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
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Yoga Balls Anyone?
This delightful article helps us think outside the box to connect across the board with our learners.
Ann Arbor
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.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, September 10, 2010
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