Learning Environments for Learning Communities

My discussion with Will recently in my class really helped me see how learning environments play a part in the development of our learners and their abilities to learn.

Will helped me see a deeper dimension to the reading and to how we handle our learners who visit our organization. Many of our learners are used to temporary buildings, old hulks with stained carpet and ratty chairs. computers that were new in the 80's and proctors who are surly and disgruntled. Our building on the other hand is less than five years old, built around the idea of hosting a thousand learners a day, looks sleek, modern and new, and is built with the learner in mind. No stained ceiling tiles and ash tray corners for us. We actually take flack from our clients and members for having such a nice environment for our trainee's to learn in. I think their argument is that we are charging them too much money and making too much money off of their backs. I look forward to bolstering our argument about having a worthwhile, and clean, nice environment to encourage learning through the use of the thoughts you bring up and from our reading. 

I was in Characteristics of Adult Learning last year and there was an article that hit me that had similar thoughts on getting the learner ready for learning through mind, body, techniques. As you write, "biophychosocial framework for affective processing." The article focuses on Yoga and I've linked to it here (here).  It's entitled "Moving to Learn," and one of the key phrases that hit me is "Therefore, the positive feedback cycle of yoga, meditation, and embodied learning potentially enables students to engage in physical experiences that calm their minds, allowing for self-observation and consequently learning a new way of being in the world" (p. 73). It's a compelling chapter to read and I think that it would be worthwhile for you to take a look. 

References

Behmer, P. (2019). Moving to learn: A meditative yoga approach to teaching and learning anatomy and physiology in multiple contexts.  New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. DOI: 10.1002/ace.20312

More On Old Friends

The other day I wrote about my friend Betsy and how much she changed (see HERE). I find it funny how much she changed over time, not just in the small day-to-day things, but in the major things. 

Like I said, she changed over time, but what I found amazing is that she changed so fundamentally. I remember the first time we met, on a run, I looked over at her and said, "What are you doing?" She looked like she was trying to race me. "I'm just a mom trying to keep up."

That's what I liked most. She would always try to keep up. She was not a quitter. She was a fighter. I like fighters. 

This is what changed though. She stopped being a fighter. She turned into a quitter by the end. Before she would take on the world and never quit. By the end, she wouldn't even try and take on the world. And if coaxed into it she'd quit within a few steps. 

Had I met the Betsy at the end on that run, and I said to her, "What are you doing?" She wouldn't have even been there, and the probably would have said, "quitting" or "hitting pause". It was infuriating to lose the fighter that I liked so much. 
Elizabeth, Betsy 

Another on Teams

The other day I wrote about working in teams and how much I don't care for it (see here), and I might have an update based on some things that happened recently. 

I've decided its not so much teams, per se, it's who involved in the team. I have to work with a colleague and they are CONSTANTLY forcing teams and meetings. I'm very a much a quick mover, and a adapt, adjust and overcome personality. I would rather work quickly and deliver a solution and try it out. I don't like to discuss best possible solutions, I look for the solution that is immediate and use it. 

This colleauge of mine loves to discuss to death every option. In many cases my personality gets me in trouble, but it can never be said that I dilly dally. 

Here are a couple of perfect examples, one organizational, and one that's less global. 

The first regards a project that I recently rolled out. It was innovative, it was unique, it was cutting edge, and at this point we have had over 2000 unique instances where it was used. This is a huge feather in our cap. Was in perfect? Nope. Have we had to make edits and adjustments? Yep. Did we? Yep. 

Had my colleague been in charge of this project, it would still be on the drawing board, they would still be having meetings, we would NOT have had 2000 test cases. 

Here's another case.

Two weeks ago our boss asked how many of us had been to our satellite facility. No one raised their hand. In the past two weeks I've been there twice. I've scheduled myself to be there each week going forward. 

One of my colleagues immediately asked when our boss asked, "How do we schedule rooms?" and "How can we be sure we aren't all there at the same time?" etc. She immediately looked for the problems. Whereas I just went and did it. 

So my thoughts are that I like teams that work like I do. I like quick movers and those that don't want moss to grow on them. Endless meetings with teams are sometimes necessary, but I'd rather go do than wait around for perfection. 

Change of Formats

One of oldest readers asked me some questions the other day, and I think several other readers might be curious (thanks for that "weenielove!")

Format

You may have noticed that I've changed the style of the blog. I wanted a bit of a change, and I liked it. I thought the change was worth it. The problem is no matter how hard I worked at it, I couldn't get the search function to work. 

