Connections make my brain go round.

I like lists.  They help me grasp and remember the most important concepts and then I can keep the nuances and details swirling around in my head.  Then I mash the list and the ideas in my head together as I craft an answer to an essay question, create a presentation, or go grocery shopping for a special dinner.  To me, this is an example of how the brain works.  Or at least how my brain works.  As Reardon pointed out, “each brain is unique.”  According to Reardon, “every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes.”  To me this is similar to Zull’s recommendation in The Art of Changing the Brain, that teachers “arrange for firing together…associated things should happen together.”  When I look at the two lists supplied by Reardon and Zull side-by-side, I can see connection everywhere!

Reardon: How the brain works…	Zull: What teachers can do…	My connections
The brain is a parallel processor	Repeat, repeat, repeat	Same info presented in different ways will access different parts of the brain so the parallel consciousnesses can each be accessed.
Learning engages the entire physiology	Misconnected networks are most often just incomplete; try to add to them	Use different parts of the body/mind/spirit to connect to the whole physiology for deeper experiences.
The search for meaning is innate and occurs thru patterning	Try to understand existing networks, build on them; nothing is new	As we connect new patterns to old patterns we create a third pattern with deep roots in something we already retain as knowledge.
Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes	Arrange for firing together; associated things should happen together	I would caveat that don’t always be so sure to exclude something from a group. Look for connections in what previously seemed unconnected.  This is where new ideas come from.
Emotions are critical to patterning	Be careful about resurrecting old networks; error dies hard	Emotional patterns may be the most difficult to break; once overcome, be prepared to address them again if there is a relapse.
Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception	Focus on sensory input that is errorless	Don’t distract from the main point with an unrelated tangent; Enhance the main point with a meaningful story providing memorable examples.
The brain remembers best when facts and skills are embedded in contextual memory	Construct metaphors, analogies, similes	Like searching for meaning, roots in something familiar aid in memory and understanding.
Learning is enhanced by challenge, inhibited by threat	Don’t stress mistakes; don’t reinforce neuronal networks that aren’t useful	Stressing mistakes can be very threatening.  Small wins can be very powerful.
Each Brain is unique	Watch for inherent networks (natural talents) and encourage the practice	Build on your strengths to succeed.

I have also made some graphic pictograms for recalling Zull's suggestions for teaching.  I think they are fun devices for understanding how the brain works.  I hope you enjoy them!

 

EI phone home!

What was my biggest a-ha from this weeks reading?

Ever since Emotional Intelligence hit the business world in the 90's, it's been confusing to me. I come from a very smart family.  And that doesn't mean grades.  It's the kind of smarts that other people, go "wow, she's so smart," just from having an everyday conversation.  Learning about EI when the theories were becoming more mainstream was humbling for me.  I was never sure what it meant.  This week's reading, however, helped really define EI for me, so it's a lot less scary.  I have worked really hard to be self-aware.  I have plenty of self-motivation and good social skills.  I now know which areas of EI that I could work on to improve.

How does this apply to my own learning or practice?

Since school learning came easy to me in most cases, EI was not something I paid attention to while in school.   I think as a learner, it's important to be good at self-regulation because you can be motivated, but without some personal discipline, it's like having a spark but never letting it catch into a flame.  Through empathy with others, you may open yourself up to more opportunities to learn.  By listening well in class to classmates, without thinking about what you want to say, you might learn something new in a different way.  This is all true in the workplace, too.

What is your opinion of the importance and/or possibility of teaching emotional intelligence?

I think it's like teaching someone strategies for how to learn.  When teaching ESL in Japan, there were many classes for teaching students how to take the TOEFL test, or other English Language standardized tests which allowed students to study abroad.  These classes were taught in Japanese because they were more about strategy then actually the English lessons.  I thought this was brilliant.  It didn't take away from a students ability or desire to learn English, it added to it by giving them skills to use their knowledge efficiently in this particular situation.  I think this is what could be done with EI.  Since there is no way to effectively measure EI, then it is unfair to judge one person as having a higher EI then another, but we do all have some sense of the different components.  Having someone address the five components in a classroom situation and teaching effective strategies for each would be very helpful.    

What are the possible outcomes of doing so?

One particular outcome that I think would be very helpful is for team building.  An entire team could take a course in EI as a way to build a common language and framework for communication. I believe the team could learn to work better together for more innovation.  When conflict arose, which is inevitable in an innovation process, the team could refer back to the concepts behind the skills as a guide.  In the example we read, it was all about teaching managers how to manage employees or customers.  What if one person was not the only one responsible for this code of conduct?  Wouldn't the work place be better over all for everyone?  I would certainly feel more motivated and valued, being treated in such a way that I could be expected manage myself. Reminds me of the principles and theories discussed in Wlodkowski and Knowles.

