As someone who makes his livelihood by designing and facilitating learning experiences for businesses I should encourage all businesses to design bigger. Bigger, longer workshops, more complex online learning, more post-workshop mentoring and more assessments of all sorts - in all ways possible I should encourage business to design learning that works best for me. Bigger, bigger, bigger....
Mmmm! Well that's what seems to be happen a fair bit of the time! Big, complex learning interventions! Even within businesses there seems to be a desire to impress others with the size and complexity of programs. If it doesn't look impressively large it mustn't be much good - seems to be the message.
But, who is learning designed for? Really?
OK, it's obvious, learning should be designed to increase learning effectiveness. What does effective learning look like? Well, I'll make it simple, effective learning helps the learner perform more effectively in their work environment. (More effective learning = mastery of skills/knowledge + more control over their work + a clear purpose - which all in turn leads to better workplace productivity)
So, let's now look at the title of this post. 'Touching the Earth Lightly' is the architectural design philosophy of renowned Australian Architect Glenn Murcutt. (Here is a link and here is another that fill you in on who Glenn Murcutt is and you might also see why I'd love a house in the Australian bush designed by him!)
Here's my reading of the term, 'Touching the Ground Lightly'. It is about being less obtrusive in the landscape, making a building sit comfortably in it's place without having to rebuild the landscape to fit the building. It is about designing a building to fit the place, not the place to fit the building.
How did this make me think of learning? Simple. Here's 10 thoughts that come to mind.
Design learning that is unobtrusive
Design learning that is embedded in practice
Design learning that doesn't look like learning
Design learning where the learner is in control
Design learning that encourages sharing
Design learning for 'in the moment' needs
Design learning that fosters creativity
Design learning that is evolutionary nor revolutionary
I've had a short phrase stuck in my head now for a few weeks, in fact it is stuck so well that I have found myself using it numerous times when speaking with clients.
The phrase is:
Design with, not for.
A simple philosophy, however so often it is the straightforward things that cut right to the heart of the matter! When designing learning we have a choice, to push our approach, emphases, content, style etc onto our learners and clients. In other words we can 'design for'.
There is another (better) way of approaching design that instead seeks to understand in detail the unique needs of learners and clients, their cultures, unique outlooks and anything else that may have an impact upon learning. The result, design is pulled towards learners' needs. It isn't an off the shelf 'solution' but rather a solution for their learning need.
Put the idea in your head, you might find it popping up just at the right time to help you improve your learning design.
Another year comes towards to an end and its been another year of great reading for anyone with an interest in learning. Once again I have read from a wide range of areas, all with something to add to how I think of learning. Below you'll find my top recommendations for the year along with a short summary of what I got out of reading each book. I haven't put these in a top ten order this year, there were so many contenders for the number one spot! Do you think there is a standout number one? Let me know.
PresentationZen Design - Garr Reynolds
Probably no real surprise for anyone who has read my blog, I really like the way Garr Reynolds has brought a sense of design to slideware. PresentationZen Design is his follow up to the slide-show stopping Presentation Zen of 2008. It is really an expansion of the design section from the original book, adding a good deal of extra information and ideas along the way. I do not think there can be any doubt that design has an impact upon how learners interact with learning materials, this book is a real help for those who would like to make sure that the learning tools that they design are engaging and effective for learners. Oh, and one extra tip, Garr has his third book, The Naked Presenter about to hit the shelves, I'm sure it will be a great way to start my reading for next year!
resonate - Nancy Duarte
The power of story telling in learning is enormous, we all tend to remember information when its woven into a meaningful and engaging story. Nancy Duarte's second book, resonate, is subtitled 'present stories that transform audiences' . I found that I couldn't put the book down, there is a new idea and lesson on every page. The book mixes things up with a series of illuminating examples of great speeches and great communicators - not all of them expected, they range from Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King Jr to Mozart and Alfred Hitchcock. From each of her examples Nancy draws lessons for the reader and illustrates these story lessons through the use of a 'sparkline' that is a visual way of showing how a speech is constructed. A good deal of the work that I do is really about weaving stories for learners and I found that the book has provided many ideas to improve what I do.
Change by Design - Tim Brown
Change by Design just missed last years's list (I hadn't quite finished it) For those who mightn't know, Tim Brown is the CEO of the design firm IDEO who, in this book shares his ideas on how design thinking can be used within organisations to drive innovation.
