We've all gone through our fair share of school and college classes which were utterly boring. We were disinterested, disengaged, and struggled to finish the entire course. Boredom is a common impediment to learning. Like this, several other hurdles discourage people and prevent them from learning effectively.

Barriers to learning do not disappear when education continues beyond graduation. They are still present in corporate training, Leadership Training course, and other forms of adult education. As a consequence, it's critical to understand how to overcome obstacles and get greater achievements. In this post, we'll show you how to identify and overcome learning hurdles so that your learners may grow.

What Are Learning Barriers?

A learning barrier is anything that inhibits a student from fully engaging in the learning process. An individual or perhaps a team of individuals who are affected by learning hurdles feel discouraged or unmotivated to study and are unable to attain their learning objectives.

A variety of things can contribute to learning obstacles. Some are completely external: tight deadlines, overwhelming work pressure, a scarcity of supplies or technology, and so on. Others are internal and stem from people's past knowledge, feelings, or mindsets. Internal and external elements can sometimes work together. For instance, a trainee might be afraid of failing as a result of a non-cooperating work environment, managerial pressure, or a lack of expertise required for a specific job and this fear of failure can be a learning obstacle in his/her case.

As a result, to improve learner involvement, teachers should remove as many learning barriers as possible and facilitate learners in overcoming them. Let’s have a look at some of the predominant learning barriers.

1. Change Resistance

Every new effort brings about some change and forces us to leave our comfort zone. People may feel unprepared for this. Consider workers who undermine online learning. Such reluctance to change can manifest itself in two common ways:

Reluctance To Embrace New Technology

People may believe that since they are not tech gurus, they are incapable of adjusting to digitalization and keeping abreast of emerging innovations.

"I Already Know Everything."

People may believe that nothing has changed in their sector that necessitates a second round of training or a fresh online course.

Change resistance is an already existing mindset that can severely impede a company's training and development program.

How to get beyond this learning roadblock:

Let's face it: beginning anything new isn't easy. If you begin training in your firm, it is critical that you realize workers' fundamental aversion to change. Embrace these reservations and act accordingly. Communication that is clear and helpful is essential.

You should also supply your learners with enough training information. If you use a Learning Management System (LMS) to offer online training, for example, you may persuade learners that completing courses and quizzes online is no more difficult than browsing the internet.

2. Failure Anxiety

People frequently believe that not attempting is safer than facing uncertain outcomes. Many people are prevented from gaining vital skills and leveraging fantastic chances as a result of this. Most individuals, whether new recruits, interns, overachievers, or perfectionists, may have the fear of failing. This is why they become hesitant to put new information and abilities into practice. But, given that mistakes are unavoidable in the learning process, perhaps the best bet is to sit back and enjoy the process.

How to get beyond this learning stumbling block:

Encourage errors and use motivating language to assist students in forming a positive mindset toward learning. Motivate them to practice, and emphasize that making errors in training is preferable to not understanding how to behave at work or in real-life circumstances. Help them improve their self-correcting abilities so that they may learn to notice and remedy their own faults.

Online training, such as online Leadership Training or others similar to it can help you overcome your fear of failing. When creating quizzes with an authoring tool, you can enable numerous attempts on the same question. As a result, even if learners make mistakes once or twice, they are still given the option to provide the correct response and learn.

3. Inadequate Preexisting Knowledge

It is natural for learning to occur in phases, and no step should be skipped. This is especially true for individuals who are learning new skills. If a trainee does not understand the fundamentals, moves to a different field of work, or is never exposed to the product line, further progress will be hampered.

How to get beyond this learning roadblock:

Your workout program should be consistent, so prepare ahead of time. Make certain that it progresses through the content from the fundamentals to more particular specifics. You may use a Learning Management System to gather courses and resources in a track tailored to a specific department, team, or individual. The system will automatically allocate the appropriate courses to the chosen set of learners.

4. Not Having An Objective

Learners may regard training as meaningless if they fail to find a reason why it would benefit them in life or the workplace. The problem with adult learners is that they try to find how education or training would improve their life and streamline their daily activities. So your justifications for providing the training will be insufficient unless they fulfill the learners' practical demands.

How to get beyond this learning roadblock:

Work on the pragmatic aspect of things and demonstrate to trainees what they may expect from training, for example, what skillsets they are going to gain from a Leadership Development Program. Alternatively, respond to their questions and provide the real answer supplied by your training.

5. Learning Accessibility For Specially Abled Employees

Last but not least, health concerns might make the learning process more difficult or painful for certain learners. Such disorders may include hearing, visual, or learning disabilities, and they necessitate content adaptations to fulfill standards and principles such as WCAG or Section 508.

How to get beyond this learning roadblock:

When you've completed a course, your main aim should be to guarantee that it's completely accessible to all learners, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

Ending Lines

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”- Henry Ford.

This smart saying also refers to the learning hurdles that impede us from growing, discovering new possibilities, and continuing to improve. However, if learners remain focused on their objectives, confront their fears of failure or transition, and identify the factors that discourage them the most, learning obstacles can be avoided.