Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-21

June 21, 2009

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-14

June 14, 2009

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-07

June 7, 2009

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Heavy boots and communication

June 2, 2009

I’ve had my day made by the strangest of articles, Heavy Boots. I’m positively happy and have had my world view restored again. Before you tell me I have a skewed world view, you may be right. I subscribe to the belief that people are people are people and people are people everywhere.

Ok, back to this little gem. For those not willing to read the article: it outlines a question posed in a class, “If a pen is dropped will it fall to the moon or float away?”. The answer is fall, but more slowly. What the writer discovered was that people are quite willing to belief that astronauts stayed on the moon b X communicatioecause they wore heavy boots and that the pen would float away. The article is worth the read, if only for the amusement factor.

It does raise a real conundrum for educators though. We all interpret the world through our own filters and lenses that we build up through our experiences in life. The idea that heavy boots were responsible for our astronauts not floating away did not phase the philosophy class one iota. In the words of the miscellaneous author, “It was not part of their world view.” They could not understand why the world did not work this way even though at some point they would have learned the basics of gravity. It simply did not figure in their world. This strange happenstance is not unique, but affects every single discussion we join.

The idea is not a new one. A great saying is, “People do not hear what you say. They hear what they think you said!” It is rule one in Communication 101. People filter what you say through their experiences and understanding. For instance it is no good telling a colour-blind man that the sky is blue, if he sees purple. He will not understand your point of view because it does not work within his own world view.

Sometimes the difference in world views between the speaker and receiver is great enough that meaningful dialog is impossible. However if we seek to understand the position of person to whom we are communicating with we can adjust to find the point we can shift their views just that little bit. So how do we get there?

Seek first to understand

“People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

There are millions of experts and gurus in the world. Half of them live on Twitter. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself :) Some have great knowledge, some know the esoteric ways of the DVD Recorder and some make it up as they go along. The ones successful at getting you to listen (not necessarily the ones who know what they are talking about) are the ones who seem to understand where you are coming from. They make some connection with you and seem to be speaking to your need.

We as educators don’t need to be flim-flam men and women to reach this same connection with our students. The easiest way to reach the connection is to listen to what our students are telling us. It has nothing to do with what we say and everything to do with how we hear. It is a little thing called empathy and can do wonders on kicking down the pedestals on which we sometimes stand. I include myself on this list.

Our students have their own experiences and hassles, dramas, prejudices and emotions that they are working through, dealing with and filtering through. If we don’t have some idea of where they are standing, we have know way of knowing how to take them to where they need to be.

Walk a mile in these heavy boots

Once we have an idea of where they stand, we need to connect to them in a way that they can accept. Talking aerodynamics to a soccer player is potentially unhelpful and probably useless. Yes aerodynamics affect the ball in amazing ways, but talking about the Bernoille principle won’t help him put the ball in the net. Describing how the air moves around the ball when he kicks it and show him slow motion videos of the rotation and how spin affects the ball might.

People generally know when you are talking down to them or at them. The easiest way to achieve this is by over complicating things or oversimplifying.   Match your message to the marketplace and the market may listen.

Know thy stuff and make sense

Most people have some form of garbage meter in their brains. They will know when you are making it up as you go along.

We’ve all seen lecturers and teachers derailed by an errant comment. It can be really funny watch, but a nightmare to live. It also kills your credibility and makes it really hard to get back to the world view moving.

The easiest way to avoid it is: if you don’t know it, don’t say it. Get back them later after you check it out. Know what you are talking about and prepare. Structure things in a way that can be received by your audience.

Avoiding confusing explanations can also help. A rule of thumb I use is, “If I can’t finish a sentence without a breath. I’ve probably confused the heck out of my listener.” Take a breath, slow down and work through the explanation logically and be ready to expand on a point and break it down further if your listener doesn’t understand.

Listen again

Never stop listening. People will often tell you if they don’t get it. Ask questions and obtain feedback from your students. They will let you know. If their answers are garbled or don’t make sense, you probably have a clash of the world views happening and it’s time to take a different tack.

