Learning Reflections

Do Learners Like to Learn?

2011-05-08T11:29:00.000-04:00

No one enjoys attending a lecture where you sit, listen, fall asleep, then scramble to take a few notes. However, no one really enjoys elaborate and detailed learning activities that take so much time and lead to learner frustrations.

So, what's the solution?

I learned of this equation in church and it seems to be relevant in this situation.

R – R = R (Rules – Relationship = Rebellion)

Learners are programmed toward a focus on their job tasks or at least toward their job. They begin work, read e-mail, attend conference calls, build a few PowerPoint slides, complete projects, and the cycle continues each day. In other words, they are bent toward a rebellion when it comes to formal learning. They are busy and don't want to break away from what they believe is productive work, their daily work routine. They don't want "rules" (i.e. they don't want formal learning; to have to attend at a certain time or be involved in a learning strategy that is boring).

The solution is that the learning organization must first build a relationship with the learner. And, the learner must trust the learning organization and own the responsibility of being present and active as a learner. I'm saying that it's not just on the shoulders of the learning organization to build the relationship. Relationships are a two way street. We must have learners that chose to learn.

The result is a new equation.

R + R = R (Relationship + Rules = Rest)

If the learners and the learning organization have a strong relationship (both dedicated toward one another), then the rules (i.e. courses, reference materials, other learning opportunities) lead to rest (i.e. learning organization feels confident it made a difference; learners improve performance and make true business impact).

Example of This in Action
I listened to my minister present these equations and one week later I had forgotten them. I knew the only way to solidify this in my long term memory was to critically reflect and write a blog that tied the idea back to my profession. I was dedicating to learning and internalizing this message. I determined my own learning approach.

My Point

In order to have true business impact, both the learning organization and the learner must really care and both must work hard. Building learning and learning itself is hard work. If you are a learner, make the choice to learn. If you are the learning organization, dedicate your resources to building learning for those who want to learn. That is how the right relationship is built.

Reflective Practice: A Model for Deeper Learning

2011-04-30T11:29:00.004-04:00

I believe in reflective practice. Reflective Practice is "the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning."

What?
Reflective practice is how we move past standard learning objectives. It's a model where people critically reflect on experiences, their own and experiences of others. There are two types of reflection.

Reflection In: Reflecting and "thinking out loud" while performing a task
Reflection On: Reflecting after an experience

So What?
People learn through performing, building, socializing, and reflecting. It's not enough to just read or listen to lectures and it's not enough to engage in learning activities within a course. You will only realize advanced levels of skill through action and reflection on that action. More importantly, your peers and experts must provide feedback and you must take action on that feedback.

The result is:
Deeper knowledge
Improved skill, and
Strong social connections

Now What?
Take these next steps to become a practicioner of reflective practice.

1. Watch this Youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_4PhA3XC8o
2. Publish a reflective journal (i.e. blog).
3. Ask for feedback on your reflections/experiences.
4. Be aware of what's happening during experiences AND SHARE THEM via social media.
5. Encourage others to reflect and interact with those who are.

How?
Use Cisco Quad as an enterprise platform. Discuss, share, "think out load," and become the talent you know you want to be.

Learning Objectives are Dangerous

2010-06-03T16:01:00.002-04:00

I have a master's degree from the great Florida State University; an M.S. in Instructional Systems. I learned to write learning objectives from the best of the best. Having said that, I believe that Learning Objectives are Dangerous.

Think of it this way. Designing learning programs where the learning leads learners only toward the accomplishment of a set of specific objectives, is a very restrictive strategy. You get the actions you expect. If you expect learners to only meet the objectives, that's exactly what they'll do.

The good news is that great people learn despite these restrictive learning objectives. Further, thank goodness learning organizations have continued to survive even though the learning they build is so narrowly focused. I'm thankful to have built a career in corporate learning. But, innovative companies don't restrict themselves like typical learning programs do.

I have a recommendation for corporate learning groups.