That little magnifying glass at the top left, you may never have noticed it, well, that didn't work in the other format. I had some complaints. Despite the slick style, the functionality was necessary. 

Tools

Other than the search box, there were some other issues with the functionality. That list of "Tags" on the far right of the screen? I group alot of my posts into those tags. Those weren't showing up for the readers. 

How could you sort by great lines or by first lines, or review of my work, without using those tags?

Also, the archive. That dropdown list of every single post I've made over the years . . . that was gone too. There are over one thousand posts as a part of this blog, it's alot to try and navigate. It's even harder without an archive. So I came back to the old format and style for those reasons too. 

Audience

I've had a huge increase in readership compared to where I started. It used to be just one reader ("Hi Mom!") then a second every now and then ("thanks again Weenie's Rule"), now I get hundreds of visitors a day?

How's that happening?

I think it's primarily from going back to school. I posted my blog site to my profile, so each class I'm in over 30 to 50 new students are seeing my blog. All of the new content on Adult Learning keeps them coming back. 

Secondly, I've started posting in the National Novel Writing Month forum and getting more and more and more writers coming to see my posts. 

These are the things that are helping move my readership upward. I hope I can keep up with the expectations!

Fun Run Prep

Not a bad morning. Seven weeks after surgery (shoulder surgery mind you), but I still did a five mile run in fifty minutes. Not the best and I still have some work to do to get back to where I need to be. But I'm getting ready for a 10K fun run. I think this morning showed me I'm ready for it. 

The reason I'm writing though is not my run, nor my shoulder, but rather my best friend. Sadie came with me today. It was a tad long for her, but she came. I doubt there will be any others for her this year. It was cool this morning. It was long for her, but she did it. I wrote about her, and loyalty a few weeks ago (see here). What I loved about her this morning wasn't her loyalty, but her trust. 

I've written about trust before (see here) and the breaking trust. Earlier before the run I went out to fill the bird feeders in the back yard. Call me a wussy, but I like to sit out on the patio on weekend mornings, read, drink coffee, and watch the birds at the bird feeder. There are usually a ton of finches, a few cardinals, some bulbous, blundering, doves, crazy squirrels, and sometimes some double-dealing, deceitful ducks. They land on the roof and look down on the action and wonder if they can come down safely and join in. 

Regardless, when I went to fill the bird feeder, Sadie was lying on the steps looking out the front door. I snapped my fingers and she was up in an instant, tail wagging, smiling away, happy to trot along. She didn't know where I was going, didn't know where we were doing, but she was there, excited to be coming along. No question. No hesitancy. She was there. Same with the run. As soon as I grabbed the leash and told her to come on and she was there. 

She trusts me. And I her. 

It would be different if I didn't treat her right . . . if I left her outside without any attention . . . if I ghosted her or abused her. She knows I'll be there for her, so she is there for me. I'm glad I don't ruin that trust for her, and I always try to keep that trust from her. 

It's wonderful to have a friend that can be trusted indubitably and without any question. When we have it we should hold on to it and foster it tightly, because friendships like that come quite rarely!

 

March 28th Rememberies

On March 28th, for the past couple of years, I think about Betsy. Betsy was a great friend. She was awesome because she didn't give a damn about anything. She was driven, fun, exciting, and just more than a tad crazy. What was best about her though was that she did't care what other people thought about her. She was out there and people just had to accept her for who she was. 

Betsy changed over time though, and I think about that on three days, one in May, the other July, and finally in March. 

I don't speak to her nearly enough anymore. I used to hear from her constantly, calls, emails, texts, but things change. Jobs change. Work changes. Moving. New friends. I wonder if in Betsy's life it had a lot to do with her parents deaths. When I first met her her parents were alive and a huge part of her life. I always wonder if a sense of fatalism didn't overtake Betsy when her parents passed away. For me it wasn't as world rocking when my father died. But maybe for Betsy it created a change that made her go from uncaring about the world and how the world saw her to the exact opposite. 

The last time I spoke to her she was paranoid, distant and wrapped in quiescence. She did a complete 180 over the course of our friendship. Regardless, I think about our friendship on this day and two others that really pop up. It was almost as if those dates represent stepping stones from the old to the new. 

Two Worlds Apart?

I had a vendor recently say "I hope there's a world where we can work together." I was a funny thing to say. My response was, "I betcha there is, providing that we can agree on a price."