The book presents through a range of stories/case studies and provides glimpses of the creative/design process used within IDEO. 'Design Thinking' has (to me) real applications to learning design and there are enough good ideas and new approaches within this book to make it well worth a read!
Drive - Dan Pink
Drive is an easily readable book, crammed with examples and anecdotes, Dan Pink looks to build a new way of looking at motivation. He argues that the established (old) ways of motivating, through what he terms, 'carrots and sticks' don't work anymore (except in particular circumstances) In short carrots encourage us to do something for a reward, sticks can be used to punish unwanted behaviours. Businesses and indeed learning uses both these approaches, bonuses for performance, A+ for excellence etc. Pink argues that there are better motivators in today's world and these are the trio of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Autonomy - we like to be self directed (informal learning), Mastery - we like to be good at things, Purpose - we'll work harder at things when we can see the bigger purpose. A good book and well worth the read!
Switch - Chip and Dan Heath
Made to Stick was Chip and Dan Heath's first book and in fact a key driver to me beginning this blog. So when they released their second book Switch this year I had it on pre-order from Amazon as soon as it was listed! This book is all about how to change, yourself and/or others. I won't go into detail here, except to say that they provide an interesting and usable approach to encouraging change, using a three step approach - Step 1 - Direct the Rider; Step 2 - Motivate the Elephant: Step 3 - Shape the Path. Now these might sound a little unusual, but the model is interesting and as learning is essentially about change, from what we know and do now to what we could do be, this book and it's model for change provides some new ways of thinking about things!
Better than Bullet Points - Jane Bozarth
I'd been meaning to read Better than Bullet Points for a while but only got around to it a few months ago now. As you might have noticed through my reading of PresentationZen and Slide:ology I have an interest in improving the use of Powerpoint and other slideware in presentations and learning environments. Powerpoint however is also used as a starting place for the development of elearning. Unfortunately a good deal of elearning is actually really e-reading and I was keen to see what Jane had to say about using Powerpoint more effectively in the development of elearning courses. Put simply, the book is a great resource for anyone who will be using Powerpoint in the development of elearning courses. The book focuses upon the effective design of elearning first and the use of Powerpoint second. Throughout the book and the included CD-ROM there are piles of practical examples and case studies. An essential addition to your bookshelf!
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Not a standard learning text by any means! The Black Swan is part philosophy, part economics, challenging your preconceptions and assumptions. I'm sure NNT (as the author refers to himself) would question many of my book choices here as many of them use limited examples and case studies to help to provide proofs for their ideas. NNT isn't a fan of generalising from limited observations, he's an empiricist who probably can only be certain of what he has seen himself. Why is it titled The Black Swan? Simple, for thousands of years (in fact forever) people in Europe would describe swans as being white, that was just a given. Just as the sky is blue, swans were white. But in Australia swans aren't white, they're black. Much of what we assume to be truths are really only theories waiting to be disproved, waiting for a black swan. What has it got to do with learning? Well here's one angle. traditional formal learning is about 'teaching' accepted practice, how to do things, what is right - it teaches what could be termed White Swan knowledge. Informal learning on the other hand doesn't have a set curriculum, it is flexible and ready for Black Swans. A challenging read, best done when you can get some quiet time to think, it also messes with your head a bit, but the outcome is a new way of looking at things and that is always good!
The New Social Learning - Marcia Conner and Tony Bingham
I read this book and said to myself The New Social Learning is the best book I've read for ages, and it is! It looks at how social media can help to create a whole new platform for learning within businesses. This quote from the book begins to explain the book's focus, "In large part, innovation and learning comes from the little moments between the activities we've previously thought of as 'real' work." Social media provides a way of sharing these 'little moments' it is a way of increasing collaboration within organisations, of breaking down silos of finding solutions to new problems in real time. This book is about what is happening in many businesses today and will continue to grow, people are social creatures and social media provides another avenue for people to do what they do best, to learn from each other.
Social Media for Trainers - Jane Bozarth
Social Media for Trainers is a really helpful book for trainers who would like a new addition to their suite of learning methods/tool. I won't go into how social media can be used for learning, Jane's book however provides a series of practical tips, case studies and ideas that trainers can use to support learning. Social media looked at includes Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Wikis and a bunch of other tools. Whether you're across all these tools or not, this book is a great resources filled with really good ideas for using the new social media tools to improve your learners' experience.
