This month’s Big Question in The Learning Circuits “WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT LEARNING IN 2009?”

Being a Learning and Training professional, I think it a good time to take stock about our own learning about learning. Reminds me of the adage, “Physician, heal thyself”.

It is in this year that I started to participate in various online forums and social media regularly. I also started to blog on learning and training with special emphasis on learning styles and learning tools.

Year 2009 taught me that you can learn a lot by:

• Asking the right questions
• Keeping your ego at subsistence levels
• Realizing that there is so much to learn from others

I discovered that humility is the best friend of learning. Maybe that is why we learn the most, in the shortest possible time, enjoying every minute of it, when we were children. Children instinctively follow all the three of my discoveries constantly. On the other hand, I have also discovered that our ego is the greatest enemy of learning. Maybe that is why our real learning drops as we become more accomplished in life (in our own eyes).

I have also learnt what Stephen Covey enunciates – you will learn best when you learn in order to teach or teach. Not only have I learnt that I have greatly learnt by using this quality of learning, but also realized that I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.

The third learning I have learnt about learning is that it happens when you suspend the noise in your head. I always wondered how the great sages achieved ‘nirvana’ (enlightenment) by meditation. Not by reading or discussing, but by keeping silent in the real sense of the word – achieving tranquility outside and inside, though for a short time. I have read somewhere that the human mind contains all the wisdom of this universe and all you have to do is to connect yourself with the ‘Higher Power’ to tap into it. [I think that it is an excellent idea to include a brief period of silence and contemplation in a corporate training session ]

I would like to take this opportunity to thank and salute all my colleagues, real and virtual, in helping me discover these wonderful aspects of learning!

RK Prasad

CEO

I have been following a number of discussions on LinkedIn and other blogs in the cyber world trying to figure out what Google Wave is and how, it can be used as a learning tool. My quest was short and unfulfilling. Of course, in the bargain I came across some really good blogs and equally excellent writers.

For your information, I got most resources from Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day

• Google Wave: A Complete Guide
• Google Wave Will Revolutionize Online Classroom Instruction
• Google Wave in Online Education
• Google Wave in 10 Minutes
• Diving into Google Wave – 3 things – Intro
• Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009

Ben Par’s definition is succinct – “Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files.”

So, what is in for us, learning, eLearning and corporate training professionals?

The only thing that strikes me as useful is that we can use it as a collaborative platform to develop content. It will be a good interface for SMEs, instructional designers, and content developers to jointly develop content. I suppose it will be quicker and cheaper. It looks like an advanced version of Google Docs, as far as I am concerned.

As far as revolutionizing online classroom instruction is concerned, I think not. At best, it will replace wikis, facilitate group work and help in publishing.

Maybe it is a case of sour grapes? I never got an invite!

Thank you for reading my blog.

RK Prasad

CEO

This month’s Big Question in The Learning Circuits “PRESENTING THE VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR LEARNING” is an interesting one for us, the professionals and votaries of learning, training and change.

How do we ‘market’ the use of social media as a new tool or avatar of learning?

First, are we sold on it? Many of us have mixed experiences and opinions about using social media in an organizational setting to learn and improve workplace performance. I think I find blogging and LinkedIn more useful than Facebook or Twitter. I am sure many of you have opposing views.

Social media represents universal wisdom, present on such platforms that are moderately accessible, despite most IT departments’ reluctance to open them up for lesser mortals like us . Of course, it has its own negative features just like any other tool.

If you are convinced in principle that social media, with all its shortcomings, is still a very powerful medium that can really empower people with JIT (Just-In-Time) learning on anything under the sun, it is our responsibility to present it to our ‘customers’, so that they benefit from it and thereby benefit our organizations.

Let’s see how you can do it. Research shows that when any new innovation is presented, potential users go through five distinct stages of adoption:

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Evaluation
4. Trial
5. Adoption

It is advisable to keep in mind that educating people on new innovation takes time and effort.

We should also keep in mind that, people vary in the time to adopt new things. This process of “Diffusion of Innovation” was first popularized by Everett Rogers (1962) in his text book, Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers 1964). He defines diffusion as “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.”

It helps us immensely to take a quick look at adopter categorization on relative time taken.