Reflective listening can be a great way to get the learner moving towards the right idea. Listen to what the student says and reflect back what they say to them either verbatim or paraphrased whilst giving them full attention. Ask questions to get them to expand on what they are thinking. You can then affirm where they have it right and either talk to the logic gap or have them fill the logic gap themselves by asking further questions.

By moving away from your world and into theirs you make a connection. The connection you make helps them move forward and may even move you further along on your learning journey. Don’t be afraid to use your ears as they can be your greatest tool.

Let me know what you think. How do you overcome the Heavy Boots syndrome with your students? How do you go about understanding your learners’ world views? Leave me a comment here or Tweet me @BradStokes. I’d love to hear what you think.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-31

May 31, 2009

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-24

May 24, 2009

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-17

May 17, 2009

  • Just back from Sydney. I’m so glad I don’t work up there. Train time is killer. #
  • Have to say I’m loving Master Chef atm. Some of those recipes rock. #
  • Currently redrawing a word art diagram into something that won’t mutate everytime I look at it…. #
  • Interested in peoples thought on how to increase your twitter following. I’ll blog the results. #follow #
  • What do you think @zaibatsu? http://bit.ly/vc6Ql “Twitter Won’t Make You Rich, Famous or Drive Tons of Traffic To Your Website” #
  • @QCGMagazine So tap in to the “What in it for me factor?” (WII FM) and have something to add to the conversation in reply to QCGMagazine #
  • Anybody know where to find a copy of Bruce Sterling’s talk at #SXSWi ? Or even if there is one. Sounds interesting to say the least #
  • Agree. RT @ferrous: Give me a choice, please, Twitter! http://tinyurl.com/qg993h #
  • http://bit.ly/10VeeH The closet I’ve come to Sterling’s Talk #
  • @biz I have found a heap of really interesting people via 1 sided @ replies I’d prefer not to lose it #
  • User movement changed Facebook’s TOS… Hopefully Twitter listens. RT @webbtech: @BradStokes How can we stop it? @biz @twitter #fixreplies #
  • Awesome capitalisation of an issue lol. RT @cameronreilly: get your #fixreplies t-shirt now! http://bit.ly/Aa9mX #
  • RT @j0banj0hn: Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, Working together is success. #
  • Looking forward to the AUPOV09 conference. Looks Great. http://bit.ly/nU2Gp #AUPOV09 #
  • @aldellit You can access TwitScoop under the icon next to the 12 in reply to aldellit #
  • @istelios http://www.mtraining.com.au is the site :) #
  • http://bit.ly/duoCN Sounds like revenue raising to me… #
  • About to create a bunch of assessment tools for AURB254380A, dreadfull job #
  • @waleedjameel http://bit.ly/mpHEU in reply to waleedjameel #
  • http://bit.ly/mpHEU #
  • @waleedjameel http://bit.ly/mpHEU Let me try that again. It’s a good thing the industry takes it to heart :) #
  • TweetDeck started posting tweets when I hit the space bar. Thank goodness turning it off and on again works… #
  • @philhart that’d be whole heap more fun :) Nah career path, ohs and industry bodies that sort of thing :) in reply to philhart #
  • All educators and elearning devotees should add themselves to this site http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/ #
  • RT @Iconic88: Dont have a recession in your mind. Thats true poverty. #
  • Getting the right keywords seems to be a little hit and miss :) lol #
  • http://bit.ly/SjDWa
    Sad. This guy was a ledgend! #
  • Please RT “What do you think is the best way to gather meaningfull followers?” I’ll post the best answers in a blog. #
  • @ferrous Not a case of the new #FF is it? #
  • @DishMopTop Strange. You haven’t used a add me service or anything? in reply to DishMopTop #
  • @DishMopTop I’m pretty sure it’s the new fix facebook tag :) #
  • @ferrous Blonde moment I should have use #fixreplies lol. FF is short for Follow friday lol in reply to ferrous #
  • HOW TO: Simplify Your Social Media Routine by @zen_habits http://bit.ly/1r8UMK This is good advice. #
  • Great advice! RT @flexnib: @BradStokes “What is the best way to gather meaningful followers?” imho: be real #
  • Just joined a twibe. Visit http://twibes.com/Australian_eLearning to join #
  • Just finished updating the look of my site (Modified Brian Gardner theme) http://bit.ly/xTeI5 Thoughts? #
  • @smik09 Thank you, Obvious a long day and I hadn’t noticed that at all in reply to smik09 #
  • @jokay did he try to convert you to fundamentalist christianity to or a least to his version. You know where he is the 2nd Christ in reply to jokay #
  • Wishes late night viewing was better. Actually I wish the viewing was better period. Not much chance really #
  • lol RT @ezrabutler Fox News is so fair & balanced. Unless they disagree with your specific religion. #
  • #Pandemic currently running. I love end of the world stories. :p #
  • @smik09 I’ve gone back through my categories and cleaned those up. Also lost the grey in the main section http://www.bradstokes.com.au ty in reply to smik09 #
  • @jokay interwebs… hmm. Now please tell me you didn’t tell him you were an SL user. That would have been funny. (from a distance) in reply to jokay #
  • RT @Iconic88 Decrease the Twitter Drop Out Rate & Increase Retention http://bit.ly/YIOyT #
  • Is MySpace becoming an irrelevancy in AU for +20ies? I’m struggling to find people who derive value from their MySpace Pages #
  • I admit I haven’t updated MySpace forever, but FaceBook and Twitter are daily (and some) visits. #
  • #followfriday @jokay @moodleman @smik09 @flexnib @ferrous All worth adding to your learning journey :) #
  • #followfriday @moodler Because lead dev of Moodle is worth following @catspyjamasnz just because :) #
  • RT @jonmott Sign up to be part of the Open University’s SocialLearn beta. http://bit.ly/du0fH #
  • Cards or succumb to a headache. Hard call.. #
  • Headache wins when Panadeine isn’t working #
  • http://failblog.org/ Everybody has a bad day. These guys take the cake. #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-10