Amazon Kindle
OK, not a book and mine's still on it's way however I already know that it will be worth it. I've been using Kindle on my iPad and that's good, but having all my books with me in a lightweight reader will be great and I can get a new book right away without having to wait for delivery from the US. They're cheap too, mine's going to be the wifi/3G model, $189 Australian, I'll save this in 6 months by buying ebooks instead of 'real' books. I don't like writing in my books, (just a hangup of mine) but in the Kindle I'll be able to bookmark and highlight text to my heart's content, great for helping me find what I'm looking for. (BTW why a Kindle and an iPad? I can never get to use the iPad, everyone wants to use it at once!)
So, another great year of reading, ideas challenged and horizons opened. Looking forward to 2011 now!
A few months ago I came across an excellent and free resource that I have now used parts of when designing learning solutions for clients, it's called "Design with Intent" and is the creation of Dan Lockton (a PhD student at Brunel University), along with Professor David Harrison and Professor Neville Stanton.
In this post I'll introduce you briefly to the tools and how I think they apply to learning design. You can also find out heaps more by going to Dan Lockton's "Design with Intent" page (where you can download the tools for free!) as well as the Design with Intent Wiki where you'll be able to read even more about the system and the thinking behind it!
What does the Design with Intent approach look like?
The tool is named Design with Intent for a reason, it seeks to provide a way of designing "to influence or result in certain user behaviour". Now for anyone who has ever struggled to design learning solutions that go beyond simple knowledge and skills towards broader behavioural learning objectives you will appreciate the intent of the tool and why I was attracted to the tool to assist in learning design. My interest in it goes beyond this however, as I'm very interested in the design of different learning options/tools that better engage people and lead to more effective learning experiences.
The Design with Intent (DWI) approach seeks to challenge your way of thinking to place questions in front of you, to make you consider a variety of solutions. As Dan pits it in his wiki it is an 'idea generation tool, provoking design ideas by asking questions and giving examples of particular principles in action'. It is a little like the IDEO cards that I have also used at different times, but the difference with DWI is that it is a lot more behaviourally oriented in it's approach.
Here are two cards from the deck that I'll use as examples:
This card challenges how I lay out information, use typefaces, colours, link to other resources, make anything stand out from the crowd, direct peoples' attention. It makes me think this through, I'm less likely to skip over it or not to consider something. It's like having someone look over your shoulder and challenge what you're doing!
This card makes me think, 'what can I do to draw people into the learning, build motivation, keep them connected and engaged. I mightn't do the 'First one free' thing, but it's got me thinking about engagement and motivation.
Are you getting the picture - even a little?
In fact there are 101 cards! These are broken into 8 lens each one designed to assist in resolving different design problems. The 8 (colour coded) lens are:
Architectural: relates to issues of the environment in which the design problem exists. Generally this relates to the physical environment but could also be applied to the design of learning tools and how these tools are organised for learners.
Error-proofing: is about designing solutions that prevent users from making errors. For example, providing users with feedback to check their intent before committing, ie "Did you mean....?'
Interaction: links interactions and behaviour, for example the use of progress bars to indicate how far you have progressed through an online learning course, giving users feedback as they use the system, tailoring solutions based on individual learners' needs
Ludic: uses 'games' thinking to build engagement, for example leaving gaps to fill, building collections, creating learning levels and so on. It seeks to build 'playfulness' into the design
Perceptual: can you use colour, contrast, proximity and other design tools to suggest associations, links and/or differences to users to direct their behaviour?
Cognitive: uses ideas from cognitive psychology to look at how people make decisions and look to how decision making can be influenced through design
Machiavellian: this lens comes from the school of 'the end justifies the means'! Forced choice, 'locking out' unwanted choices, can you drive behaviour towards your desired outcomes?
Security: here you could build a system where 'learning' is supervised or tracked in some way or direct learners to certain options based on their previous behaviour.
How could this be applied to learning design?
As I've said already, I see two uses for this system in learning design.
As a way of approaching behavioural learning needs, the DWI approach challenges your thinking and indeed presents options to you. For example the Ludic (games) lens could provide ideas on how to influence the behaviour of salespeople in a retail environment by providing unpredictable reinforcement of wanted behaviours, using rewards and scores, making a meme of your plan. This can all be used in the design of the learning itself, whether on-job, workshop or online-based. Make it fun, influence perceptions and in turn bahviours.