My Recommendation
==================
Write learning objectives, but design learning programs that foster

1. Collaborative work efforts leading to innovation and learner-to-learner relationships
2. Critical thinking leading to resolution of complex problems
3. Reduction of fear so that true action can occur
4. Increases in confidence leading to long term competence
5. Empowerment so that learners take ownership

Essentially, go further than just meeting the objectives. Show up and innovate.

Multi-task: Yes or No?

2010-03-22T21:45:00.004-04:00

Research on multitasking shows it’s impossible to process more than one string of info at a time.

Stanford University Research:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/august24/multitask-research-study-082409.html

With regard to a job task, I totally agree. Focus on one task at a time. Often I tell a co-worker that “I’m putting my head down” and she knows that if she see something via e-mail or IM to ping me because I’m totally focused on some task. I completely focus.

With regard to processing information, nothing I read or watch will stay in my memory long term. I can filter what’s coming in and I organize it, primarily by using Delicious (social bookmarking) for external information and other tools for internal information. I don’t even try to consume it. Then, I share it via Twitter or Facebook and maybe someone has a clear job task at that moment for which it helps or they can organize information for themselves like I do.

Whether I read one thing at a time or 100, I cannot and never have been able to remember it so my meta-cognitive skills developed into being focused as an information aggregator. I have a Research folder on my C:\ drive and when I find a good template or example, I save it there. Then, one day I’ll need that Needs Analysis template and I’ll use it. Overtime there has been a general theme to the categories and I do seem to be able to recall my typical folder structure for things I’ve saved.

So, even if I focused on reading or watching one thing, the same end result happens; I remember absolutely nothing the next day. I’m not and never have been embarrassed by that. Even if we had a heated debate…I would go to sleep that night and forget it ever happened. It’s just me and who I am.

That’s why I take in as much as possible, drink gallons of coffee each morning, and I have strategies for organizing content so that it’s simple to access at a later time when it’s needed for an important task.

21st Century Skill
===================
I believe we need to stop thinking our children can or should memorize and start helping them organize and share information. Help them build their own content organization structure and help them build a network of experts to reach out to. Then, they can be successful and learn-by doing and reference the necessary information.

Example: Tonight I taught my daughter to type in a keyword into Google, then type the word “game” at the end of her search. She learned about red-eyed tree frogs using an online game. Her report was factual as requested, but a few of the facts came from her experience within that game. In the future, she’ll do research and be conditioned to search for a game to learn about things, rather than just read and watch.

Teach kids to select their own instructional strategy.

What Strategic Value Does the Central Learning Function Provide?

2010-01-23T10:24:00.009-05:00

In Tony O'Driscol and Karl Kapp's Learning in 3D book, they state the following.

"Most of what a person needs to know to do his or her job is actually learned on the job....many organizations report 85 to 95 percent of a person's job knowledge is learned on the job."

I agree with this completely and would also say that this is true for any learner. High school students shouldn't be lectured to, they should be engaged in well designed projects and given all the information, tools, and resources that budgets allow. They should learn through reflective practice.

Well then, what is the value of a centralized learning organization?

I could write on this forever, but it's Saturday and I need to focus on other things. Here are a few thoughts off the top of my head.

Role of the Central Learning Organization

1. Build an innovation team that focuses on piloting emerging learning technologies. Require that team to research, test, and write guidelines for mobile learning, 2D/3D synchronous online learning, using games for learning, and so forth. Ask this team to consult with all teams in the enterprise on how to use these technologies, not just consult with those building learning within the enterprise. It's a learning technology Center of Excellence.

2. Design, organize, and distribute templates for information design, processes for learning development/deployment, and simply focus on work products that help decentralized teams be more efficient and effective.

3. Provide consulting services for the enterprise leading to recommendations for performance improvement. I didn't say leading to "training" in any form...whatever that "t" word means to you. I said consult to provide performance improvement. Example: add industrial engineers to provide input on software user interface design. Be willing to hire engineers and performance improvement consultants. Don't just hire hundreds of instructional designers.

Why is this difficult?
When companies centralize their learning organization, they bring in all head count from the decentralized learning teams. Usually, the team members that make up the central group do not have the skills and talent needed to do the three things I described above. It's a tough transition so it would be much easier to build this central learning group I describe from scratch rather than start with an "inherited" group of employees.