Girl, you got style...

 I like taking tests.  I like taking standardized tests.  I like filling in the little ovals...I like that I can select an answer from a group of answers, thus having a chance to reason it out, I like to write essay question answers...I am a big geek.

I also like to have my personality explored via tests.  It's a little like the fun of a fortune teller.  You take what works, you leave behind what doesn't.  And as I have gotten older, it seems to be more and more consistent.

So as a learner, in the VARK, I was really happy to see they added the R, because as I suspected I am a High Visual Learner AND a High Reading/Writing learner.  Joanne talks about note taking in HS in her blog, well I am always the note taker in meetings.  I am accurate and fast.  And once I write it, I remember it, so I don't have to look at it again.  Sometimes my notes are in the form of a pictogram to describe what I am hearing.  This does slow me down in reading, as I like to skip the niceties, transitionals, things I already know/agree with and write down the main points so I can recall them.  If someone is a good non-fiction writer this usually is in the first line of the paragraph.  Highlighting is not enough.  I have to re-write it.  Sometimes I wish all text books would be in the form of a chart that you could look at for the high level ideas, and then click on them for examples and details....WAIT! BRAINSTORM! Copyright Marianne Witterholt Carr 2010! Got it!

And this is also representative of my other learning style according to Kolb.  I am just a bit right of the center on the line between Diverger and Assimilator.  According to this theory, the closer to the middle, the more of a well rounded learner you are...but what does well rounded mean?  I think I was taught to be able to learn in these difference manners in elementary school.  I was fortunate enough to attend grade school in Connecticut in the late 60's early 70's when many experimental educational programs were occurring even in the public school system.  We were taught how to learn.  

I have always been very comfortable with divergent thinking -- coming up with many, many ideas.  I think any one can be encouraged to improve this skill (as indicated in the video supplied in Tobi's blogg).  I think the assimilation part mirrors my love of making charts and pictograms of concepts.  Often this is the art of taking concepts and assembling (or assimilating) them together to show relationships.  Good stuff.

So as a teacher, I think I have to be very cautious to remember that everyone is not like me.  I have to push outside my own comfort zone and include more kinesthetic or aural work so that for those students they can feel connected.  I believe I will actually need to be conscious of looking for specific activities and tactics that teach the same thing, maybe four different ways. 

This is also the case in leading brainstorming activities.  There are many different types of divergent and convergent activities.  Different types of people will be more productive in the different activities because of their learning styles.  Learning styles may also come into play as a way to market an innovation.  In order for people to embrace something, they must learn about it.  So how do you make a launch of an innovative product appeal to all these different kind of learners? WAIT! BRAINSTORM!Copyright Marianne Witterholt Carr 2010! Got it!

Self-reflection as a form of learning.

I think I am stuck…I just read The Seasons of a Woman Life, by Daniel J. Levinson, and I realized I am stuck.  When looking at my life, I am feeling that perhaps I didn’t do so hot in the “culminating life structure for early adulthood stage.”  This is a time when I was supposed to be “forming a structure with in which I can establish a more secure place for myself in society” (26).  Well, during this time I got married, quit a job, got a divorce, changed careers, moved to Japan, moved back, changed careers again.  Does that sound particularly secure or stable? 

So how does this impact me as a learner?  I think the first step of any learning is realizing you don’t know something.  “Know not know,” is the phrase I have heard in the past.  And this is a painful stage.  It’s the one that comes after the “ignorance is bliss” stage.  Oh, for the bliss of being un-diagnosised. 

I did some additional self-diagnosis in examining the generational differences.  For me, it was a bit like horoscopes.  Take the label off and you can get that feeling of “that’s me” from each of these descriptions.  I did take a test once that measured how much you have in common with Gen Y (millennials).  I actually got a 91%!  So I am always interested in the descriptions of the other groups.  I do feel I have the least in common with Gen X, even though I am on the cusp. 

It has been difficult for me to pin down my learning style definitively.  I do like to experience some things, I like to attend lectures by really good speakers, I like to take notes and create visuals of concepts.  So what does that make me? 

So in conclusion, and so forth, and I would have to say (to quote a pageant contestant) I want to have learning experiences that stimulate and help me evolve.  I definitely have some internal motivation, an important part of being an adult learner.  But for now, I am going to have the rest of my latte and ponder how if I have really entered a developmental crisis phase, or read my New Yorker.  Self-reflection, this is a form of learning, too, isn’t it?

Source: Levinson, Daniel J. 1996. The seasons of a woman’s life.Knopf. New York.

Using teaching strategy to inspire other's creative solution finding skills.