Alternatively DWI can be used in the design of learning tools themselves. Whether this is in the graphic design appearances that comes out of the Perceptual Lens, or the Architecture of the learning environment or how learners Interact with the learning tool.
The options and applications never seem to end. For me however the DWI cards repeatedly remind me that I do not have all the solutions, BUT with a little prodding from DWI I can approach learning design problems from previously unthought of angles.
An excellent addition to my bundle of tools (and yours too!)
(As I said you can download the cards for free, however I recently bought a pack and can see myself using them more than ever!) Click here to purchase!
I have to begin here by saying, I've never been a fan of lists, I like things a little more 'free-form', I find lists stifling.
Lists put an artificial order on things, they say, after doing/reading this, the next 'logical' point is X. To make matters worse, we tend to prioritise lists by placing numbers next to each point, we tell the reader, 'point 1 before point 2, before point 3....'. When you put something in a list you tend to simplify things because a list is really a series of BRIEF points...no explanation, let's keep things brief!
A list forces you to move on to the next point and the next....until a defined end - no discussion. And of course we've got the dreaded bullet pointed list! Arrgghh! Powerpoint or document, if it's in a bullet-pointed list your mind seems to go into a trance-like automatic state, 'must finish list' your mind repeats over and over! Finally we're all told to use 'To do' lists to 'improve our productivity'! Productive? Only if that means no creativity! I mean, you can't be creative if every moment of your day is 'time-managed' by a 'to do' list?
We are drawn to lists because of their ability to create a sense of certainty and predictability, lists feed our need to be 'in control'. But is it any wonder that we find our creative juices drying up! Isn't it obvious, following a list does NOT encourage creativity.
Lastly, creativity happens when two new ideas collide unexpectedly in your head...and is closely followed by learning. But how can you learn if you follow a list? There's nothing unexpected in a list. Quite simply, lists are the enemy of learning!
If you've been reading my blog since it began early two years ago you will know that I like to read. I like to challenge how I think about things, books and blogs are a couple of ways I get new ideas to think about. Well this has been all well and good however (and I can't entirely blame the book here) I read a book in May/June that got me thinking so much I haven't blogged since. OK, that's not really fair, there have been other reasons, holidays, travel for work, pneumonia....But honestly The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (NNT for short) got so many ideas twirling around my head that I kept trying to write a blog post around it, but I couldn't get out what I wanted to say!
The answer (I think) is to not say too much!
The Black Swan
So let's start with a (tiny) review of the book (try Wikipedia for a fuller outline). In The Black Swan, NNT's premise is that we only know what we know. This is OK until we 'kid' ourselves that what we know is all there is to know. For example, in the Northern Hemisphere all swans are naturally white. For thousands of years the only colour swan you could see was white. So, if someone asked you what colour swans were you would say, "white of course"! But down where I live in Australia, swans are black. When Europeans first arrived in Australia they were naturally shocked, "what, black swans! How extraordinary!" Only extraordinary, that is, if you'd assumed that all swans were white.
So, we extrapolate on imperfect information. A good example is cited by NNT. Imagine a chicken. Everyday it wakes up, is fed, does a small range of other chicken activities and goes to sleep. Life is predictable. The chicken can be sure that tomorrow it will be fed and at the end of the day it will sleep. Then one day it's head is chopped off. Whoops, the chicken didn't see that coming!
So here is the lesson in learning
Business learning today is designed to fill a skills or knowledge 'gap', to provide workers with skills and knowledge required in today's business world. In other words, 'predictable' learning needs lead to formal learning solutions - problem solved!
Not if you're the chicken it's not! The chicken could attend all the formal chicken courses it likes, such as, 'A Beginners Guide to Grain', 'Feather your Nest and Flourish' and the perennially popular leadership course, 'How to RULE your Roost' but NONE help when, chop, off goes your head!
Formal learning has it's place, definitely. It provides learners with skills and knowledge they're highly likely to need, today and tomorrow. The outcomes of formal learning are also generally predictable, learn X, be better at Y.
However, put all your eggs in the formal learning basket and you put yourself, your business, at risk. What if you're wrong? What if tomorrow isn't as you expected? What if there is a new competitor? What if there is a financial crisis? What if......?