May 10, 2009

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Five ways to find context in training

May 8, 2009

I heard it recently said that learning is not about the content, but the conversation. I understand the sentiment, but think it misses the point. Learning is about context. The content and the conversation are but parts of this. The best of content delivered to in a format that is unable to be interpreted by its receiver is useless. Likewise a fantastic conversation can be had with out a scarric of useful information changing hands.

To say that learning is about the conversation is to confuse the medium with end goal, learning. It comes back to the idea of right place, right person, right time, right information and right tools. There are many different things to get right for the learner to be engaged and for real learning to take place. Valuable learning occurs with the information being given has relevance and meaning to the one it is being given. The context of the overall learning scenario determines how a learner is connected to learning they are attempting to embark upon. Below I look at 5 ways to find the context of learning environment and how to connect to your learners when training.

Avoid Assumption

I’ve always loved the saying, “Never assume anything. It makes an ass out of u & me!” and it is true. Unfortunately, like most people, it is one I can very easily fall foul to.

The easiest way to have meaningless conversations and provide ineffective training is to be on a completely different wavelength to the people with which you are trying to communicate. Nothing makes this quite so easy as assuming that I know where the person is coming from. It makes it too easy to sprout information, and provide a whole heap of advice that completely misses the mark at best or totally confuses and agitates at worst. One sure fire way to alienate a person is to have them think you are not listening or understanding their needs. Assumption will mean you miss the context of the training everytime be it f2f, online or distance training.

One of the common misassumptions is that current school leaders are computer literate and completely at home on the Internet and by extension should be completely able to operate in the online world. It simply is not true. Most will know how to check their facebook and send an email. They will probably be able to send and receive MMS messages. They will likely be under the assumption that Google knows all. However, you will also find kids that can’t turn on a computer. That wouldn’t know how to use the Internet. Kids that still can’t read properly and have trouble with writing. That are happy working on an engine or helping care for a sick person, but would  happily condemn all computers to be thrown by trebuchets. Engaging these people online would probably be disastrous and the context of their situation will determine how we learn together. Stopping to check your assumptions saves a great deal of angst for all.

Make assumptions at your own peril.

Find the right time

Sometimes this very much defined for you, especially in a face to face institutional environment where classes are 2-4 on Thursdays. In the workplace or in a flexible environment - online or otherwise - there is more scope for movement. There will be certain times during the days and weeks you can engage the learners fully and others that just won’t work. Finding what works for you and them will be part of the negotiations. For road transport workers, you may find that after hours on a Wednesday works, but certain days are shot because everybody is in every direction. Mondays and Fridays in an office can be a bad time to engage someone as the pressure of starting a new week or ending it with all tasks completed will drive the concentration from the minds of those you wish to train.