My intention

In this economy, businesses, and individuals, need to be innovative in their thinking.  Two issues often arise when trying to apply creativity in practical terms.  Individuals will often say, "I'm not creative," thus they are stymied. Organizations jump straight to brainstorming activities and get the same, old, results.  I have been studying the art and science of applied creativity for about five years now, and want to teach others how they can be productively creative with better outcomes in both their professional and personal lives.

Subject matter

Applied creativity in general, and specifically, the

Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Methodology

Learner Outcomes

1. Learners will be able to explain how applied creativity is useful in their own situation.

Strategy: Cognitive

2. Learners will be able to demonstrate the phases and steps of the OPCPS method by the end of class.

Strategy: Mental Model Strategy

3. Learners will gain confidence in their own ability to be a creative solution finder.

Strategy: Virtual Reality Strategy

For our assignment, I will focus on the third outcome and the virtual reality strategy.  In fact, this "lesson" could be executed as a three part course.   In planning for the third part, there will be some assumptions made regarding the first two parts in my lesson plan for implementing the virtual reality strategy.  

One note about the virtual reality strategy, although this serves well for learnings that need safe environments, particularly those learnings that have high physical risk, I feel that utilizing a specific creative solution methodology can also involve personal risk. Feeling foolish or embarrassed is big fear for many people.

It takes commitment and the confidence to execute a rigorous creative problem solving methodology., Others may not understand what you are doing as you proceed to the end, which, hopefully provides a better solution. This can feel very risky in professional situations as well as in some personal scenarios.

Also, by focusing on this issue in the third part of the lesson, hopefully people will demonstrate what they know in front of others, thus making a recommendation to others to take this class from me.

Substitute the word training with innovation.

When I read this today, I experienced deja vu.  Not only is this concept that strategy is often overlooked here in Davis' guide to Effective Training, it is stressed in every book I believe I have ever read about business planning.  

Objectives are fun to set!  Tactics are fun to make-up!  But strategies? These are skipped because the importance of deciding how you will get there is not as fun, I guess.  Unless you are like me.  

It's like planning a trip.  I want to go to Hawaii for New Year's Eve this year.  This is my objective. Tactically I am going to take a plane and, yeah, I will be there! Yes!  Done.  

Or am I?  What about how will I pay for it? What will I bring? Who will I go with?  This may start with re-defining my objective, then looking at the "paths" that will lead to that outcome.  

So, for example, my objective becomes "I want to have a wild, fun time on NYE in Hawaii." This will change the strategy of who I want to go with...if it was a relaxing time, I would take someone who is calming and low key. But if it's a wild time, my strategy would be take someone adventurous, outgoing and who likes to stay up late because it's NYE.  

The tactic would be choosing between my friend Mark, who is up for anything, versus my friend Lisa, who likes to try new things, but goes to bed early.  If I had not refined my objective, THEN determined my strategy, I may have taken Lisa, but been disappointed in the outcome.

This is true for innovation, too.  Often objectives are set and then tactics are developed via brainstorming for new products.  Very little time is spent on all the strategic paths that could be taken to reach the objectives.  Perhaps the innovation is not even needed in the products, but in the marketing approach, or distribution, or financial models.  With a dedication to the step of creating strategies, you can only improve the chances that objectives will be met. 

Another quote from the reading this week that I think I might have tattooed on my forehead so others can see it when planning either innovation or training (or how about innovation FOR training?!) -- "Tactics is the art of using troops in battle. Strategy is the art of using battles to win wars." That's a little paraphrased, but you get the gist.

I like to draw pictures...

One of the ways in which I like to learn, is by visualizing a concept.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.  I created this one because I was inspired by the essence of adult motivation for learning.  I would love to have feedback from others to see if this diagram works for them, as well.  I would like it to be bigger, but I am still  "getting to know" this blog format.
In class last week we also discussed the visualization of statistics.  I have included a link to a gentleman who has very definite ideas of how knowledge, of any sort, can be presented visually for good communication.  This link is to the one visualization that gets the most attention.  Tufte did not create it, and he is not a graphic artist, but he promotes it as one of the best examples of visual communication of knowledge. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters
I also like these guys for creating concept maps, not so much about statistics, but about processes. http://www.dubberly.com/concept-maps
And finally, a book I came across recently also has a website: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/.  Once again, not all of this is statistical, but a lot of it is.  I am interested in how some of this visualization of knowledge would translate culturally and how could it be a tool especially in the realm of the fun/delight factor in motivating adult learners (like how I brought this back to the topic?!).  I know I am delighted by it!

Teaching strategies can be used for innovation, too.

