Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change

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Talking to the Elephant

(IN WHICH WE MEET THE ELEPHANT AND PUZZLE SOME VERY HUMAN CONUNDRUMS)

What do you do when people know what to do, but still aren’t doing it?

I’m an instructional designer. That means I design learning experiences that help people learn and remember what to do. But what do you do when learning and remembering aren’t enough? What do you do when your learning strategies toolbox doesn’t help solve the actual problem?

Here’s an example: A dozen or so years ago, I worked on a project related to AIDS/HIV prevention. By that point, the public health community had known for more than two decades that condom usage was a key strategy to prevent disease transmission, and they’d gotten the word out. People had heard that message. ...