Why was it funny to hear?

I remember hearing an old girlfriend say that to me once. It was something about "I wish there was a world where we could be together." I remember thinking then too, "there is, all we have to do is make it work." I think it's an absurd thing to say because if we were in a world where we might not work together, or in the case of the old girlfriend, where we couldn't be together, then we wouldn't be talking. The world where that doesn't happen, doesn't even have us talking. The world where we can "work" together or the world where we can "be" together is happening now.

It reminds me of the post I wrote on "is what it is" (see here). I don't subscribe to that believe or saying. I believe the world is what we make it. If I want to work with a vendor, I find a way to make it happen. If I want to see a girlfriend in Belgium or school or anywhere else, I make it happen. That world where it doesn't happen, then we don't even talk . . . We aren't even having the conversation!

So, I guess my point is, quit talking about a universe where things can happen, be the agent of change for your own universe. 

Last Tango for Publishing

I read with much verve and enthusiasm the article in today's WSJ about "late in life" publishing (see here). If it's behind a paywall, I apologize, but try to get it, it's worth the time.

I don't necessarily consider myself "late in life" just yet, although there are those who would argue that I should. Still, I do try to publish writing, and I am past 40, so I think I qualify. So for those reasons the article was intriguing. 

I wrote a few months back about Gillian Flynn (see here) and her writing routines. This one is more about the success of publishing in later years and how just being older shouldn't mean that you have no hope of publishing. 

I am in no way intrigued by Miss Boulley's premise, although she might be a fantastic writer, I'm not into Nancy Drew style YA mysteries, nor am I a huge fan of native american heros in my writing. I've dallied in it some, sure, but I don't have a penchant for it. 

I was intrigued by this line and if I had the time I'd probably go read this novel:

Nancy Pearl was 72 for the arrival of “George and Lizzie,” which includes a teenage character who sleeps with the whole high-school football team. Anne Youngson was 70 for “Meet Me at the Museum,” an epistolary love story between elderly strangers—and a left turn after her career running new vehicle development projects at Land Rover.

Two things struck me. First, I'd love to read Anne Younson's novel, Meet me at the Museum. That sounds like such a fun book, so similar to the show Last Tango in Halifax which I adored. 

Secondly, I was struck by the fact that she was just a new vehicle PM for Land Rover. I was expecting more connections. So often people who publish late in life have oodles of conncections that they rely on for getting their work noticed. PM for Land Rover hardly seems like it would yield many publishing connections. Wonder what her husband does . . . (my cynical side screams)

More From My Fave

I have favorite authors, anyone who reads this blog knows this . . . Dick Francis (see here), Lawrence Sanders (see here), and Frederick Forsyth (see here). Miss Great White North is quickly becoming a favorite for one liners and poems (see here for my complete list of faves).

Dreams of you haunt me every night, . . . because I beg them to

Friends

The other day I wrote about remarkable people (see here) and those amazing people that we interact with on a less than regular basis, . . . how atypical truly remarkable people are . . . how we should take advantage of those moments. 

I ran into an old friend the other day and we were immediately right back where we have always been. I love friendships like that. Those friends who no matter what, they are there, they are the same people. 

There are those friends who's friendships get stale. They get old, and things get out of step. The friends who you used to dance with so perfectly and easily, . . . you start stepping on one another's toes, or worse, the dance stops. Sometimes abruptly. Maybe they don't even get off the chairs that line the middle school gym, . . . or don't come to the dance at all. 

Then there are those friends who you don't see for weeks, months maybe . . . sometimes years. Then when you see them, you dance and it's perfect. Finding those dance partners who are naturally perfect with you is really the end goal and best goal in life. When you find those folks, those perfect friends, hold onto them and keep dancing as long as you can, cause finding them is such a rare thing.

Friends

The other day I wrote about remarkable people (see here) and those amazing people that we interact with on a less than regular basis, . . . how atypical truly remarkable people are . . . how we should take advantage of those moments. 

I ran into an old friend the other day and we were immediately right back where we have always been. I love friendships like that. Those friends who no matter what, they are there, they are the same people. 

There are those friends who's friendships get stale. They get old, and things get out of step. The friends who you used to dance with so perfectly and easily, . . . you start stepping on one another's toes, or worse, the dance stops. Sometimes abruptly. Maybe they don't even get off the chairs that line the middle school gym, . . . or don't come to the dance at all. 

