Learning to Learn: A Dietitian’s Journey
Starting in 2024, all aspiring registered dietitians must have a master’s degree to be eligible for licensure. I was one of the last few grandfathered in without needing one, and was able to complete all requirements to become RDN eligible in just under 4 years with a previous bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science.
Because of this, I’ve spent a large chunk of the last 14 years of my life in school (thankfully my SUNY education was affordable!) so I haven’t exactly been eager to take on the beast of another degree. I have dabbled a bit in topics of interest, earning a graduate certificate in Sports Nutrition through the International Olympics Committee.
Nothing has felt really “worth it” to go full bore, but it’s been fun so far to be able to take my time and explore the subjects that I feel will best serve me and round out my skill set, which brings me to my current interest: Instructional Design.
Instructional Design (ID) piqued my interest a few years back when on my COVID pet project podcast, I interviewed my former preceptor/TA Anthony Giuliano. He spoke about the power of treating the weight room like a classroom. He later became a director of education after previously working in sports performance.
The idea of learning doesn’t excite too many people, especially for those with bad memories of formal education, but something about that conversation stuck with me.
You might even be thinking of a professor rambling on with wall-of-text powerpoint slides plastered on a screen behind them as you fight off sleep, but adult learning is a far cry from this. It’s often driven by the learner, is less formal, and is purposeful. For instance, you probably don’t care to know how to clean a drain until your sink is clogged. But once you have a back-logged sink, you’re probably pretty eager to learn how to make it go away! (maybe not, but it was a simple example of just-in-time teaching)
Learning is also so much more than knowledge. It’s about ability to apply, analyze, and create. Beliefs and assumptions, motivation, and behavior all fit under the umbrella of how we learn.
I started taking classes to learn more, hoping to complete a graduate certificate in instructional design sometime next year.
My Biggest Takeaways (So Far):
1. You really have to know where you want to go.
Sounds obvious, and most people do come into nutrition counseling with a goal in mind.
It helps, though, if we are painfully detailed and specific about where we are going. It helps to know your starting point, too, but getting specific about the ideal end point helps for multiple reasons.
Once people start making behavior changes, they may experience the natural slog of taking committed action. When you look towards the horizon at your goals, it no longer looks like paradise. “Things weren’t so bad before” and “Is it really that special over there?” start to undermine your confidence. Essentially, we mentally undercut our goals to save us the pain of getting there. Being specific and clear helps to prevent this.
Knowing where you’re going helps create the steppingstones to get there so we can see the path clearly and the future doesn’t feel so far away.
Accomplishing those milestones and celebrating them keeps us headed in that direction.
This also helps me as the learning designer to think what would you be doing differently at that goal? What should be the result from our work together? And I can see more clearly what you may need to know or practice to build out that skillset. This helps me to be a bit more systematic about our focus so we are not just jumping around from goal to goal.
2. Is This Working?
Things don’t always go exactly how I may expect them to in my head- often we are testing and experimenting with nutrition strategies. ID encourages the learning designer to plan to check in periodically and ask:
Did this go the way I expected it to? Do we need to try something else?
There can and should be assessments not only at the end of the learner’s journey, but throughout to be sure that we are going the direction we want to and correcting course as needed.
I find as a bonus that this really helps with developing nutrition flexibility to know that there is not one set path. Flexibility is a key trait for someone looking to become a more competent, confident eater.
3. Iterate, Iterate, Iterate – my ID professor
Basically, it should be expected that there are going to be many cycles through the wheel of learning.
This is true on the microlevel as a learner, but also the macro level for me as an instructor. I have a responsibility to expand and refine and improve my process and programs. Most of this comes down to creating a learning environment that feels comfortable to be creative, make mistakes, and grow.
This has made me really value feedback and tips from clients to help make their experience with Brick by Brick ever better.
4. Create Friction, But Not Too Much
UDL, or Universal Design for Learning, was an integral part of my Instruction Design class. These 2024 guidelines create a standard for accessibility and prioritize learner agency. They improve the learning environment for everyone through something known as the curb cut effect.
One core concept is designing options for sustained effort and persistence of the learner.
Personally, I love the analogy of you finding your way through a forest. I absolutely could give you turn-by-turn directions: here’s your meal plan! Some people want that, and it’s fine but gosh that’s boring and I selfishly don’t want to do that for a living.
I’m more of a map and compass kind of dietitian, (actually it’s probably more like troll under the bridge with a series of riddles that you must pass before you can move on kind of dietitian)
My job in this case, as a learning designer and dietitian, is to help hold the structure and the scaffolding, to make the incline of the hill you’re biking up just enough to challenge you but not enough to make you drop off. Maybe we do need a lot of structure (meal plan) to start, but eventually I want you to feel good standing on your own.
All in all, I’m excited to see how my learning journey continues to unfold. There is still much room to grow, but I’m excited that I can develop my chops as a learning designer to ultimately achieve the mission of Brick by Brick: Get More Athletes Fueling and Feeling Better.
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