My garage door opener died one day and I figured “it’s not rocket science,” so I chose to replace it myself. Though I read the instructions and watched a YouTube video, I didn’t really learn how to do it until I did it.

If I ever install one again, I’ll recall the experience and I’ll remember it better than if I had attended the greatest garage-door-opener lecture on the planet.

Many dismiss trial and error as rudimentary because it’s natural and how we learn most things in life. Some even look down their noses at this approach because it’s not cognitively expensive enough to be real learning (they obviously never tried bolting a door opener to the ceiling of a garage!). However, trial and error is an essential component of any successful training program.

Let’s take a look at how trial and error can increase training effectiveness.

Trial and Error Theory

Psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike experimented in the early 1900s with a hungry cat in a box and a piece of fish placed just beyond the cat’s reach. The box had a latch that released the door. Eventually, the cat hit the latch, escaped the box, and got the fish. Each time Thorndike repeated the experiment, the cat’s speed improved.

Thorndike extrapolated and proposed in 1913 that people learn through connectionism, or trial and error. Learners will try something, reject it if it doesn’t lead to a solution, keep trying different options, and arrive at a solution.

More than 100 years later, it’s widely accepted that trial and error engages more of the brain’s capacity to learn over “learning by listening,” or passive learning.

Application to eLearning

The most advanced training applies the trial and error theory — think on-the-job training, medical residencies and student-teacher semesters. The military conducts wargames and table-top exercises. First responders participate in live-action roleplays for natural disasters. These forms of training, though resource intensive, are extremely effective. Why? Learners try, fail, adjust and try again — their failures managed within a safe space.

Trial and error also enforces attention. In eLearning, “Click to Continue” is not interactivity — it’s page turning. Without incorporating trial and error, eLearning is simply an electronic tri-fold brochure (with a quiz).

Answering at least some of these questions in the affirmative helps ensure your training isn’t a “second-screen-on-mute” waste of resources:

• Do learners have to ask themselves, “How do I do this?” at least once every five minutes?
• Does your training ask for “do” and “apply,” rather than just understand (i.e., do you simulate the application of learning objectives?)
• Does your training allow for the exploration of incorrect courses of action?
• Are elements of gaming are present?
• In the face of a challenge, are learners able to use their critical thinking skills to find new, innovative solutions?
• Bonus: Can your training allow for personal solutions to a given problem?

To implement trial and error in eLearning, consider using interactive-story-based content when training on culture or skills in the human domains and virtual reality (VR) when training skills in the spatial, detection or muscle memory domains.

These offer a recognizable real-life environment and immediate applicability for the learner. The learner becomes more invested and processes the experience in the first-person, learning by trying options and rejecting the ones that don’t lead to successful outcomes in the safety of cyberspace. They play it out before they live it, and this practice leads to retention and efficiency.

Since Thorndike’s experiments with a hungry cat in a box, his theory on trial-and-error has grown cliché for instructional designers to the point that they sometimes ignore this obvious jewel of instructional systems design (ISD) methodologies.

Trial and error is not only how children learn, but it’s also how adults truly master learning objectives. So next time you fail, remember: Try, try again!