This is where informal learning comes in. Let's try these descriptions of Informal Learning:
Learning with no particular outcome in mind
Learning for learning sake
Learning that mightn't look like learning
Learning directed by the individual, not the workplace
Learning with no set time, no set place
Informal learning can help to develop skills and knowledge that may not seem important until they are. (if that makes sense?)
So, what should business do?
Simple answer: provide (more) opportunities for informal learning
If you have a 'L&D' budget of $X, allocate most of it (say 80%) to formal learning and the rest (20%) to encouraging informal learning.
But remember:
Formal learning provides practical and financial benefits for business, don't throw it away just because informal learning seems to be the new buzz word.
Informal learning doesn't mean 'free' learning. Don't think that this 'new' idea means you can slash your learning budget.
You might feel a need to control however if you try to 'formalise' the informal there's no informal left.
The Black Swan - a hell of a read! I recommend it, it might do your head in, but it will get you thinking.
OK, here's my short follow up post as promised in my last post on the recent AITD conference!
Let's get to the point, I went to the conference primarily because of sessions keynotes and workshops on the use of social media in learning - a real interest of mine. (as you saw in my last post I did enjoy the conference!) I was however prepared to use Twitter during the conference, I've followed other people at conferences related to learning and have always found something of interest to me, following the tweets isn't as good as being there but the tweets give a taste and some ideas and links to follow up on. Throughout the conference I did the same thing, tweeting snippets of each keynote and workshop I attended and providing links to articles and information mentioned by speakers.
I decided to use the hashtag #aitd
I thought it a good guess that this would be the 'official' tag for the conference. Quickly I found that there were others using the same tag but guess how many? I'll give you a clue, there'd have been about 250+ people. Maybe you'd guess that 20 people tweeted, perhaps even 40 people.
Well, in a word, no! All up there would have been 6 people. Two of the tweeters were themselves speaking at the conference on the use of social media - so you would have expected them to Tweet. Just a little surprised was I!
Why is this the case? Doesn't Twitter aid learning?
I know that Tweeting helped me learn more at the conference. Following the few people who did Tweet brought me their perspectives on sessions, often challenging my own views, isn't that learning?
Social media won't make the world of traditional learning fall down around us, however I do think that there is a distrust of some new technologies. To me it's simple, I learn in workshops, I learn from TV, I learn from working with other people. And do you know what? I learn every time new information and ideas enter my head. Here's the thing, my head doesn't care where the new stuff comes from, it just wants more of it - even if it's via Twitter!
A couple of weeks ago I flew up to Sydney for a few days to attend the Australian Institute of Training and Development's 2010 conference. I'd seen the program 6 months earlier and thought that there were a few sessions that looked pretty interesting. I'll give you a bit of a summary in this post and will provide a link to my Twitter feed for the conference, I think that will help to flesh out how I found some of the sessions! I'm writing a brief post on the use of Twitter at the conference as my next post - a sneak peak (hardly any people used it!)
Now I won't give a run down on every session I attended but instead will walk you through my 5 favourite keynotes/workshops and give you an overview of my impressions and the key lessons/ideas I walked away with.
So here are my top 5, in no particular order!
1. Preconference workshop with Janet Clarey
I was looking forward to Janet Clarey's workshop! I write a blog, use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc but what did I know about Social Media really? I use it a fair bit and speak with business clients about how they can use social media to promote learning, however to be honest I still feel like a newbie with much of this!
In a room with about 30 others spread across 5 tables Janet walked us all through different social tools that are available and how they could be used for learning. To be honest I was a bit surprised that so many of the attendees (generally in-house L&D managers) used so few of the tools. The session was very hands on, with a couple of laptops per table so that we could all get in and use different tools. Tools covered included, wikis, blogging and microblogs, social bookmarking and networking, rss feeds and Google services.
Participants were shown in real time the usefulness of much of the technologies (it certainly wasn't a lecture with only one-way information transfer!) Indeed Janet quickly found Jay Cross and Gary Woodill via skype to provide some further input into the session and answer questions!
As the day unfolded I found that I was actually a bit further along with all this than I thought, Janet had even seen my blog! :) As I said however, I was really surprised by how little many of the businesses represented used these technologies at all, let alone for learning!
I found the session excellent and probably a good model for workshops within businesses considering the use of such tools, or who are just interested in finding out what they may have to offer.
Key question: Why aren't more business using social media as much as they could to enhance organisational learning?
