stickylearning

Learning Design - quick thoughts

Here is my shortest post yet! 2 quotes from Tim Samara's book, Design Evolution.

"We never talk about design with clients. We talk about message and results. And we

listen. Certain clients aren't articulate with design language; it's our job to 

translate what they are saying, getting to the core of their issues"

Noreen Morioka, principal of AdamsMorioka, Inc (Designers)

This is how learning designers should think as well. Understand core message and results and design to deliver.

"Design that seems extremely simple is very carefully crafted. 

The trick is to make it seem effortless and natural"

Monica Schlaug, Designer

Two quotes that place the learning designer into the world of design.

Social Learning

Participating in the Learn Trends session yesterday I was struck by the potential for social technologies such as wikis, twitter, personal learning environments and ..... to really make an impact upon how people learn within organisations.

I will admit to being on the ground floor on this, clearly there are many who are taking great strides in building more collaborative, though informal learning cultures within business environments.  I know I'm not alone in being pretty new to much of this, in fact the benefits and potential of this approach to learning itself are just emerging (and continue to do so).

Twitter is one case in point, (see here and here for links to setting up and using Twitter - my Twitter link is here). Rapidly taking over from Facebook as the fastest growing social networking sites it is now showing potential in learning environments. 

Jane Hart,  a social media and learning consultant believes Twitter and similar mini-blogs are tools for informal learning.  In a recent article she says, "the point of social media is to turn learning into a more participatory activity".  Learners can send 'Tweets' to each other with questions and respond immediately with answers.  Jane continues, "Micro-blogs can support collaboration and understanding".

As for Personal Learning Spaces, again I am a learner here.  I am nearly finished building my personal website, michaeleury.com (soon, but not ready yet!)  For me this is a bit like a personal learning space. In it I am placing links and references to pretty much all I have read and currently read. If you'd like to learn more on Personal Learning Spaces I'd recommend you try this site (I'm spending some time there now to learn more).  

Learning in Organisations - event

On April 21-22 "Corporate Learning Trends & Innovation" is hosting a 24 hour free conversation on the topic "Learning in Organisations".

The topics covered over the 24 hours will include (amongst others):

• New roles for Learning Professionals
• Changing corporate culture to accommodate the new learning
• Making informal learning concrete
• Twitter and real-time learning
• Learners taking responsibility for their own learning
• Pecha Kucha
• Personal Learning environments
• What's holding back informal learning
• Selling the importance of L&D to clients who are set in their ways
• Innovations in learning technologies

Check the link above for details.  It is promised that the event will be informal and you can join in and leave as you feel.

Storytelling and learning

A few posts ago I mentioned an interesting discussion taking place on the LinkedIn group, "Learning, Education and Training Professionals".

A lively discussion with input from a wide range of learning professionals.  My contribution was as follows:

"Facts and information without context provided as discrete bites of knowledge are not memorable but just add to the ceaseless stream of information that bombards our brains every day. With so much junk hitting our brain we filter out as much as possible, just like spam is filtered by my computer. But my brain sees a story and it stands out from the 'junk', our brains let it in, it has meaning, we remember it, learn from it."

The discussion is still active with 40+ contributions at this point.  In many links contributors provided links to various sites and books.  I've had a look at all the sites and listed a couple below.

Here are two of the links mentioned by contributors to the discussion.

• Story telling in business
• Polaris

For an interesting article read the article Storytelling at a Distance by Lisa Neal in eLearn Magazine.

Here are some books on storytelling with Amazon links included.  I must admit I have read just the first 5 of these books however will read the rest over the next few months and then will post reviews on my favourites.

• Made to Stick - Dan & Chip Heath
• The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
• Story - Robert McKee
• Stories Trainers Tell - Mary Wacker
• The Leaders Guide to Storytelling - Stephen Denning
• Tales for Trainers - Margaret Parkin
• Squirrel Inc - Stephen Denning
• The Story Factor - Annette Simmons
• Who ever tells the best story wins - Annette Simmons

An electronic copy of an article "Storytelling that moves people" by Robert McKee is available for purchase and download.  The article summarises much of the material in the book listed above, Story. At the core of the article McKee states that,

"If you can harness imagination and the principles of a well-told story, then you get people rising to their feet amid thunderous applause instead of yawning and ignoring you."

Surely this statement provides enough reason to include storytelling in your learning design and presentation.  Start out by reading this article, if this doesn't convince you on the benefits of storytelling, nothing will!

