Reflection - End of Walden 6115

Learner Motivation - Reflection  

There were many tidbits I discovered about how people learn, but the most striking is that learning through relationships is extremely significant for many.  And I did not learn this just from the textbooks, but from my fellow students, one of whom said that he almost ignores the content and looks at the “flow” of a presentation.  My interpretation is that he is watching the person, not the material.  It’s like a salesman friend of mine who once floored me with the explanation that it is not the product you are selling, but how much the customer trusts you.  He spends his time befriending the customer (not selling his product), and when it’s time to make the deal, he pulls out the contract and simply says, “Sign here.”  And they do!

Related, is how this course has deepened my understanding of my own personal learning process.  The above has huge implications!  I am a content-driven learner, and therefore lean heavily toward being a content-driven instructor/designer.  This realization explains what I heard many years ago: “There are two types of excellent teachers: those who love the material (and are excited to share it) and those who love the students.”  I have been quick to identify with the former, but, as an instructor/designer, if I am not intentionally reaching out to those who learn relationally, I am missing a huge portion of the population!

I have learned that learning theories are myriad, styles are complex, technology is ever-changing and motivation is minimally controllable.  Like walking into a large library and being overwhelmed with sadness at the thought, “I can never read all of these,” I can never account for, and certainly not control, all factors!  Do I then give up?  Certainly not.  My strategy?  (Or, “How will this help me?”)  I will focus on building upon my foundation of teaching and design skills with a couple of additional tools at a time, targeted to connect with a segment of the population that I have been missing.  It dawns on me that with satisfaction levels from my students in the high 90% range, when I hear a student say, “That was a waste of time,” it is not that I need to become better at what I am already doing, but I need to add to my toolbox of methods to connect with those types of learners.  That’s a big “Ah-ha” for me.

Specific items I plan on incorporating immediately will be, first, to add a brief “poll” at the beginning of my courses.  This will help me gage how each student best learns and what motivates him or her.  Then, I must be creative in applying that information – i.e. incorporating different medium through which to communicate during the course, and using motivational messages which are individualized from the student’s own responses.

Another tool to add, to address the social learner, is incorporating networking functionality (chat rooms, bulletin boards, virtual “student lounges,” blogging, …), as well as designing assignments for small groups.  However, I will remember that there are at least a few students like me who need individual time for assignments before connecting with others.  However, that may be a much smaller portion of students than I previously thought.

What I've learned from Walden

I’m an “expert”!  Not that I’m so knowledgeable, but that’s the way I think and work.  And it’s okay that I do, while others think and work differently.  This understanding explains a lot of the differences between my wife and me (perhaps that will help avoid some misunderstandings in the future), but my best example is when a lawyer friend of mine and I were working on a letter for the leader of an organization.  Both of us did extensive research leading up to our collaborative meeting, and when we met, he asked if I would record notes from our discussion.  Thirty minutes into the meeting, which I would have called preliminary brainstorming, he asked to see what I had down so far.  I could only show him a blank page.  I was soaking it all in, organizing it and formulating a response in my head.  He was aghast!  He took over as note-keeper, fired off several pages in the next few minutes while I continued to ruminate.  We parted with an unfinished product and some tension between us.  I appreciate the lesson he taught me – record what you have, as you go, because you don’t know what might occur.  Remember, he is a lawyer, and he was accustomed to being called to present a brief at a moment’s notice.  However, that’s not the typical way I operate.  Sometime late that night, it “clicked” for me.  I (finally) started to write.  20 minutes later, I had my suggestion for the letter we should send.  I proofread it once, and emailed it to my friend.  His humble response was, “This is perfect.  Let’s send it as it is.”  I think he would have gotten there too, but we had different paths.

The above instance shows little reliance on modern technology, but that is not typical for me.  I have used a laptop in classes and at work for over 17 years now.  When I started, I thought it awesome to be able to take my computer to each class and record notes electronically, which were searchable and editable anytime afterward.  That was especially helpful at the end of the term, for exam study or for writing a paper.  A most recent example shows how far I’ve come.  I took my work laptop to a week-long seminar.  With Internet access, I was able to keep up with my job, complete assignments for this course, watch streaming movies in the evening while I “camped” out in my van, and, during class, I could verify information the presenters were offering.  One example is that I uncovered a multi-level marketing scam which was being promoted (while others were giving up their credit cards!).  The best though is that, in the middle of class, I emailed my wife the Latin name of an herb (she is an environmental biologist) and asked if she knew of any natural sources close to our home.  She responded within a few minutes (we don’t have IM, but it would have worked out almost the same) that, “Yes.  There is a patch of that across the street from us.”  I, of course, shared with many in the class, bragging about my wife’s knowledge.

If I were more of a social learner, I see how easily I could have IMd, Tweeted and Blogged almost constantly, not just sending new material, but getting real-time/real-world feedback, which I could have turned around and shared with my brick-and-mortar acquaintances at the conference.  If had a ‘smart phone’ it could have been 24 hours a day, instead of the mere 10 hours a day in class with my laptop.  Maybe it’s good that I’m not that much of an “expert.”

