stickylearning

'Virtual/actual' reality - WonderMart

A week ago I read an interesting newspaper review of a theatrical 'show' called Wondermart. As I read the article I was intrigued, it sounded interesting and I could already begin to imagine that it could have some relevance for learning! 

Now let's begin on the right track, Wondermart is nothing like any theatre event I've attended. Quite simply it is an MP3 track that you download to your MP3 player (iPhone in may case) and then at a time and place that suits you, you listen to the audio track and follow it's instructions as you move through your local supermarket. I know it sounds a little different, but I found it really interesting, I'll talk you through my experience, it began at my local supermarket!

Following the instructions provided, I got myself a trolley, put my earphones in and pressed play. The voice, with quite enjoyable music in the background, began to tell me about the history of supermarkets before telling me to enter the store. I was then told about some of the ways supermarkets place products to attract purchases. It did feel a bit weird, being guided by an unknown voice, however I did see things I wouldn't have seen otherwise and was able to think about supermarkets a little differently.

Now I was told to watch another customer, look at how they behave, what they purchase and try to imagine why they were buying it. Other than feeling a bit like a stalker, it was an interesting exercise in looking at shopping from another person's perspective. I was also  told to go to the freezer section, open a door (at which point background sound effects of a blizzard could be heard behind my guide's voice), pick up whichever product attracted me most, look at the packaging, place it back on the shelf.... again the aim seems to have been to place me in a different situation than I normally am when zipping around the supermarket buying tonight's dinner!

After 30 minutes I placed any products I'd picked up back on their shelves and left the store!

So....what has this to do with learning?

Well, when I first read the newspaper article, I was thinking of how this approach could be used as a type of on-site learning, for example in large retail stores or malls, in factory settings, in hospitals and so forth. I could imagine real benefits in providing a new employee with an MP3 player and a recording then asking them to follow all the instructions as they move around their work site. I've had experience working with large retail businesses helping them to design ways of 'inducting' their new employees and one common issue has been that new starters are given a 'rushed' introduction to their workplace, resulting in productivity issues, safety problems and less employee engagement.

The outcome!

After 30 minutes of listening to instructions and moving around a supermarket I am sure that this approach has applications for workplace learning. Perhaps it is already being used within some businesses, I haven't seen it however (if so would love to hear of some examples!). What I have seen however is online virtual stores where employees move through and learn about various aspects of their workplace. These can work reasonably well, however it could be just as easy to use the MP3 approach with the added benefit of 1:1 application of everything learnt - unlike even very good virtual worlds where it can be difficult to get learners to see the virtual world as equivalent to their actual workplace. 

For me the best aspect of this is the ability to get a new 'voice' inside a person's head. We all know that we only see what we see. We filter out most of the visual signals around us, the use of MP3 tracks allows you to direct the listener's (learner's) attention to what you want them to look at and then provide them with information. 

This approach encourages both attention and focus from learners whilst allowing you to challenge establish ideas and patterns of behaviour - worth a closer look I reckon!

TEDxMelbourne - a great day of learning!

A quick post to review today's excellent TEDx day. For those who don't know of TEDx or TED, a quick explanation. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is an event originally held in the US where notable thinkers spoke in these three areas spoke to other (invited) like-minded people in a spirit of "Ideas worth spreading". In more recent times talks have themselves spread beyond the three original areas to now encompass innovative and important ideas from any area and the talks themselves are now available free to anyone who wishes to watch and listen at TED.com. 

TEDx is related to the original TED but is local and smaller. For example today I attended TEDxMelbourne, an event with a limit of around 100 attendees, at a TEDx day the format is that there are videos of TED talks and live talks, after each talk attendees break into small groups to discuss the ideas brought up by the talk. This format really appeals to me as it really mirrors what I do with this blog and my reading, I like to bring ideas from diverse disciplines together to then exert influence on how I think about what I do, learning and education.

And so to today's event. (with some of my own and others ideas scattered through - it is really what TEDx is all about, it gets you thinking!)

Introduced by Warwick Merry and Rod Sherwin we were told to expect to be "out of our comfort zone" and that whilst we could listen to some of the talks at home the benefit here was that we could then discuss our ideas with others. We were then shown a brief intro to the TEDx concept by Chris Anderson (curator of TED). And so it began....

First up was a video talk by Juan Enriquez. This was filmed in the US at the height of gloom and doom about the credit crisis and the talk begins with a quick review of where things were at in the US (summary not good!) He then used this as a counterpoint to highlight the upside of the future, human's use of science to 'improve' our own biology. That is through our mastery of science we will not just control nature but also control human evolution. My take - yes we are gaining control of a whole lot of new things but in many ways it is just an extension of what human's have done for millennia, agriculture, urbanisation, industrial revolution and so on. For me change is just what happens, I'm an optimist. I'm not meaning that there won't be major challenges and questions to answer about our use of technology, however I believe that human's will work their way trough these issues and then move on again.

The next talk was excellent - Temple Grandin - speaking about how the world needs all kinds of minds. So many good points and a great talk, Temple has autism and as she describes it this means that she has a 'specialist mind', not great at everything but excellent within certain spheres. She describes how she thinks strongly in pictures and how she sees the world in quite a different way to many other people - but she doesn't see this as a problem, but rather as different. In fact the point of here whole talk is that it is the variety in people that provides strength, or as she says, "the world needs all kinds of minds". There is a bit of Ken Robinson in what she says, lamenting the pigeon-holing that occurs in education today. A super talk and well-worth the time to listen to it!