Reading this week in Wlodkowski, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn, I am again struck how there are parallels of strategies for teaching and techniques suggested for facilitating creative brainstorming and ideation sessions. One of the first similarities I noticed was the need to create a safe environment.  Eliminating negative conditions, such as pain, fear and anxiety, frustration, boredom (p.177) are all emotions that need to be minimized to allow for an individual's ability to think in new ways for innovation.

Confronting erroneous beliefs of the learner,  is similar to activities in ideation sessions in which the group seeks to uncover orthodoxies and the route causes of these orthodoxies.  For innovation, orthodoxies are those deeply held beliefs that may be blocking the possibilities of new ways of thinking and doing.  With a learner, these negative learned attitudes impede the learners way of acquiring new information.

In the future, I am going to use the positive question suggested, "What might have to happen for you to believe you could do well or change your attitude (belief) in a positive direction?"  This could be adapted to for an innovation session in which the team is asked, "What might need to happen for the company to believe it can be innovative?" or something similar.

It seems like motivation techniques are often cross situational.  Something I am going to keep an eye on over the next ten weeks of class.

Principle #2 of Andragogy: The learners' self-concept.

This principle is basically asking instructors to treat adults like adults. This principle reinforces the idea that a lack of knowledge does not equate to a lack of intelligence.

An example of a bad experience with this principle occurred with a young teacher (22 years old) in the ESL school in which I taught in Japan.  She was teaching a more advance English class, and the context, but not the lesson, was a scientific subject dealing with cells.  Because she was biology major, she resorted to explaining the parts of the cell, instead of addressing the grammar issue.  In her class was a medical doctor. Because he is Japanese, he did not express his frustration, but I could only imagine.  It wasn’t a vocabulary lesson as most scientific names are universal.  My advice to her was that next time, she could invite the doctor to explain the parts of the cell as a way to practice English, specifically the grammar point of the lesson.

A way to execute against this principle is a technique used in business presentations, and that is to ask overtly what people know about the subject and what they want to learn.  This is often a good introduction. It makes people feel heard and acknowledged, as well as allows the speaker to adjust the content appropriately to make it more meaningful.

Another technique is peer teaching, in which students work with other students to develop parts of the lesson or provide feedback on a lesson point.  Personally, as a learner, this type of activity is a little frustrating for me, perhaps because it takes me some alone time to think something through, but as a teacher, this type of activity is usually gold.

Because I want to relate all my posts to applied creativity and innovation, I thought about how this principle may be related to brainstorming techniques.  Some interpret brainstorming techniques to mean dismissing what you know, often called assumptions or orthodoxies, in favor of clean slate thinking.  Perhaps it is not as much about abandoning these restrictions, as it is about providing opportunities to combine things you know in ways not tried before. Or combining things you know that seem unrelated into new solutions. Thus there is a tremendous respect for adults with previous knowledge in brainstorming. In fact, it is suggested, for successful brainstorming groups, to bring together people with deep knowledge about unrelated topics in order to achieve new ideas and new ways of thinking.

Let's talk about me! with Marianne

I am totally new to the blog-o-sphere, but it's about time! Thank you to Allison for making this our first assignment.  Talking about yourself is a little uncomfortable, so hopefully you will all post, so we can talk about you for a while.  Or other equally interesting topics.  Cheers!

What is your current professional position (student/job title/company) and how are you involved, or not, with adult learners? 
I am a consumer insights strategist, putting my career on hold for a bit while I go to grad school.
I have taught adults in the past (ESL/EFL) and loved it.  I have also done training in corporate environments, including course development, for creative problem solving, career and life planning, and research protocol.  This is my last semester before I work on my capstone.  My program is Leadership and Organizations with a specialty in Strategic Innovation and Change.

How do your future plans (career/personal/etc.) involve knowledge about adult learning?
It's my hope to do more teaching at the adult level in marketing, as well as begin on-going programs to teach other professionals in creative problem solving techniques.

How would you rate your current knowledge of adult learning theories? What are some of the things you already know about adult learning theory (theories/theorists/general concepts)?
In doing our reading for this week, it was surprising to be familiar with some of the names - Skinner, Maslow- to name just two.  It seems like I may have forgotten more than I ever knew.

What do you already know about yourself, or not know about yourself, as an adult learner?
I haven't really been able to define myself as an adult learner.  In the past, i.e. undergrad (many, many years ago...) I was best at lectures, note taking, and review, with little patience for reading on my own.  Although I love to read for pleasure.  Now, in grad school, I am finding that the reading is so much more enjoyable, I am able to commit to this part of the work.  But, I still have to take notes on what I read.

What do you hope to get out of this course? 
I want to be better at customizing my materials to fit the needs of students, thus making it easier for them to enjoy and retain what they learn.  It would be great to make these kinds of changes on the fly as needed in real life situations. I am also really into visual communication of knowledge and am interested in how this intersects with adult learning theory.