Then there are those friends who you don't see for weeks, months maybe . . . sometimes years. Then when you see them, you dance and it's perfect. Finding those dance partners who are naturally perfect with you is really the end goal and best goal in life. When you find those folks, those perfect friends, hold onto them and keep dancing as long as you can, cause finding them is such a rare thing.

More Reviews

I got another couple of reviews (see here) and I just can't help but share them.

Who doesn't love that there's nothing NOT to like about their work? 

Now, all of this should be tempered with the fact that two folks found copy editing issues. This STUNS me if only cause I re-read that entire sucker last year and ran the whole book through Grammerly. I'd love to see what they found. Still, for story, character, plot, I'm still batting 1000!

I've sent out twenty-three of my books to folks who have requested them via this little sales drive (see here). I'm still open to sending other copies. Right now I've gotten 54 reviews! I love getting them!

Remember the Adult Learning Credo?

I loved reading my colleague Andrew's post last week because it reminded me of some training that I used to provide on liquid vacuum trucks and on high-pressure pressure washing and refineries. 

My company wanted to have a training program that was better than any of the competitors in that space. We created a training program that revolved around hands on training. An eight hour training day that had about one hour of power point as an introduction then seven hours of hands-on training that was procedurally-based and drills executed and led by the trainees. When I was in the military I recognize the power that drills provide and learning material. We would execute drill after drill after drill of the same procedure first in the daytime and then at night until everyone and the team knew exactly what was going to happen and when it was going to happen. I brought that same aspect to our liquid vacuum truck and Hydro blasting training. And we found similar results to what you described in your passage. The other thing we provided was the ability for the trainees to train one another. If you remember our program planning class there was the adult learning credo that said:

"When I only hear, I forget.

When I hear and see, I remember a little.

When I hear and see, and ask questions and discuss with someone else, I begin to understand. 

When I hear, see, question, discuss, and do, I acquire knowledge and skill. 

When I teach someone, I master what I have learned." (Cafferella & Daffron, p. 188)

I really enjoyed allowing the learners to become masters of what they learned by having to teach it to one another. It really put them in a separate place than just being passive learners. The only thing I wish I could've done was provide some after the fact space learning reinforcement. Something that after they left the class they could refer to and be reminded of the learning objectives. Overall though the class was very similar to what others have expressed, I really enjoyed allowing the learners to become masters of what they learned by having to teach it to one another. It really put them in a separate place than just being passive learners. The only thing I wish I could've done was provide some after the fact space learning reinforcement. Something that after they left the class they could refer to and be reminded of the learning objectives. Overall though the class was very similar to what you expressed in your discussion post.

One piece of my training that was different than most others is that I was teaching people who already had a job and who in several cases were leaders in our organization. They were not inspired to take the class by a mandate in order to get their job. What I found though was that our organization did not provide training opportunities to this cohort of employees so that when they had the opportunity to train they were hungry for it and jumped in with gusto. In some cases especially if the training is on a Saturday it was a tough sell to get them to be motivated but in the end the opportunity to train always one out and the employees Additionally as you said much of our training was not just skills training but safety training that they could use on the job to keep themselves safe. This helped to inspire them to learn as well. left excited and content for having learned something. Additionally as many have said much of our training was not just skills training but safety training that they could use on the job to keep themselves safe. This helped to inspire them to learn as well.

References:

 Caffarella, R. S., & Daffron, S. R. (2013). Planning Programs for Adult Learners; a Practical Guide. Jossey-Bass.

Refining Industry Training

In my industry where we work in the refineries outside and with tooling one of the things that many of our safety and the visuals are looking for is when do accidents occur. 

Several of my classmates have mentioned it might be a good idea to allow people opportunities for self growth at determined times throughout the week. One of the studies I read a few years ago showed that for the most part severe injuries occur directly after lunch hour in our industry. I believe the studies show that at the beginning of the shift people were very cautious and worked well began to tail off toward lunch and then once they went back on shift after lunch. They found that the caution that they had started with how do you worn away.

Following the study the industry began compelling our teams to provide another safety meeting right after their lunch breaks so that they could re-focus on safety again. It might be a worthwhile opportunity for self growth options at that moment too. As a part of the training mechanism for the industry I would love it if we could convince our clients to provide the opportunity for learning to occur in the field during these moments. Most of our training is safety related so we could help refocus teams on different aspects of safety and training.