There are two types of great instructors: those with a passion for the learners and those with a passion for the material.  I am definitely the latter (you could probably guess by my 'network' above).  I am very introspective and introverted.  I am not a respecter of authority.  I do not, whether at a brick-and-mortar school or working with a virtual team, typically reach out to my fellow learners.  When I have questions, I first ask the instructor directly.  (Example: I was once part of a travelling school experiment.  After a certain incident, rumors were flying about the implications.  I was disgusted by this talk and confronted the instructor himself about the situation.)  After I ask the instructor, I look for what other leaders in the field have written and then I read, read, read.  (After the above situation, there was no need to research further.  It was all just foolish talk.)

I am particularly fond of Internet based presentations, such as webcasts.  I take my notes in another document, toggling back and forth, and if there is an interesting slide, I take a screen shot and paste it in.  I even brought my computer to a week-long seminar this past week, to capture my thoughts on the presenters’ teachings.  I ensured I had Internet access so I could research their points AS they were lecturing.  Because of this, I became a significant resource for others in the classroom, and even influenced some to bring in their own laptops.

My information-driven, introverted personality removes much of the social aspects from my learning experience.  One example is from that week-long training seminar.  There were 78 participants from across the nation and we had over 70 hours of classroom time (Yes, in an actual classroom – I had to drive 9 hours to get there!).  While they formed a Face Book site and generously shared business cards and other contact information, I made ONE solid connection.  Perhaps not a great testimony about myself, but I’m being honest.  This socially-driven learning is brand new to me, and to be more effective in instructional design, I must be able to “connect” with these type of learners.  I appreciate the insight this class is giving me.

Yoga Balls Anyone?

Want to engage better with your kinesthetic learners?  Try taking the chairs out and giving them yoga balls.

This delightful article helps us think outside the box to connect across the board with our learners.

Ann Arbor Christian School finds yoga balls help students learn, http://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-christian-schools-finds-yoga-balls-help-students-learn/

Stimulating Article from National Association of Independent Schools

We understand that if we connect with something learners already know, especially on a deep emotional level, they are ours for the teaching.  “What Recent Brain Research Tells Us About Learning” backs this up with engaging examples taken from recent developments in neuroscience.  Consider this little tidbit:

Insects do not fail to see a spider’s web - they see the spider's cobweb quite vividly, but in the treacherous way that the crafty spider had intended.  A spider's web mimics particular flowers and the insect gets trapped because its nerve cells process the spider's web, not as a menacing mesh net, but as the kind of flowers for which the insect regularly seeks.

Not only does this article give a succinct history of recent developments in neuroscience, including an explanation of how data is received in the brain and how the brain “attends to relevant information” while it “discards all unimportant data,” it also provides insight into how this knowledge can impact our teaching and learning.  I pray that we are not so treacherous as the spider above, but we do have significant power to influence our learners.

Reference: What Recent Brain Research Tells Us About Learning, http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle.cfm?Itemnumber=144250&sn.ItemNumber=145956&tn.ItemNumber=145958, Kenneth A Wesson, Independent School Magazine, Fall 2001.

Being brand new to blogging, this first step has been very eye-opening - and I know I have only barely scratched the surface of this new (to me) technology. These first few online resources, along with the practice of my own blogging, will help me to harness this new-found power. I look forward to taking my training delivery and design, training of trainers, and managing of other trainers and training designers, to the next level, by better connecting with the diverse population which is ever changing.
The Dale Carnegie Blog on Training was the first I found, relying upon my more traditional understanding – I’ve heard of them before, as a world-wide recognized leader in training and consulting for the business community. They have extensive material that is broken down into clear topics. It is extremely easy to find (with one click) plenty of insight on specific areas such as Customer Service and Presentation Skills – my specialty and focus for the past 8+ years. But the site also provides valuable material that goes well beyond training delivery, design, and communication techniques – I most anticipate the Leadership Helps.
The Rapid eLearning Blog appeals to me because of its emphasis on the practical. It not only provides tips on how to design instructional material, but also on how to organize and manage your work as well as external resources, many for which they provide links. It is very user-friendly, seemingly open to accepting comments on the articles, and simple to review others’ remarks.

Corporate Training & eLearning Blog focuses very narrowly on the corporate world (my world), not the academic realm. It includes the “latest news, thoughts, trends, reports, and links focused on learning, instruction and e-Learning.” I like the encouragement of taking corporate training to the next level, in all areas: they exhort, “make e-learning engaging,” give clear talk about corporate training budgets, and provide a plethora of resources, even for the novice like me.
A couple other resources I included are: the Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development Blog which, though not a systematic presentation of ideas of “thoughts on eLearning in the corporate setting,” may be useful as a general sounding board for some of my own ideas; and Education Week, a general news source, which I hope stimulates my thinking more broadly in the education field.