11. Format Selection
    12. Implementation Planning
    13. Evaluation
    14. Wrap Up
  23. 15. Real-World Examples
    1. Project 1: Building Women’s Entrepreneurial Skills in Rwanda
    2. Project 2: MindGym Leadership Development
    3. Project 3: Sport Integrity Australia—Anti-Doping Education for Athletes
    4. Project 4: A Digital App for BecomeAnEx.org (Part of the Truth Initiative)
    5. Project 5: Harness Hero and Behavior-Change Games
    6. Project 6: Project VALOR—Social Media Marketing to Promote Virtual HIV Consultation and Referral
  24. Conclusion
  25. Index

Product information

  • Title: Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change
  • Author(s): Julie Dirksen
  • Release date: September 2023
  • Publisher(s): New Riders
  • ISBN: 9780138237394