More on 20 Min Training

Regarding my post on Primacy-Recency effect, our process provides us an opportunity to discuss with our clients how best to utilize the 20 minute standard. For example we may try to keep a module to 20 minutes then switch to another and then another 20 minute module then do a wrap-up video that includes aspects of all of the modules at the top of the hour. This will allow us to keep information fresh for the learner but also allow for a reinforcement exercise that ties all of the different modules together. 

We have some training that due to compliance mandates takes several days to a full week of computer based and classroom learning to complete. Needless to say it's quite tough to keep the learners interest throughout the entire training. As I've mentioned before we use several techniques and tools to try to keep things fresh but finding a way to provide modules in a succinct effective manner and then tie back to them later so we can promote reinforcement should be a real game changer.

Just keeping it to 20 minutes is not in and of itself a good solution what I find interesting is how many of our clients come to us and say here keep it to 20 minutes that's the solution without giving it much more thought. I look forward to talking to them about the prime and prime and see recent see your fat and finding other ways to meet their needs without having arbitrary time.

Worst Dad Ever

I was at the slopes with my kiddos, and was looking for the hot cocoa and marshmallows to make after-dinner drinks with the kiddos when one of them looked at the end-cap for aisle 4 and said, "What are these dad?"

He was looking at the hostess rack.

I have so many fond memories of hostess snacks throughout my childhood, it made me so sad to hear that my kids had no idea what they were and had none of the memories that I grew up with. Now, there are those who say that perhaps I attach too many memories to food. But, this, it's unconscionable. 

What's the best? Ho-ho's of course. Ding Dongs are a close second. Then Twinkies. Donettes are somewhere in there too. I told those two suckers this and they looked at me with such confused eyes that I was forced to take drastic measures. 

I threw the following into my basket:

• Box of Ding Dongs
• Box of Twinkies
• Roll of Chocolate Covered Donettes
• Roll of Powder Sugar Donettes
• Roll of Cinnamon Sugar Donettes
• Apple Pie Turnover
• Chocolate Pie Turnover
• Box of Ho-Ho's
• Pack of Sno-Balls (Chocolate, White/Vanilla/Coconut, and Pink)
• Cherry Pie Turnover
• Box of Hostess Cupcakes
• Pack of Honeybuns
• Packet of Zingers
• Pack of Oatmeal Cream Pies
• Pack of Nutty Buddys
• Box of Zebra Cakes
• Pack of Swiss Rolls

We got back to the house and set up a snack cake line up, much like the candy line up that George set up at the car shop in Seinfeld. We each had a bite of each type and ranked them from 1-10 and picked our first, second, and third favorites. 

It may have been more memorable than the slopes, and I know that the next guests at this Air BnB will have quite alot of snack cakes to choose from!

More on Emotion and VR

My colleague in class, Will, brought up a great point about my last post that was on creating emotional impact in VR learning. 

Will wrote:

I have seem emotionally informed trauma response trainings as having a major impact in building empathy but it still seems to lack the ability to get in the head of the actual person experiencing the trauma - which is why I would love to know more about your work could measure emotional brain reading as they participate in this VR experience! 

He brings up a good point . . . How would we moderate and help the learner deal with the emotions? I can say that we will be allowing them the opportunity to retake the exercise and do a better job a second time after the video designed to help them understand the impact of their decisions in the real world. 

This training is modeled on a virtual reality training I took years ago. It was on Fall Protection standards. The idea was that the learner was to select the correct fall protection system then go onto a construction site several stories up in the air and walk across a beam.  When selecting the fall protection harness the learner had to inspect it for rust or debris, ripped fabric or frayed edges on the material and ensure that it had the correct manufacture date and was within the life limits of the system. Once the fall protection harness was selected and put on . . . the learner was taken to a construction site several stories up in the air. At some point the learner endured a fall.  If they had selected the correct fall protection system then the learner would be safe and survive the fall. If the learner did not select the correct fall protection system then it ended with a long fall followed by a darkening red field and the chance to try again. It was an incredibly moving experience and I can say to this day I still pay attention to these criteria when selecting life saving equipment. I'm sure many other people who took that training had the same response and the same memories. This was a far deeper experience and an emotional experience than could be elicited from hands-on instruction or instructor-led training much less computer based training.

I suppose to answer his question I would say that the chance to try again, and reprocess the information and the exercises with the newly formed emotional understanding is how we are helping the learner deal with the emotions of the learning. But, we want that emotional response as I believe it will help them form long term memories of that learning and hopefully of the objectives within the training. 