  

The Blue Sweater

I was recently sent a review copy of Jacqueline Novogratz's, The Blue Sweater.  To explain further, Seth Godin, via his blog asked for volunteers who would be interested in reading and reviewing this excellent book. 

Who is Jacqueline Novogratz and what is the Blue Sweater?

Let's begin with the first question!  Jacqueline Novogratz is the CEO as well as the founder of Acumen Fund, a not for profit philanthropic group that uses a venture capitalist approach to remedy global poverty.

The Blue Sweater chronicles Novogratz's personal and professional journey from youthful idealist, to corporate highflier and then through her realisation that she can combine a desire for equity of opportunity with the seemingly opposite motives of free market forces.

I was most drawn to the passages in the book that emphasised the importance of dialogue, in particular the benefits of 'really' listening to others, rather than approaching problems with pre-conceived prejudices, bias and ready-made solutions.

What is the Blue Sweater?  Literally it is the favourite sweater the author donated to a charity and then 'found' again, worn on another continent. It is also a metaphor for a new connectedness beyond borders. 

Storytelling, learning and LinkedIn groups

LinkedIn is a great way of connecting with others with similar business interests. I belong to 3 groups on LinkedIn that allow me to follow and join in on discussions around topics I find interesting.  It is another good way of seeing ideas differently.  On the LinkedIn group, "Learning, Education and Training Professionals" there has been an interesting discussion on "StoryTelling as a training tool", a particular interest of mine. Following the discussion is a good way of seeing how others use storytelling.  

My addition to the conversation was as follows:

Facts and information without context provided as discrete bites of knowledge are not memorable but just add to the ceaseless stream of information that bombards our brains every day. With so much junk hitting our brain we filter out as much as possible, just like spam is filtered by my computer. But my brain sees a story and it stands out from the 'junk', our brains let it in, it has meaning, we remember it, learn from it.

Storytelling is an area of learning that deserves some more attention, so over the next few weeks I'll add to this with some further thoughts, ideas, links and readings on storytelling.

Marketing and learning - the Gruen Transfer

I've mentioned the TV show the Gruen Transfer previously as a lesson on how to communicate ideas visually.  You can watch the latest pitch by following this link, if your work is in education/learning fields, watch them and think about how marketers/advertisers approach the problem of how to communicate ideas. I especially like the section on how to sell ice to the eskimos!

Thought: what can you do to make people interested in what they're learning?  How can you do this?

Some learning ideas/objectives are just hard to package, it's important to think of new ideas to do this more effectively.  Selling water when you can get it for free or ice to eskimos, surely what we put into workshops can't be as hard as this?

Fake ads that work (and others that don't), is it true that if the idea spreads the ad works.  The lesson is that real surprises catch our attention and make us remember the information!

Are learning styles important?

Here's a question I've been thinking about for a while now.  I know that people come to a learning situation with differing personalities and preferences for how the like to learn. So far so good! But for the facilitator/teacher/presenter what does this mean?  Will they know the styles of each person in the room? Can they adjust their approach to teaching on the spot? Does it matter?

I design learning programs for others to deliver. In most instances the client cannot give me details of individuals learning preferences. What do I do?

It seems to me that, as designer/presenter, I need to consider how I can construct learning experiences so that the lessons/knowledge will stick IRRESPECTIVE of individuals' learning preference. This means that its not so much about learning styles but rather facilitation/teaching styles.

Learning programs should be designed so that people learn, period! This puts the responsibility for effective learning strongly on the designer of the program and equally strongly on those who facilitate learning.

Let's finish then with a couple of questions/challenges. 

• How do you design/deliver learning so that it is effective irrespective of learning styles? 
• Are there a series of repeatable steps that learning designers/presenters should follow that will result in effective learning? 

Knowledge Marketing

If you take a quick look down my list of books, on the right side of the blog, you will see that a reasonable proportion of the books are actually marketing/branding books, for example all books by Seth Godin, Marty Neumeier, Andy Nulman...  

The point is that these books aren't just about marketing products so that they sell, they are about successfully communicating ideas so that they are remembered. When I read these books they talk to me as books on learning, full of ideas that I can use when designing learning programs or facilitating a workshop.

Should people who work in education/learning/training instead see themselves as knowledge marketers? If it means learning new and more effective ways to help others to learn, then the answer is yes. We should always be looking for ideas that help people learn more effectively, it doesn't matter if these are educational theories, modern marketing practices, design ideas or something else completely from left-field, we should be looking beyond our own backyards to find new perspectives on what we do.