Intended Audience
The Learning Leaders’ Forum is designed for workplace learning professionals who have a minimum of 10 years of workplace learning experience (or equivalent) and are responsible for developing workplace learning strategies. These programs are designed to offer strategic insight and time for round table interaction with peers.

Overview
Understanding the neuroscience of how adults learn can help trainers and instructional designers build training that maximizes employee retention, and help training departments improve the effectiveness of training efforts throughout their organizations. In this session, you’ll learn six of Dr. John Medina™s Brain Rules and their implications for leading learning strategies. Based Dr. John Medina breakthrough book, this session employs video, discussion, and research, plus you’ll walk away with a strategy for integrating brain-based learning in your organization.

Outcomes

• Identify opportunities to leverage neuroscience to improve the effectiveness of training efforts throughout your organization
• Outline a strategy document for integrating brain-based learning in your organization.

Register: http://www.astdcascadia.org/events/learning_leaders/2012/02-21-12.htm

You might be going about brainstorming the wrong way. To generate new ideas, give your brain a break. Try starting with a clear mind, and avoid being so direct in your thinking.

When Albert Einstein said, “Why is it I get my best ideas while shaving?” I think he was on to something with this observation.

It could be the steam, the isolation from everyday distractions, or the quality time spent with the subconscious mind. Or maybe it’s the white noise it generates, the ritualistic simplicity of it, or just a fresh start to the day.

Whatever the reasons, I get many of my best ideas in the shower.

According to the article “How to Produce Big Ideas On Demand” in Business Week Online, “There is a scientific theory that water hitting your head helps trigger the synapses and that’s why people get great ideas in the shower. But we think it’s simpler than that: The ideas occur because you are not making an effort to think. You aren’t worried about anything. You are not stressed. Hence some of your best thinking occurs.”

Perhaps we find a special sort of relaxation in those transitory moments of our days, which allow us to dig deeper into the incubation stations in our minds, seemingly without effort.

“Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” Thomas Edison had a different approach to tapping into his subconscious meanderings to mine new ideas. Although he only slept for four to five hours each night, he regularly took catnaps. He would think of something he wanted to resolve before sitting in a chair, drifting off with a ball bearing in each hand. If he fell into too deep of a sleep, the ball bearings would come crashing to the ground—a sign that he’d gone too far into slumber. He would then quickly record the ideas that were brewing when he was jolted awake.

You would think that Edison would have invented and patented a device for recording creative ideas in this manner. But it wasn’t until 75 years after his death that such products were available, at least when it comes to recording creative ideas in the shower.

Although I haven’t personally tried any of these products, I’m amused and impressed with the selection of idea-recording devices for use in the shower! There’s Divemaster Slate, a waterproof whiteboard. AquaNotes makes a waterproof notepad (“No more great ideas down the drain!”). Rite in the Rain makes a handheld waterproof flip pad. Aquapac makes waterproof cases for digital recording electronics.

But if I were to hang up the waterproof notepad or eagerly clutch my waterproof voice recorder as I shampoo my hair, would that quiet my creative subconscious? Would the ideas become less accessible if I were to enter the shower with such lofty expectations?

When do you find yourself generating your best ideas, and how do you record them?

1. Making learning that looks beautiful and works beautifully
2. Having a positive impact and making a difference
3. The aha moment when learner’s get it
4. Visuals
5. Making learning a memorable experience
6. Games
7. Clients that are willing to try something new
8. Collaboration
9. Art
10. Chocolate chip cookies

As Connie Malamed described in her “Learning Technology Trends to Watch in 2012” blog post, “Instructional designers are often the proponents of innovation and the persuaders who convince upper management that interaction and collaboration will make for a smarter organization.” As learning and sharing become more social, curating content is an absolute necessity for instructional designers.

So what exactly does “content curation” mean in a learning context? It involves finding, organizing, and filtering content to optimize learning opportunities. In the not-too-distant past, when people needed to research something, they had to visit the actual library. Now close your eyes and think about something you’d like to research. Does an image of a paper-based card catalog pop in your mind? Be honest: it’s a Google search box that you see.

The problem is that as we wade through the rising waters of the digital era, we feel swept up in a tidal wave of information. We have access to incomprehensible amounts of data, all in an instant. Shanghai Web Design created this mind-blowing graphic that attempts to describe what can happen within a single minute online. 510,000 comments are made on Facebook. 25 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube. And 168 million emails are sent, all within 60 seconds!

IDs have always focused on creating the ideal context for learning. We organize and make sense out of complex information, carving out the essentials while whittling away the unnecessary details. But the difference today is incredible accessibility of information and the potential for easy overload. We see it as a quest: Instructional designers must step up as digital cartographers and help carve out the path to clarity!

Here are some strategies we use for content curation in our learning programs:

Bundle digital resources: While we may have abandoned the card catalog system, we still love the “learning library” metaphor. Learning libraries should be stocked with essential information that’s relevant to the learner. They should be easily searched, sorted, and offer the ability to download and print content on demand. (This concept even goes beyond formal online learning. Anyone can be an online content curator—see ScoopIt and Flipboard for amazing examples!)