Feeling and Learning

Reading We Feel Therefore we Learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education by Immordino-Yang and Damasio: I was hit when I read the passage on page 28 that states "the basic premise is that when learning and knowledge are relatively devoid of emotion, when people learn things by "rote" without internally driven motivation and without a sense of interest or real world relevance, then it is likely that they won't be able to use what they learn efficiently in the real world" (p. 28). My organization is in the midst of developing a second in a series of VR exercises to augment our traditional computer based training offering. We've already discovered that the extra practice that VR exercises provide tend to improve long term memory and recall, but what we want to provide in this second version is an emotional impact. 

This second training is on a feature common in my industry called "Confined Space." Working in confined spaces are extremely dangerous and there are a myriad of procedures in place to try and minimize those dangers. Despite these efforts, in generally, confined space injuries and fatalities make up the majority of injuries and fatalities in our industry. For those outside of the industry who would like to understand more about Confined Spaces, you can see this video (linked here (Links to an external site.)) which shows a fire in a confined space or imagine your attic, or a 4-6 foot deep ditch or excavation, or the crawl space under your house. These are all examples of confined spaces. 

Our team is working to include videos that illustrate and describe fatal confined space events that are similar to the ones that the learner will experience in the VR exercise. We hope to include enough personal information about the workers and the nature of their work to produce and emotional response and create stronger, more well developed memories of what to do and how to work in confined spaces, and especially how to avoid fatalities in confined spaces. 

Having read that passage I've cited above, it's clear to see how having the emotional connection can lead to a supervisor taking different steps if he understands the emotions behind the decisions he's making. Take a supervisor without that emotional connection, similar for instance to the sample patients Immordino-Yang and Damasio use to set up their article, those who struggled to have emotionally related bodily reactions, he might send his folks into dangerous confined space situations, while that supervisor who has had an emotionally compelling experience would be less likely to expose his team to those dangers. We are trying to develop the emotional impact necessary to ensure that when sending any team member into a confined space for work, the supervisor will recall the video, the emotional impact that came with learning about the fatalities, and the VR exercises he took with us, and ensure he is doing everything possible to keep his team safe.

I wonder if anyone else is working with intertwining emotionally resonant training into traditional training and if so what outcomes have they seen? 

References

Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2016). Emotions, learning and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company

Sadie is (Always) there

  Been thinking more and more about trust and character. It’s been in the news lately so maybe it’s trickling through my subconscious to my thoughts.

I’m surprised by how few people I can truly count on anymore. So many people say “I promise” but mean "maybe" . . . or “always” and mean "sometimes" . . . worse . . . they say this then completely blow off that thing they said "I promise" or "always" about within mere days. I remember I had this difficulty when I first got out of the military. In our unit if you were ordered to do something or if you said you would do something you had to do it. It was not even a question. It got done.

Friday Post from Scott via Miss Great White North

So, there are two I want to share today. Those paying attention will see that each Friday I try to find writing that is poignant and simple, powerful and expressive (see here). 

Today, from Scott, comes this that resonated for me:

I'm too damn old to be fight for spots in people's lives.

Perfect Practice

I really enjoyed a post I read by a colleague named John about how he had his team use practice makes perfect. He described how bad practice can lead to bad practices. If you don't practice well you run the risk of making something permanent that you may not have wanted. For example, if I teach someone how to shovel and fail to teach them to use their legs and avoid lifting with their back. Now lets say they go practice shoveling and use their lower back extensively. It may be cementing in their mind the wrong process that could lead to poor performance and worse, might be hard to untrain. 

In terms of the old adage, "practice makes perfect" . . .  my team has adopted the phrase “perfect practice makes progress.” This would seem to agree with what John was striving for… The fact that perfection in terms of a skill may not show growth as well as the idea that practice should be well done so we don’t get permanence from poor practice. 

More from the North

 I ran into a few more quotes and lines that I wanted to share (see HERE for more). These, not sure why, really resonated with me. 

First is this . . . oddly, tagged with mature women wants?!?!?

Cutting Edge

 I used to read for fun often and compiled this great list of first lines (here) and last (see here). Somewhere in that list (probably here) is a post on the importance of first lines. 

Regardless, thanks to these classes I've been involved in, there isn't as much time to focus on novels or first lines in novels. Who wants to read the first line in APA's 7th edition of their Style Manual? Right! No one. 

I did get a chance to start a novel last month, and I'm working through it slowly. Here is the first line:

The second time he died was more difficult than the first. More difficult because he saw it coming. 

