Accelerated Learning is an approach that aims to dramatically increase the speed and effectiveness of learning by optimizing the process based on how the brain naturally works. While it is often seen in the delivery of a session (how a trainer acts), its effectiveness is directly dependent on how the T&D professional designs the learning experience.
🧠Core Principles of Accelerated Learning Design
Accelerated Learning models, such as the one popularized by Dave Meier, are built on three main pillars:
1. The Whole Brain Approach
AL design is holistic, engaging all parts of the brain involved in learning:
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Left Hemisphere (Logic/Language): Handles traditional instruction, facts, figures, and linear thinking.
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Right Hemisphere (Creativity/Pattern): Stimulated by visuals, metaphors, music, and spatial awareness.
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Limbic System (Emotion/Memory): Engaged through positive emotions, social interaction, and safety to promote memory consolidation.
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Cortex (Processing/Motor Skills): Engaged through active practice and application.
The design should intentionally alternate between these modes, preventing mental fatigue and facilitating deeper, more memorable connections.
2. State Management (The Learning Environment)
Meier emphasizes the importance of creating an optimal physical and emotional state for learning. While delivery executes this, design must plan for it:
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Relaxed Alertness: Designing breaks, using music (e.g., Baroque/Mozart), and incorporating movement to reduce stress and increase receptivity.
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Safe Environment: Planning collaborative activities and icebreakers that build trust and reduce fear of failure, encouraging participants to explore and take risks.
3. Multisensory Engagement
AL leverages the fact that humans learn best when multiple senses are involved, which ties directly into the design techniques you listed:
| Design Technique | Cognitive Enhancement |
|---|---|
| Active Discussion (Kinesthetic/Auditory) | Engages the limbic system through social interaction; promotes deeper processing of information. |
| Using Visuals/Tools (Visual/Spatial) | Stimulates the right brain; creates mental maps and patterns to improve recall. |
| Finding Alternative Patterns (Right Brain) | Promotes critical thinking and creativity; helps learners generalize the knowledge beyond the specific example. |
| Explaining & Putting into Practice (Application) | Ensures deep encoding by moving knowledge from short-term to long-term memory (the 'Do' stage). |
| Guiding Content Connection (Conceptual) | Builds a strong mental structure (schema) by showing how new concepts relate to prior knowledge. |
| Reflection (Metacognitive) | Forces the learner to consciously process how they learned, reinforcing the experience. |
By incorporating these elements into the design phase (planning the activities, the environment, and the structure), T&D professionals ensure the final delivered session is truly accelerated.