Now we went to the first 'in person' talk of the day - it's good to have a mix of video and live!

Pat Naughtin, who runs a consultancy called Metrication Matters, spoke about the costs and benefits of metrication, or the lack thereof! A one person said afterwards, he didn't imagine that he'd ever be interested in a topic such as this, but the really enjoyed it! A fair point I reckon! Pat is a very good speaker, throwing in a good dose of dry humour along the way. The key point of his talk was that where people don't use metric measurements (mainly the US!) thee are huge financial and other costs associated with this, examples quote included deaths in medical errors, some due to confusion over non-metric measures. The key point I think though is that Pat's talk was about simplicity and communicating this clearly and unambiguously. He showed a slide with 199 words/measures that have been used to describe energy during climate change debates in recent times. How can anyone be expected to really understand science when people trying to explain it use so many different words and measures to try to describe something. It becomes impossible to really understand. Science must use simpler statistics if they hope to clearly understand climate science!

After a very enjoyable Korean lunch with 4 other TEDx attendees the next speaker (again in person) was Mauricio Buchler. Mauricio spoke about education - obviously close to my heart! he demonstrated an online virtual world he's been working on to assist with English language learning (see here). Mauricio also spoke of his frustration with the education system and passionless teachers, a tricky question really. What comes first? Do people enter teaching with no passion or does it disappear later on? My view is more often than not the latter and it is this that needs to be addressed. Mauricio also believes that passion must be an entry marker for prospective teachers (but how to keep the passion).

Mauricio also spoke of how he believes learning should be fun. OK, my view, yes pretty much, but sometimes more than this it needs to engage learners, this mightn't always look like 'fun' but learners are 'loving' the learning (if you understand what I mean?)

The TEDx day finished with a brace of 3 short videos arounf the theme of success.

First was Richard St John with his 8 keys to success - only 3 minutes long, short and to the point. 

Our next video was Derek Sivers - a really interesting talk that shows that there is more than one way of looking at things. What is true and obvious to me is not to another person. I liked his example of how in most Western countries city blocks are the un-named places between streets, whereas in Japan it is reversed, streets are the un-named places that surround blocks. If this confuses you watch the video, t's only 2 minutes long!

The very last video was of Joachim de Posada speaking on really interesting research that links the concept of delayed gratification (in childhood) with later success in life as adults. He shows humourous footage of experiments with children trying to resist the temptation of eating a marshmallow that was put in front of them (they were told not to eat it). I must say that I'd not do well in such a test, now or back when I was a child. Could there seriously be a link between this and later success? Perhaps it has got something to do with the ability to focus. To resist eating the marshmallow a child must keep the thought of not eating it foremost in their mind, they are able to focus their attention. Back in Richard St John's talk he certainly listed focus as a key element of success! (along with persistence)

And so the day ended. I really enjoyed the day. Warwick and Rod were right, I was (happily) "out of my comfort zone" and on top of that I got the chance to meet people in person whom I'd only ever tweeted with, met others for the first time entirely, found many others who read similar books to myself (see my book ideas here) and thought about things I certainly don't normally do on a Saturday. Thanks to all who helped organise the day, I look forward o the next!

Why do we label learning?

OK, this is a post written as I'm thinking. I was just reading comments from my post on Autonomous/Formal/Informal Learning and thought I'd put some of my thoughts down in a post as they come! Let's see how it goes?

My thinking is this - formal/informal/autonomous/individual - they are all labels, descriptive in their own way. Part of the problem though is that they may all mean slightly different things to different people. And, if you are speaking to an employer and are extolling the benefits of informal learning - one, they want/need a definition - two, they want to know how it works - and three, it just seems to add to the other 'boxes' of 'types' of learning that exist.

As I said I'm writing on the fly, what I mean is this (quick break to make a diagram).

OK, on the right is a crude picture representing the current arrangement. A small box of formal learning and a larger box of informal learning exists within the circle that represents all activity within a workplace. 

Most businesses, it is probably fair to say, focus on the red formal box. The business may then be introduced to the concept and benefits of informal learning, another box is introduced.

Whilst the box sizes may not be accurate, my point is that putting learning into boxes, no matter what size, colour or name still creates a separation - learning/business operations.

And here's my point, maybe to change the perception of business away from learning as an event, or as a function separate to business activity we, (that is, learning professionals, L&D consultants, ID's, whatever we call ourselves) should drop all labels and only speak of learning. 

Let's just say that when anyone is at work, they are learning, it should look more like this diagram.

Basically, if you are at work, you are learning. Sometimes you might need to go to an organised activity but most of the time you're just getting better at doing your job.

The move from diagram one to two is really about behavioural and cultural change. Once a business has made this shift all learning modes are available to be combined to meet any operational need.

You need to change HOW people think. Learning doesn't happen in boxes, learning is what we do ALL the time. 

So, there is my post on the fly. I'll probably read it tomorrow and not be entirely happy, but I reckon the guts of it is OK. The key change is to see that learning is integrated within the very nature of what all workers do whilst at work, it isn't formal or informal, it isn't an added extra or something separate, it is learning. And...(you mightn't like this!)....perhaps one good place to demonstrate this is by NOT having a separate learning department.