He stirred to consciousness between the two events, twin sources of light above him seeming like a pair of struggling midday suns behind thick layers of cloud. He was flat on his back, that much he knew, and beneath him were sheets that had been washed too many times and stretched tight over a thin mattress. 

The voices were every bit as opaque as the light, a man and a woman, neither familiar. He could make out most of their words, a disjointed back-and-forth that seemed to arrive through a soup can. 

How long had he been awake? A minute? Two? Long enough. 

A shadow blocked out the suns, and again he willed his eyes to open. There was no response. All voluntary movement had ceased. Then a brush of warm breath came across his face, moist and without scent.

Larsen, Ward - Cutting Edge 

It's not bad. It's intriguing and a bit so out of the norm that it leaves the reader wondering what the hell the author is talking about. 

Spaced Learning

 I was surprised by a tidbit of information about retention and the short time it takes to move information from working memory to long term memory. At my work as well we created a spaced learning chat bot (see here, here and here) to test our users a week after their initial block learning event. Like you I wonder now if we had to wait a week.

What’s even more confusing, is that having read further this week, into Sousa’s there is an incredibly intriguing chart about spaced learning and practice weeks after the initial event. As the text cites mulitple studies that prove how effective spaced practice is in general and over time for helping with long term memory development and retention.

In those links above, I looked at several articles on space practice and finding the best interval for spaced practice to encourage learning. In that research I was surprised by the "latency" period they proposed as it was always around 24 hours with the longest I believe being 48 hours. Here I was expecting that weeks would be the best answer. Below are the links to those two papers on spaced retrieval practice (see here and here).

What I find incredible is that the idea of spaced practice is not seemingly in doubt as a valid technique for long term memory development, yet whenever I try to pitch the idea of using tools like our chat bot platform or microlearning platform to create this type of learning environment, ie one that has blocked learning followed by spaced practice, none of our members are at all compelled to provide this to their employees. It's frustrating to have the technology and the proof of effectiveness at our hands yet our industry is so locked in on block or massed learning as the delivery method that moving them to a more effective technique is difficult to the point of impossible. I think there needs to be more focus by teachers, facilitators, and trainers about the importance and effectiveness of spaced practice in long term memory to help learners and those who invest in learning, understand the important role in plays in retention. 

One thing that I look forward to trying is using our chat bot to test if learners remember more or less one day after the massed learning or one week after. It should be an interesting experiment if I can fine tune it and make it valid. Regardless, I was as surprised by that facet of spaced learning as you were.

Reference:

Sousa, D.A. (2016). How the brain learns, (5th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

The Perfect Words

Years ago, when I was considering being a full-time writer, I took a "Writing the Short Story" continuing education class at Rice. It was fun, interesting, and was a terrific breeding ground for it's own short story thanks to one of the students getting blitzed on JD most nights. One evening I remember the professor said that short story writing is actually much harder than writing a novel, because you have to be so precise with the words. 

Having written both now, I would say that they're both hard, in different ways. I wouldn't say short stories are harder. 

Psycho Love

I had a chance to re-read a post from several months ago (see here) where I wrote about "better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." 

I've been giving that some thought lately and I'm still not sure where I come down on it.

Shark Attack

I heard from another veteran from my group in class and he brought up the function that Army Shark Attacks play in memory development, and he was irritated by the fact that Shark Attacks would not be a part of the Basic Training experience for new recruits since they are looking for a "kinder and gentler" Army. 

I remember the “shark attack” too when I first got to Basic Training and I remember even more clearly the stress and fear that my team leaders inspired constantly when I was a private in my unit. Being a team member under Sergeant Taylor meant that every day was a shark attack. 

One interesting aspect of this is that our unit went out of it’s way to include MORE not fewer shark attack style stress events and use them in our training. We would have “stress fire” ranges where we had to complete obstacle courses in full gear, run to the range, be forced to workout with E-5s screaming in our ears, then be asked to shoot. What was remarkable was that over time we became more and more deliberative over time and were able to excise the stressors and outside influences to focus on our shooting and moving. In fact it was this “return to basics” mentality in the midst of the stress fire that allowed us to move forward. Those who had difficulty were either re-trained (meaning more stress fires) or packed up for other units. 

Shark attacks and stress fires actually made our unit cohesion, our capabilities as soldiers, and our abilities as shooters more effective and encouraged us to return to basics and remember training. I was sorry to see that the military had gotten rid of that unique aspect of Basic Training. I’m glad Karl brought Shark Attacks up and made me think of those distinct memories. 