2. Live Idea Generation with Amantha Imber.
I've read and blogged around the topic of creativity a bit, so this workshop by Amantha Imber, had stood out on the program as one that looked pretty interesting, I was right! Amantha is a great presenter, energetic and passionate - her business, Inventium is well worth a look! The session was fun, hands on and practical at the same time - perfectly pitched for a conference audience. Amantha ran us through 6 idea generation methods, they were:
Newsflashing
Fat Chance
Shifting
Assumption Crushing
What would X do?
Mag-a-holic
To get a better idea of these have a look via the links Amantha has provided.
The results of the group's "Newsflashing" activity
Summary, an excellent session!
3. E-Learning is what? with Dr Allison Rossett
This was another session I'd being looking forward to having bought and read Allison's book (First Things Fast) a few months ago. Dr Rossett began by posing the question, E-Learning is what? You read the question and the temptation is to answer, 'it is X!' But it is a good question for as Allison said, "we all see ELearning differently" and in fact, "there is hardly any agreement on what ELearning is".
Now stop and think for a second, ask yourself the same question, what is E-Learning and what isn't? When you begin to get into it you soon realise that so many types of learning are covered by the umbrella term of E-Learning that to measure the effectiveness of ELearning generally is very difficult.
Unfortunately, as Janet Clarey tweeted during the session, too often E-Learning is seen sometimes as the 'bastard child of Powerpoint and HTTP", when in reality the breadth of learning methods that fall under the heading of E-Learning is extremely broad.
An interesting set of 'stats' were Top 5 and Bottom 5 uses of E-Learning.
Top 5 E-Learning practices
1. Tests
2. Classroom Computers
3. Online Tutorials
4. Visuals with audio
5 Scenario-based learning
5 least-used Elearning Practices
1. Online Discussions
2. Human e-coaching
3. Realistic '2nd life(ish)' learning
4. Virtual classrooms
5. Mobile learning
Allison also mentioned an excellent Australian Journal, "Journal of Applied Research in Workplace E-learning", well worth registering and reading! A key message from Allison was that E-Learning can be so many things, as she describes it, E-Learning is like a "quiver of arrows for you to select from according to need"
During the conference generally I was struck by the seemingly low uptake of E-Learning generally in organisations and 'newer' forms of E-Learning in particular. Allison touched on this with her 5 top barriers to E-Learning uptake, they were as follows. (also have a look at an earlier blog post of mine - 'Scared of First - why business is resisting new learning)
5 Barriers to E-Learning uptake
1. Money
2. Hard to change people's existing practices
3. Technology
4. Hesitation to use social sites
5. Preference for classroom learning
Overall I found Dr Rossett's keynote to be a challenge to L&D practitioners out there who may have a particular view of what E-Learning is and whether it would suit the business they work for. My hope is that the session left people motivated to look beyond their current perceptions of E-Learning to explore the wide world of E-Learning formats that are available now and continue to evolve.
4. Unleashing Potential through Creative Thinking & Leadership with Tania de Jong
"Creativity and Artful thinking are in short supply because of the education system" begins Tania de Jong. Yep, I must agree, I've recently read Sir Ken Robinson's excellent book The Element and it is something that I see myself in much of the work I do.
Tania then begin's to explain that her grandparent's invention of the folding umbrella, a concrete example of creativity to be sure, but Tania believes that we are in fact "educating people out of creativity" (a little like my last post on destinationism)
But I think that as far as learning is concerned creativity is taking too much of a back seat to standards, systems, benchmarks and so on. Great, new ideas and innovations do not come from people who are trained to think in one set way. Instead new and better ways of doing things are created by people who are able to bring together two or more different ideas to create an entirely new and unique one!
Tania has broad interests and seemingly clearly superior time-management skills! She runs her own business, heads a charity that promotes music education, is a professional soprano singer and is bringing together a whole range of creativity thinkers for a conference in Melbourne later this year - Creative Innovation 2010! A very busy woman!
The session finishes with Tania getting the whole room to sing (very tunefully it must be said!) and leaving us with a couple of concluding thoughts, "We are all more creative than we believe" and "Follow your heart, remove self-limiting beliefs".
I wasn't sure I'd like the session, but left it having really enjoyed it, excellent!