The normal curve distribution above shows people differ greatly in their readiness to try new products or services. The graph shows that after a slow start, thanks to the innovators and the early adopters, an increasing number of people will adopt the innovation. The number reaches a peak and then drops off, as the innovators and early adopters rush off to try some new alternatives.

Research shows that:

• Innovators are adventurous and take risks.
• Early Adopters are guided by respect. They are opinion leaders who adopt early but carefully.
• Early Majority are deliberate in their choice, though not leaders.
• Late Majority are skeptical and wait till the majority have tried.
• Laggards are traditionally the last set of people to adopt change.

How do we use this knowledge in popularizing Social Media as an innovation in learning methodologies especially in Corporate Training?

My suggestions are:

1. First target the Innovators and the Early Adopters through free workshops and contests. They are risk takers and get attracted by anything new.
2. Present success stories and case studies collected from the Innovators and the Early Adopters to the Early Majority.
3. Once these groups are behind you, the others (Later Majority and Laggards) will automatically follow.

I think we should give adequate time to see results.

As President Obama declares H1N1 a National Emergency, we felt that there is a tremendous need to understand the H1N1 virus – precautions, symptoms and cure. Awareness will help us reduce panic and eradicate swine flu soon.

Here are some useful information on precautions, symptoms and useful online resources to keep you aware about the flu on a regular basis.

Precautions

1. Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently.
2. Keep your throat clean by gargling twice a day with warm salt water or Listerine. Clean your nose frequently.
3. Build your immune system by eating vitamin C rich food and Vitamin C supplements.
4. Eat Fresh food and drink lot of water.

Symptoms of H1N1 Flu

Contact Health Care Provider Immediately

Cover Your Cough and Sneezes

Useful Links for Information

• H1NI Influenza Center
• Frequently asked question about H1N1 Flu
• Online Tutorial on H1N1 Flu
• 2009 H1N1 Flu: Situation Update
• Tracking the progress of H1N1 swine flu
• FLU.GOV

Research in current learning theory highlights the importance of using the learning process to determine the architecture of courses – rather than the structure of the content driving the architecture. It also demonstrates that there are four main phases in the learning cycle.

The four main phases of the learning cycle are:

1. Review: Sets the context and helps the learner bridge prior knowledge through an understanding of a broader context for new knowledge. Krathwohl’s Affective Domain Taxonomy can be taken as the benchmark model.

The role of phase 1 in the learning process is to influence the attitudes, values and beliefs of the learner to create “anticipatory set” for learning key concepts and principles in phase 2. Phase 1 may include a pre-test of prior knowledge and also may include activities. This phase may be called: Background, Introduction, Context, Reflection or another named deemed appropriate to the course goals. This phase answers the question “Why?”

2. Learning: The second phase is the Information Transfer or Knowledge Acquisition phase. Blooms Cognitive Domain Taxonomy can be taken as the benchmark model.

Phase 2 provides core content of the course. Core content may be procedural/process based, or concept/principle based. Phase 2 will be the largest section of “tutorial” or information transfer based courses. It may contain activities, exercises and tests. This phase answers the questions “What?”

3. Application: The phase 3 will consist of case studies or best practices or applied exercises. During this phase, learners develop an understanding of how to apply the new knowledge and skills in a generalized way and may be given an opportunity to practice skills. Problem-solving and decision-tree learning are appropriate learning models for Application

Phase 3 provides demonstrations of the application of the knowledge. This may include best practices, scenario/case study presentations or activities and/or case study exercises. Phase 3 may be called Cases, Case Studies, Scenarios, Activities, Application or another name deemed appropriate for the course goals. It answers the question “How?”

4. Adaptation: The last and the most important phase for performance improvement, which completes the learning cycle. The Accommodation Process is critical to improve performance because it is during this phase that the learner develops an understanding of how to apply the new knowledge and skills to the actual work context of the learner and is provided with the means to support transfer.

Phase 4 provides direction and support to help the learner transfer the new knowledge to his or her own performance context needs. It may include Job Aids, Guides and Guidelines, Checklists, Criteria lists, team or follow-up activities or Toolkits that include templates or forms. This phase may be called Adaptation, Getting There, Toolkit, Job Aids, Tools, Extension or another name deemed appropriate for the course goals. It answers the question “Now what?”

View our Learner Centric Approach to Instructional Design