I Warned Ya

I said I wasn't going to stop posting these. Here's another couple. This one though I want to show how so many different people can see different things in the same book. 

The first is from Botkin. 

I love the fact that she said the ending would be a surprise. This more than any of the other novels I've written I wanted to be a break in form and completely stun the reader at the end. I think hearing that Botkin was surprised is a great thing to read from a review. 

Then we get Alex's review.

First, I'd like to think that 4 stars aint bad, and being called a typical conspiracy theory writer, isn't that bad a thing to hear. There are some really good typical conspiracy theory books out there. I think it's interesting that Alex thought the story was predictable, but Botkin thought the ending of the story was a complete surprise. 

Finally, there is Samantha, and I can't get enough of this one. "Created a depth that many books are missing" and "really makes you think" . . . Can't think of higher praise.

Again, if you'd like to read one of my novels for free (see here) just let me know and I'll send it to you. Already, I've sent out three since the last time I made this offer (see here). Also, if you'd like to see any or all of my reviews, take a look! (see here).

Learning Styles

We are often asked, "how do you include adult learning styles into your training development." The theory that many of our learners have is that there are a set of prescribed styles that learners naturally fall into and that by knowing the styles and knowing the styles that most of our learners conform to, we can make our training more effective. For example, many people enjoy hands-on training more than computer-based training and there is a perception that our users are more apt to learn via hands-on training so it is, therefore, more effective. 

In reality, there is more to it than that. 

Hands-on training usually has far fewer students than larger training, so the instructor can devote more time to the instruction and to each student. 

Hands-on training stimulates more long term memory development because it usually engages more memory-making neurons in the brain. Sensorimotor neurons, place cells, boundary cells, are all being used. 

It's not just that some people learn better with hands-on training, its that hands-on training is more effective so people tend to remember it more. Most of our clients have seen learning styles mapped out as shown in the image above, the Felder Silverman Model of learning styles. It's easy to remember and digest and seems to conform to what they know about learning.

In 1979 Gregorc stated that "Learning style consists of distinctive behaviors which serve as indicators of how a person learns from and adapts to his environment." These four domains include the cognitive domain, the affective domain, the psychomotor domain, and the physiological domain. The cognitive domain is the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to recall the knowledge for application. The affective domain addresses how learners receive respond to and internalize stimulus emotionally. The psychomotor domain explains how physical activity provides a way to gain knowledge and skills. Finally, the physiological domain addresses how a learner's environment and the many elements thereof impacts learning. 

Gregorc continues in his discussion of learning styles by breaking the learners' preferences and dislikes when it comes to learning. A Concrete Sequential (CS) learner can be summed up as a realist. They view reality through the concrete world of the physical senses and prefer sequential steps to arrive at solutions to problems. Their thinking processes are very methodical and result in solutions that have been validated by personal proof or subject experts. Slightly resistive to change, the CS learner performs best in a learning environment that is ordered and stable.

The Abstract Sequential (AS) learner thinks in a logical and rational manner much like the CS learner does. However, the AS learner better associates abstract information that corresponds to concrete reality than the CS learner does. The AS learner is a logical thinker who requires a stimulating learning environment that is free of authoritative features that would restrict their freedom to learn.

The Abstract Random (AR) learner views the world primarily through their sense of feelings and emotions. These feelings and emotions drive their approach to change and often determine their level of interest in a topic or learning situation. AR learners live for today and often possess a colorful personality. They also place a great amount of emphasis on relationships

The Concrete Random (CR) learner lives in a world that is influenced by the physical world and their sense of intuition. The physical world often serves as a starting point for their learning. Once started, CR learners will then rely on their intuition to guide their learning. CR persons are intuitive and independent learners. They learn best in a learning environment that has a high amount of stimulus and is free from learning restrictions. 

The more I work in this field and learn about adult learning, the more I realize that the Felder Silverman Model is too simple and does not tell the entire story. The Kolb learning styles theory takes the Felder Silverman model to a deeper level. Kolb describes learning as a four-step process that includes concrete experience (CE), reflective observations (RO), abstract conceptualization (AC), and active experimentation (AE). This shows that learning is a process that takes all four steps for the learner to engage the content and use it effectively. The idea of "hands-on" training in this model is seen as a part of the process of learning rather than a single means to an end.