Build custom paths of discovery: Off-the-shelf learning solutions are quickly becoming yesterday’s news. By offering a self-paced flow, custom content, and a highly interactive environment, the experience of learning is more engaging and relevant for the learner’s specific needs. We discussed this in more depth on our recent post about adaptive learning.

Invite sharing and collaboration: Knock down the traditional barriers! As people are becoming more social online, look for creative ways to allow learners to share their insights in (or even outside) a learning environment. Tie in blog posts and invite comments. Compile topical information and publish it as an online “magazine.” Ask learners to upload their own case studies or other content. Start a twitter hashtag for your topic.

The potential for content curation in instructional design is exploding. What strategies have your learned or used?

“Jillian is a highly skilled and professional training professional. She is as adept in the classroom as she is in the process of development of the training material. She works well with individuals throughout an organization to develop well defined programs, working from the perspective of the target audience to develop systems and tools that will enhance their experience. She has tremendously strong written and verbal communication skills, is a talented writer and speaker. I would highly recommend Jillian for any organization that has need of an organizational development, training or communications professional.” –Retail Client

 When we learn something new, it doesn’t usually happen on purpose. In fact, learning is often a result of observation, experience, or failure. Organizations can’t always plan for formal learning to take place. Employees must feel motivated and free to apply the information they’re exposed to in order for true learning to occur. The best way to encourage learning is to set up an environment that actually supports it.

Brain-based research tells us that pre-exposure to information, also called ”priming,” makes subsequent learning proceed more quickly. At IdeaLearning Group, we recommend creating an environment at work that’s conducive to formal and spontaneous learning by making sure relevant information is accessible, based in a context that makes sense, and also easy to share with peers.

Ready, Set, Learn

We call this first phase of learning “Ready, Set, Learn.” When learners are immersed in a productive learning environment, they:

• Are armed with techniques and resources to maximize their efforts
• Understand the scope of their commitment
• Start with the same baseline knowledge
• Have the support and involvement of their managers
• Can draw a clear line between course objectives and their professional success

According to an article published by Training magazine, “A productive learning environment must address the physical, cognitive, and emotional elements in that environment.” The article goes on to recommend, “Organizations also need to consider who is involved in employee training, as interaction and support are critical and play a direct role in learning uptake.” You can give people a stack of information with instructions to learn it, but they will likely never absorb the information without the appropriate context and support.

Create A Culture of Learning

On his Brain Rules website, Dr. John Medina discusses our natural inclination to learn through exploring. “Babies are the model of how we learn—not by passive reaction to the environment but by active testing through observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion,” he says. “Babies methodically do experiments on objects, for example, to see what they will do.” So when you’re building a learning program for your organization, you can’t expect to force learning, but you can create a culture that encourages learners to experiment and apply information.

Try these best practices for tapping into your organization’s zest for learning:

• Engage your learners immediately. Use stories, scenarios, and examples that speak directly to your organization. Learners should understand what’s in it for them right away.
• Make blended methods of learning easily accessible. (Go way beyond PowerPoint.) Create a learning library, and encourage staff to explore and experiment with the material.
• Appeal to a variety of senses. Use video, online learning, and audio along with traditional printed materials. Make it easy for learners to explore and share.

On his blog, informal learning expert Jay Cross sums it up this way: “Training is something that’s imposed on you; learning is something you choose. Knowledge workers thrive when given the freedom to decide how they will do what’s asked of them.” We couldn’t agree more.

The overall purpose of adaptive learning is to allow learners to explore at their own pace, giving those with greater knowledge or skills the ability to move faster and those with fewer skills to take their time. The belief is that personalizing content according to what each learner needs empowers learners to take control of their education and to increase their efficiency and breadth of knowledge.

According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the modern-day concept of adaptive learning evolved from psychologist B.F. Skinner’s 1950s-era “teaching machine,” which he developed while working at Harvard University. Students were given questions from a mechanical box, and they were rewarded with “fresh academic material” after answering a question correctly. Today, new technologies make it possible to track student progress to a previously unimaginable degree. Learning management systems track development of skills, provide tailored feedback, and make customized help available depending on how well they master the content. Adaptive learning is still evolving, especially in schools. But new technologies are making it possible to develop highly interactive, game-like interfaces—certainly a step up from Dr. Skinner’s mechanical box!

At ILG, we’re tracking the trends and tuning in to the amazing possibilities adaptive learning offers for business professionals. In a traditional face-to-face learning environment, everyone is exposed to the same content. It’s not always clear to the instructor where people are on the knowledge spectrum. We believe the most powerful application of adaptive learning is a blended approach, combining classroom instruction and a robust elearning solution that offers a self-paced flow, a robust resource library, the ability to go down a custom path of discovery, and other engaging ways to explore material on demand. Students report feeling more motivated and challenged with this blended learning.

The market is reflecting the intense interest in the potential of adaptive learning. A new company called Knewton just raised $33 million in venture funding for its personalized learning platform. (Forbes magazine likens it to Pandora for the learning world; no two people see the same content, because no two people have exactly the same background.) The non-profit Next Generation Learning Challenges recently awarded more than $10 million in grants to 29 colleges and organizations to develop programs around technology that relates to adaptive learning.

Colleges, as well as businesses, are adding highly interactive elearning to their education programs that are inspired by the evolving technology made possible by adaptive learning principles.