In every case it will be slightly different and the only way to find what works is to open the lines of communication and be aware of your students actions and what they are telling you. When you pick the right time, the learner will be alert and ready to engage with where they are about to travel. Sometimes though, there is no right time. In these cases any time is right and making it work will be about separating the individual from the rest of their environment for the period of the learning sessions. In these cases you as a trainer may need to take the lead.

Finding the right time is about what works and when it works.  Be flexible and alert to your learners and you will find it.

Find the right medium

What works best with the student for them to learn. If a student learns better face to face, classes or group sessions may work best. If the learner is time poor and wishes to study from home a distance or blended model might be better for them. Even further if they are studying at home, the might want to operate online or feel more comfortable with paper. Finding the right tool for the job is about removing barriers to learning and empowering a person to learn in their way that suits them.

But what tool should I use? There may be dozens of tools that work for the situation and and example is online conferencing: four fantastic web conferencing tools are Elluminate, Wimba, DimDim and Adobe Connect. They all do approximately the same thing. They look a little different and have different pricing models and structures, but when push comes to shove they all work. The question becomes not what works, but which is going to work best for me and my student. It may even be a case of use whichever is your preference and if that doesn’t work move onto to another tool. There are no right answers here.

The big trick to finding the right tools for the job are to use the ones you have at hand. If they don’t work, don’t clasp them tight. Find another tool that works. If text chat isn’t working, use Skype or VOIP and if that doesn’t work pick up the phone. The tools to use are the ones that work.

Bring the right information and know when to bring others into the conversation

Your learner knows what they want to learn and in most case you will know what they will need to learn. The best thing you can do is prepare adequately and be ready to give of what you have. The old adage of preparation being the most important thing you can do still holds true in the modern training environment. The most flexible trainers are those prepared for most eventualities. Prepare early and move as you need to when your train. Your learners will be better for it.

It goes without saying that one person can’t know everything. You will have gaps in your knowledge, and if you don’t you are not human. When you hit something that you can’t answer, bring in the help you need to address the issue. Most successful people aim to surround themselves with smarter people then they are, why should trainers be any different? Hubris is the fortitude of the week and humbleness the refuge of the strong. Admitting to a knowledge gap doesn’t diminish a person, nothing robs credibility faster than trying to bluff through a topic you know little about. Finding the right person or information for a student when they need it, even if that person isn’t you, increases your connection to the learner and meets them where they need to be met.

Listen

It’s been said that we have two ears and one mouth and we should use them in that ratio. Funnily enough in training one of the hardest things to learn is when to shut the one tool we are used to using. One of the things I’ve observed is that the most effective trainers help learners train, tutor and teach each other. The knack they have is hearing exactly what they are being asked then drawing it out of those around them. Context is gained from the  subtext of the conversation. Reading between the lines and finding the story behind the questions.

One of the most effective tools here is the art of reflective listening. For the uninitiated reflective listening is where you reflect your learners statements back to them slightly paraphrased to determine that you understand what they are saying eg “So you mean…” or “He made you feel…” You can then employ a series of questions to get the learner thinking in the right direction or to find the heart of the matter and address the real questions being asked. Finding the real context of the conversation helps you as a trainer connect with your learners and help them make real behaviour change.

Admittedly the context might be “I’m confused and what you are saying doesn’t make much sense to me”, listening and obtaining feed back from your learners will help you find when you’ve got it right, got it wrong and when it is time to move the conversation along.

Finally…

We’ve moved from the teacher centric model of past, where an esteemed wise man stood on an elevated platform and espoused the wisdom he held. The main problem with throwing information at people is most of it bounces. For a learner to engage with information and behaviour to start to change, a facilitator and trainer must meet the student where they stand now. The trainer has to find the context of where the student is coming from and fit the learning to them. In the end, a learner centric system means context is everything…

Let us know what you think, by posting your comments below.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-03

May 3, 2009

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