A well designed central learning group can do amazing things. We just have to consider what the definition of the word "learning" is.

Role of Corporate Learning

2010-01-16T21:46:00.008-05:00

"The biggest loss in opportunity for the learning function lies in the fact that it has rejected informal learning." p. 36 of Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration

The corporate learning organization is responsible for the development of the organization's employees so that positive business impact is realized. Sadly, much of what is built is not designed to make an impact. Did you catch that? I said, much of what is "built."

Informal learning means many things to many people. To me, it means determining "non-learning" initiatives which lead to performance improvement. What if there were a group of say five people who interviewed functional teams and documented lessons learned for various projects. Then, that team built a wiki documenting the lessons learned. Finally, they communicated the wiki to employees and drove the improvement and helped foster wisdom of the crowds (i.e. the wiki just gets stronger overtime). So, it's a team of learning professionals who document and promote lessons learned and ensure those lessons lead to more successful projects in the future.

Wow, a learning solution that didn't involve the building of subject matter (product documents, and so forth), nor did it involve lecture. It's just a creative idea to improve performance. That's the role of corporate learning. Implement creative ideas that improve performance.

There once was a learner who went to a course, he listened and listened, but the trainer grew hoarse. The learner fell asleep after counting some sheep, and the the corporate learning group built a budget for more...

Learning in Virtual Environments: People Learn Through Activity

2010-01-14T17:47:00.001-05:00

I've always been a believer in situated cognition. Situated
what?

Situated Cognition: knowing is inseparable from doing.

Virtual environments such as 3D worlds, 2D collaboration tools
(i.e. Cisco Webex), and of course Twitter provide an opportunity
for learning to be active. In 3D worlds learners can be
immersed in a simulated environment and co-create (i.e. build),
discover, reflect, etc. and all contextually situated. In 2D
environments, learners can share an application, chat,
collaborate on a whiteboard, etc. and again it's very active and
contextual. Then, Twitter. Ah, our well loved Twitter. Could
this virtual environment (i.e. microblogging) be what proves
situated cognition theorists completely accurate? I bet it does
because situated cognition says that learning requires thinking
on the fly instead of storage and retrieval of knowledge. How
better to think on the fly than to organize a network of
colleagues and ask them what they think any time, anyplace, and
on any device. Actively learn from your peers at all times and
rely on them to make you whole. Do it with Cisco Webex and microblogging.
If you need to co-create or practice in an authentic visual and functional environment similar to live face-to-face, use a 3D virtual world.

Learning is inseparable from people. It is active. And,
virtual learning environments afford what face-to-face
environments could have, but we never took advantage of. They
provide an opportunity to be active and connect with peers. People learn through activity with others and through situations rather than accumulation of knowledge. People do not learn through lecture. Remember, Benjamin Franklin read quite a bit, but he learned through experiments and situations such as "paying too much for the whistle.". He changed the world through experiments. He also learned because his father ensured there would be intellectual conversation at every dinner table. He learned through experiments and discussions with experts. He would have loved Twitter.

I am fond of learning in virtual environments because they help learners become more active.

Motivation & Learning in our 2.0 Culture

2009-11-10T23:50:00.010-05:00

I'm biased in that I learned from John Keller and graduated from Florida State. That said, I truly believe that if your learning program is going to include social collaboration, you must study Keller's ARCS model.

On page 5, read the paragraph that begins "Each factor of the ARCS Model has three elements..."

http://www.arcsmodel.com/pdf/Biographical%20Information.pdf

Within the communities of practice, use strategies to gain and increase learner's attention, link content to learner needs/wants and maybe "random wishes," give learner's opportunities to build a sense of self-worth and to control content, and setup positive consequences of participation (i.e. not negative consequences).

It's that simple. It really is. Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.

Collaboration White Paper
Read page 6

Creating a Collaborative Enterprise
Read page 21

2009-02-18T00:00:00.001-05:00

Do you write clear use cases when you begin a project? Can you explain how using a virtual world compares to typical learning modalities we've seen used in the last two decades?

