Experience (can be to much)
I am 46 years of age, I’ve had a keen interest in learning since my mid 20’s. I’ve spent the last 15 or so years digging down into subject matter within and beyond the science of learning (my passion project). So when working with others in helping them design and deliver good learning, when time and finance is limited I’m driven to ask the question..
“What do they not need to know?”
This is a gift of a phrase offered to me by the awesome Laura Watkin (Head of Learning and Be More Learning and Development Limited)
See, I (like you) am often excited about my content and the subject matter which I get the privilege to share with others. The accumulation of this if we could imagine it being pages of a book, could fill a small home. But when I have only 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour with learners, I have to be extremely considerate about the information I have amassed and work out what not to do….
So yes, whilst I do start the design process from ‘outcomes’ i.e. what do we ‘hope’ to achieve as a consequence of this experience. I must acknowledge that like most, I build far too much in, can’t fully predict how quick (or slow) it will take a collective of learners to go through this and with it must also then back track… asking …
“What do they not need to know?”
Now my ego might have to take a back seat in this process, I can’t simply say… “well they need to know that” (thanks for that one Stella Collins CEO of Stellar Labs), without having true evidence of this.
I’m mean, just because I like it and think its important doesn’t mean it should be included… it may just be noise to them (even if its poetry to me)!
What I’ve amassed took years (and I’m nowhere near done learning yet), but all I have with them is an hour…
This may seem a counter intuitive approach, perhaps even reductionist. However, it’s a very important approach to take, if we wish to:
- Maintain motivation, the desire and capacity to attend to the learning
- Give space for shared storytelling and sense making
- Provide time for learners to record information in a way that supports retention
- Leads to learner agency, a confidence, capability and opportunity to internalise what they have experienced beyond their time with us.
Subtraction
However, we must be careful with our subtraction, if we remove too much… we lose the story, we alter the melody… like a song with some key words or lines missing. Our brain becomes jolted and confused. It may not be able to proceed until the gap is filled. If we push on with the learning we leave people behind, they may detach from the experience, now we don’t want that.
So as Mr Armstrong (Strategic lead for workforce transformation, Sport England) states – ‘learning is not a transactional act, but a transformational one’ (I paraphrase). And while learning designed for efficiency and cost is important (very important) in terms of budgetary challenges, it cannot be the driver. This doesn’t mean we can’t be clever, creative and compelling in our use of ‘what we have’. I always believe in…
“Making more from what you already have”
Juicing the orange of life and learning… So when we create, we yes need to keep an eye on budget and time (as these are precious commodities), however we do this with our sight clearly focused on applying ‘good’ science to our design process. To ensure it is flexible enough to work with a varied band width of learners, but not so flexible it can’t be managed (tracked and assessed).
Compelling Journey
We design with the idea of creating a compelling journey which reaches out beyond the time we spend in contact with each other, the best learning often occurs out there (and not in our teaching spaces).
Whilst yes, we may create ‘aha’ moments, that’s just what they are, moments that can contribute well to ‘momentum’. At best if we are honest our sessions are momentum givers, springboards into the future… the learner must leave us feeling capable, confident and with the opportunity to continue their journey.
Move from one springboard moment to the next, rather than plunge into the abys of nothingness. Left to lose the learning, have the motivation disappear, and the connection to us dwindle.
Community and Social Capital
We can however mitigate for this element of the ‘wicked problem’ that is learning, by creating a learner community vibe, building ‘social trust’ in the hope that with the right support, structures and influences this becomes a ‘truer’ learning community where the individual ‘human capital’ becomes a bank of ‘social capital’.
A connected collective which is comfortable and capable of supporting others without a ‘facilitator’ (you and me) present. Have learners offer investment from their bank of learning where they see a need for it. Equally having learners withdraw from the knowledge and experience banks of others as they journey.
With this happening multiple times in multiple directions we see a ‘crowd wisdom’…. Something more tacit, not explained in textbooks but only gained through the sharing of stories from experience… and its these stories (if well informed) will plug all the gaps that I may have left when I began subtracting from the learning experience I was creating… they are now learning with and for each other…
Just imagine!!! I say we try it…
If you want to find out more about ASRI and our work in Learning Design and Delivery just give us a shout – click the link or e mail kurt@bemorelnd.co.uk.
Stimulated by: Laura Watkin, Stella Collins and Stuart Armstrong – Thank you.
