How do we use the Learner’s Glasses to our advantage? What steps can you take to find out what really matters to your learners? Chasing After Perspective Several years ago, a young man named Josh Sullivan conducted a social experiment to…
Tag: social learning
Instilling a Love of Learning – Tip #49
How do trainers and designers help learners love what they learn and do? Contrary to the practice of “I must teach, since learners don’t know any better” belief, our learners do love learning and have accumulated knowledge and experiences. The…
Stop That Dump Truck! Ask Questions to Know What is Important for Learners – Tip #48
Why do learners experience overload? What changes can we do to our design to eradicate bloated content and make learning more manageable and enjoyable? Have you ever seen a Dump Truck? Of course you have, since they are practically indispensable…
Are You a Credible Designer and Trainer? – Tip #88
Have you studied online lessons and felt that it was non-personal, cold and devoid of warmth? How does this impact the ability of learners to learn? What do you do to get rid of this chilly feeling and improve and…
Be a Story-Sharing Magician – Tip #47
How do we create magic when sharing stories? Which elements are needed to make not just the story, but the experience of learning it special and impactful? “Knowledge is Power” goes the old saying. But the thing about power is…
Why Simple Rules Produce Instant Learning and Application – Tip #87
Which is a better guide if you have to make instant decisions? (A) Follow the steps. (B) Watch out for this problem. During on-the-job situations where workers and learners have to make decisions to solve problems or make a change, they…
Dropping the Bomb: Using New Information to Zap Life into Learners – Tip #46
Ever been to a surprise party or having received one? How was the experience? What do you remember most about it? Surprise parties are extraordinary experiences. You take an ordinary day, with ordinary events and then suddenly: BOOM! The bomb…
Using Story Morals To Turn Bad Situations into Learning Goldmines – Tip #45
A story without morals or lessons might be entertaining, but does not add value to skills learning. Morals and lessons promise learners that they, too, can make a “turning point.” What makes story morals or lessons effective tools in learning?…
Creating Perfect Learning Moments – Tip #44
The Myth of Orpheus According to Greek legend, Orpheus was a young man with such a prodigious skill in music that he moved the clouds in the sky and the rocks under the earth every time that he played. When…
How to Use Questions to Immerse Learners in Your Lesson – Tip #43
The SRIA (Set Up, Relate, Interpret, and Apply) model is the cornerstone of the effective use of interactive stories in learning design. It contains the four key elements that gives the learner the best possible experience and helps him or…
Provoking Learners with Story Questions – Tip #42
Why are questions powerful and important? How do we design them to provoke, instigate and encourage learners to think and reflect and apply learning ideas? Shifting Gears Story questions help learners “shift gears” in their minds during learning and un-learning. …
How to Weave Hard Facts and Emotions into your eLearning Lessons – Tip #41
How do we strike a balance between the scientific and the emotional? What checkpoints can we use to determine if we are hitting the right notes? Balancing Act: What we know vs. what we feel W. Tecumseh Fitch is a…
Your Brain Prefers Interactive Stories: Not Lectures – Tip #40
Why do we snooze when we are lectured at and why do we perk up when we are watching a story unfold? In the previous installments we talked about the different learner types as well as the elements of an effective interactive story that…
Employing Story Structure and Dynamics to Engage Different Learners – Tip #39
Now that we know what types of learners we are likely to face, it becomes clearer how we can improve the way we create and use stories in our learning objectives. Storytelling and Interactive Stories – The Difference Our focus…
Making Learning Styles Come Alive in Interactive Stories – Tip #38
Imagine trying to explain the color red to someone who is blind. Or trying to help a deaf person understand how the music of Beethoven or the Rolling Stones make you feel. Impossible? No. Difficult? Perhaps. But with the right…