For us it's essential to be able to say "so that..." We want to answer the question "why?"

The first step is to write a clear use case, but what goes in a use case? I've been around long enough to have written and reviewed many use cases and each company or team writes them differently. The point? Get to the business of writing the use
case. Don't be concerned with what goes in a use case. Read the suggested article below. It provides some detail on what to include. So, get started.

The second step is to study how the virtual world compares to typical learning modalities. You need to be able to answer the question "what's the difference?" You'll find that you become an evangalist for virtual worlds, then you'll be a skeptic, then an evangalist, and so on. Again, read the article below and get started.

Thank you for your comments and let's get to the business of collaboration.

Recipe for Success with Enterprise Virtual Worlds

http://www.forterrainc.com/index.php/resources/white-papers-a-articles/113-recipe-for-success

Reflective Practice: An Example & Call-to-Action

2008-10-30T20:50:00.003-04:00

What is Reflective Practice?

It is essentially the practice of thinking critically about your professional experiences and identifying the lessons to be learned from those experiences

Source: The Bamboo Project

I believe in a reflective learning approach and certainly in reflection as a common practice. I'm disappointed that many leaders are focused on e-mail or other work tasks and can't guide their team through a reflective practice. However, I will say that the 11 months of my career where I worked for a manager who did have that skill was tough, but indeed it was productive.

Here's an example. Suppose you recorded your conference calls. Then, you asked your manager to listen to one or segments of two or three. Next, during your 1:1 with your manager, he/she provided a perspective on your approach. Now, the best coaching would be a kind and fair reflective approach using a short set of questions that the coached doesn't find aggressive. This is very similar to football teams watching film of another team to prepare for the big game. Interestingly, I always refer to important conference calls as "game day."

Call-to-Action: Study up on reflective learning and reflective practice. Begin to use reflection as an instructional strategy as well as a general way of conducting business.

Online Synchronous Learning

2008-04-10T21:17:00.002-04:00

What makes learning programs delivered online so effective? I must say that my good friends at Insyc Training know and they are amazing.

http://www.insynctraining.com/

It's quite simple. It's really all about relevant learning activities, facilitator guidance, and collaboration. Go take one of thier courses and learn more.

Now, let's dive in to the collaboration piece. That's where the long term value is. This is what I believe. There is a temporary collaboration space and a then there is the need for a long-term collaboration space.

Temporary Collaboration Space
This is simply the space where learners collaborate in between class sessions. Learning activities are required and learners can begin to build a community. The facilitator can help grow this community by motivating learners to participate. If it's done well, the community that learns together, stays together.

Long-term Collaboration Space
This is a space where people collaborate (share, learn, generate ideas) over time. It's a place where people stay, play, and grow. My wife is a member of charlottemommies.com. It's amazing. She learned to use coupons and now the grocery store pays us to purchase potato chips (long story). However, adiction to a space like this must have a few things to be successful such as...

no competitor; one place for people to stay and build a community, or

family of collaborators who have had a shared experience in a temporary collaboration space and created a strong community

So, how do we create the long-term community? Well, that is the question. I say, grow and develop great learning leaders (facilitators, not trainers). Start by contacting Insyn Training, but then design great experiences that promote collaboration. Most importantly, just say NO to lecture. NO LECTURE. It's about situated cognition...learn through experience. So, build good learning activities and keep learners going, and going, and going...

Gadgets

2008-02-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

Have you setup Gadgets on your iGoogle interface?

Last Saturday I setup my iGoogle interface. I spent, probably, four hours setting it up. I'm thrilled with it. I have two rows of tabs. I have a tab for History, NASCAR, Tools, Weather, and others. The information is fed straight to me in small chunks and I have the option to select a link to read/interact with more.

What an innovation? This is absolutely amazing.