5. The role of Social Business Design with Anne Bartlett-Bragg
The last of my top 5 sessions from the conference was by Anne Bartlett-Bragg, from the business headshift. Anne began by looking at what a socially designed business looked like, she believes it has the following characteristics:
It is a place where, "the information is not important in itself" but rather, "it is the relationships to other people with shared interests" that is important.
You can also use the following tool to identify the profile for a range of countries, ages and genders. Try your own, it's quite interesting.
Perhaps the message I liked the most however were the, 8 qualities of learning in a socially designed workplace:
Learners are now producers and creators of learning NOT just consumers
Learning can be collaborative
Learning can be personalised
Learning can be informal
Learners can now create, publish, distribute, subscribe, read and re-create content
Learning is participatory
Learners are empowered
Learners are engaged
I wrote a blog post on Read Write vs Read Only a while back so really liked seeing some of the same messages!
6. Being Helpful is the New Black with Annalie Killian
OK, I said 5 favourites! Before I finish I'll add the slideshare presentation of Annalie's slides as I wasn't able to tweet during her presentation, my laptop battery was all worn out! Her's was the final keynote with great slides, until a technical issue left her slide-less! Her slides and preso are worth a look, so here it is! Annalie has been good enough to include her notes so you should get a good idea about her presentation!
I found the conference well worth my time. I connected with a wide range of other L&D people, learnt quite a lot and left with heaps of ideas floating around my head! There were a few nagging thoughts in my head during the conference and continuing still.
How can business be encouraged to see learning more broadly than they do?
Why does learning (as far as business is concerned) need to look like a formal workshop or fairly static elearning formats?
I suppose at the end of the day we as L&D people must speak to businesses in their language, outcomes, targets and budgets. We can't just expect others to see the potential that we see for new technologies to provide new and exciting platforms for enhanced informal learning.
Destinationism - probably not a real word so lets explain what I'm getting at! I have a 4 year old boy who is really beginning to love playing with Lego, alot like his Dad used to do! Looking at the Lego that's on sale these days however, I've noticed one key difference between Lego when I was a boy and today, let me explain.
Nearly all the Lego sold today is designed so that the builder has a particular item to build, for example my son has Lego to build the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, a helicopter, a semi-trailer and so on. When the object is built it looks great, exactly as it does on the box and very much like the real thing. This is all good, but ...... When I was a boy my Lego was mainly red and white blocks in only 4-5 different sizes, from these blocks I designed and built whatever I wanted to. The results were never as 'beautiful' looking as today's purpose designed sets but the outcome was the result of my imagination and problem solving abilities. I could and did build pretty much anything I wanted, it made me creative in how I used the blocks.
Does today's Lego stifle creativity?
Well I think it does! My son, Tom, still builds things other than the exact project described in the instructions, however there is less 'free' play. Today, more often than not with Lego, you get what you (and everyone else) expects - a great looking, realistic model. But can you be as creative and adaptive? I'm not so sure.
Why is this a problem?
Well to me it reflects a similar philosophy running through much of our business culture today (probably started by Henry Ford and his production lines!) - there seems to be a template that describes how nearly everything 'is meant' be. It's like the old square peg and round hole problem, except today there is an expectation that we all fit into the round hole, if we happen to be square, we need a quick nip/tuck to 'fix' things up! Now I am talking about learning here as well (that is what this blog is generally about!)
Destinationism and Learning
Well no surprise here really, formal learning is all about completing a set course to agreed standards - fair enough for many purposes. A business does need to be sure that workers can work safely, or meet manufacturing standards consistently. The design of learning reflects this with an emphasis on 'training' discrete sets of skills, often in isolation from each other - almost as if they bear no relationship to the real and complex world in which they are used.
I'm probably waffling a bit here! What I'm getting at is that so much learning is very specific, with a particular 'destination' to be reached. The world has changed however and destinationism could be holding business back!
Solutions?
Well (fairly) simple really. We should design learning so that learners can perform the tasks required, BUT design the learning so that the learner isn't only able to build a Millennium Falcon! Learning should be designed so that learners can adapt their skills to new problems. Businesses today should pay heed to this, for no longer can you expect to 'train' a person so they can execute a skill then expect that same person to continue using that exact skill for many years to come - unchanged. The world changes at speeds undreamt of even ten years ago, destinationism might have been sensible once but today it would be better to have an innovative flexibly skilled workforce that a workforce whose skills are no longer relevant.
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!