Here's my "Oh my corporate goodness..." thought/idea for today. Learning organizations should have ONE class. When you get hired, you go to this class and through a series of collaborative activities the learners setup their gadgets. Then, the Learning organization focuses on the creation of the right information, delivered in the right medium. And, Gadgets are created which can be loaded, if the user choses, into their iGoogle interface. Hush...I know that requires an internal implementation of iGoogle. I'm not as dumb as I look...

Maybe learners go to this class once each year. New activities are available, but they all lead to learners setting up a very usable and relevant iGoogle interface. Now this is learner centric XYZ. Yeah, I like it.

THE RIGHT INFORMATION, AT THE RIGHT TIME, DELIVERED TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE.

As the song says, "Maybe, one day, 'one day' will come around."

Hey...Let's build more TRAINING

2008-01-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

There once was a learner who went to a course, he listened and listened, but the trainer grew hoarse. The learner fell asleep after counting some sheep, and the the corporate learning group built a budget for more...

Why do we build learning programs? Do people really need training? When you think of the audience you support, think of who they are, what they do in their daily work lives, and how much they make per minute.

Who are your learners?
Well, your learners are individuals who enjoy movies, perform daily tasks, and have the same struggles as you. They've grown to perceive the words "learning" and "training" as tasks they put off and don't have time for. They believe productivity is king and feel guilty when they begin working on self-development. THE SOLUTION: step away from the norm and build core competencies by integrating learning activities into the daily lives of your audience. If the corporation wants to track "completion," fine. Do that by providing their manager a performance checklist and require the manager to submit that checklist electronically. That's doable, right IT Department? Of course it is, goodness. We must increase knowledge and skill throughout the day, not once every quarter in some required "training session."

What do learners do in their daily lives?
Well, learners live, work, and play. Define those words however you want, but that's what people do. Training, to most, isn't in either of those categories. It might be seen as a "vacation," or a "thing I have to do," but it isn't something adults see as part of their daily life. Hmmmm....what in the world? Well, think about it. What should we do? What if we only built "experience sessions" for managers. ;-) That's my new phrase instead of using the word training. In "experience sessions," we build a core competency in managers so they focus on providing coaching and feedback to their team and so that they foster an environment where everyone learns from one another. SOLUTION: Integrate learning activities into the daily lives of your audience.

How much do your learners make per minute?
Well, let's say you meet with Finance and you learn, all things considered, each X type of employee makes .59 cents per minute. I made that up...kind of. :-) And, let's say your blah, blah learning program is one hour. Also, let's say you gotta train 25,000 people. Oh man...how much is the deployment cost?

.59 x 60 min x 25,000 = $885,000

Oh my corporate goodness...

Does the annual code of business conduct and compliance training actually cost almost a million dollars? Oh man...

What if code of business conduct and compliance stuff was covered 5 minutes per regular team meeting? What if each manger in the company worked to include coaching and feedback regularly day in and day out? Oh man...you mean we could save a million dollars?

Oh my corporate goodness...

There once was a company who's stock price went through the roof...you know the rest.

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Normal? No never...not me

2008-01-26T16:42:00.000-05:00

Hey. I'm Barry Shields. I'm an instructional designer with Cisco Systems. I finally realized that the learning ideas I have are not really that wacky. They are simply out of the norm. I'm sure these thoughts I have are in other's heads as well. Surely they must be.

The vision of this blog is to create a place for "out of the norm" ideas about learning to be discussed. Enjoy it. It may be difficult to implement innovative learning, but we certainly can have fun discussing it.

Here are my top three "out of the norm" beliefs...

1. Adults do NOT need exams. They may benefit from coaching and feedback overtime, but conforming to the social norm and strickly master's degree tought idea that exams are a must, is truly an outdated standard.

2. The most important component of learning is confidence. Adults are very resourceful and simply need the right tools and CONFIDENCE. With that, they can perform any task.

3. Mix it up....give learners a task to perform, guidence to reflect on their performance, then offer the presentation of content. Let's step away from the standards of instructional design for a moment. Thank you Gagne for a great formula for desgin, but it's 2008. Think about how people live, work, and play. It's about "DOING SOMETHING." Just do it, then reflect.

Ok, that's it. Much more to come, but I can't just say all that haunts me in one post.