Training Should be Fun

While I was organizing my training files last week, I fortunately glanced at a document containing some tools, tips and toys for trainers and teachers in making their sessions more effective and fun.  The following contents were thankfully consolidated by Trainers Warehouse.  Hope this would also help and motivate you!

Games and simulations

“One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it–you have no certainty until you try.”  Sophocles 5th c. B.C.

Approximately 65% of 131 student surveyed stated that they prefer to play in teams:  Only 37% gave high importance to competition with a clear winner.

Seventy six percent (76%) of students surveyed felt game rules need not be strictly followed. 37% gave high importance to competition with a clear winner.  47% preferred games with a mixture of skill and chance.  Sherry Robinson, Penn State Univ., Academy of Ed Leadership, Vol. 12 No. 1 Jacksonville, 2007

“Setting time limits for game questions and team tasks creates a competitive spirit that motivates learner interaction with the topic.  It’s a great way to bring fun and energy to your lesson plan.”  Steve Sugar, The Game Group

Recognition

Don’t wait until the end of the session to congratulate learners. “Feedback has been shown to be one of the most significant activities a teacher can engage in to improve achievement.”  Hattie, J., Spec. Ed. Conf., May 1992.

Invite Oscar recipients to give an acceptance speech. It adds levity to the session but also helps them share their wisdom, pride and accolades with others.  Marci Goldshlack, Director of Corp. Training, Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation

Memory

“Allow students to consolidate their notes by pausing three times for two minutes each during a lecture. Students will learn significantly more information.”  Ruhl, Hughes, and  Schloss 1987

Students who used more imagery [mental visualization of objects, events or ideas] during learning displayed more creativity in their discussions, modeling and assessments.  LeBoutillier & Marks, 2003; Sousa, p. 231

Studies show that retention after 3 days is 10% from lecturing and 20% from demonstration.  Sousa, p. 231

You are more likely to keep students focused during lesson segments if you go off-task between the segments [i.e. tell an unrelated joke].  Tony Buzan 1989; Sousa, p. 93

During a learning episode, we remember best that which comes first, second best that which comes last and least that which comes just past the middle.  Gazzanniga et al., 2002; Terry, 2005; Sousa, p. 89

Practice does not make perfect.  Practice makes permanent. If practice is stopped altogether, the neurons that are no longer being used are eventually assigned to other tasks and skill mastery will decline.  In other words, use it or lose it! Amunts et al., 1997; Sousa, p. 97

Several studies have shown that listening to certain music [Classical, New Age, etc.] can stimulate the parts of the brain that are responsible for memory recall and visual imagery.  Nakamura et al., 1999; Sousa, p. 224

In a study of surgeons, for example, background music enhanced their alertness and concentration.  Restak, 2003, Sousa, p. 224

When we sit for more than 20 minutes, our blood pools in our seat and our feet.  By getting up and moving, we recirculate that blood.  Within a minute, there is about 15% more blood in our brain.  We do think better on our feet!  Sousa, p. 34

Test performance improves if you prepare the brain.  Try this mix:  get learners up to exercise for 2 minutes; give the 2 oz. of fruit (fresh or dry); wash it down with 8 oz. of water to get sugar into the bloodstream and hydrate the brain.  Then wait 5 minutes before testing.  The energy effect lasts about 30 minutes.  Sousa, p. 35

“Chunking,” treating a set of data as a  single item, is an effective way to enlarge the working memory’s capacity. Sousa, p. 111

When asking a question, extend the wait time to 5 seconds or more to give everyone time to answer and improve the quality of responses.  “Calling on the first hands to go up signals the slower retrievers to stop the retrieval process.”  Mary Budd Rowe 1974; Sousa, p. 129

Relieve stress and help people feel positive about their learning environment.  It will release endorphins in the blood, which gives a feeling of euphoria and stimulates the frontal lobes.  Sousa, p. 84

Stress

Eliminate stress and make learners feel welcome. Stress causes your body to release cortisol into the bloodstream, which destroys glucose, the brain’s only source of food.”  Tina Konstant, Teach Yourself Speed Reading

Laughter reduces stress.  Actually, it reduces at least four of neuroendocrine hormones associated with stress response–epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone.  Paul E. McGhee, PhD, Health, Healing and the Amuse System, 1999.  Laughter Remedy

Many doodle while on the phone or jingle pocket change.  Invite your group to fidget in class. It helps all types of kinesthetic learners and improves everyone’s enthusiasm for learning.  Jerry Evanski, Classroom Activators

Student performance increases with the use of background music. Students remained on task longer and commented, “the music helps me concentrate, relax, and remember…”  Anderson, Henke, et al.  “Using Music to Enhance Memory and Improve Learning,”  Saint Xavier Univ., 2000

Positive learning environments lead to endorphins in the blood, which gives a feeling of euphoria and stimulated the frontal lobes.  Sousa, p. 84

Participation

90.9% of the students surveyed either “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” that Audience Response systems improved engagement and participation; 81.8% said it increased their attention span and helped them learn more effectively.  Caldonian Business School, UK, Andy Sharp and Angela Sutherland

Give everyone time to answer. “Calling on the first hands to go up signals the slower retrievers to stop the retrieval process.” Mary Budd Rowe 1974; Sousa, p. 129

Photo courtesy of Trainers Warehouse.

Individual Differences

A child must learn that he is somebody worthwhile, and that he can do many praiseworthy things.        – Benjamin Mays

Have you ever gone through to  learning situations where you taught the same course material and methodology to different target learners, and they did not equally turn out well?  Why do you think they did not?  Can we blame the learners, the course material, or  the methodology itself?

Fundamentally, educative process is composed of the learner, learning process, and learning situation.   Most of the time, the last two are very dependent on the nature of the learner.   Students vary in their learning pace, which have unique individuality and several potentialities.  Thus, every learning institution shall be aware of individual differences that may transpire in the whole process.

According to the principle of individual differences or the principle of trait differences, each student differs greatly within himself in his potentiality to learn.  In the same manner, the educator should not expect the learners to assimilate the information and attain the desired outcome equally.  This notion calls for the modification of learning activities dependent to the abilities, interests, and needs of the learner.

Theoretical construct

Howard Gardner made the Theory of Multiple Intelligences to explain that students vary with their abilities and intellectual capacities.  He suggests that there are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving and understanding the world.  Gardner labels each as a distinct “intelligence” or, more known as, a set of skills allowing individuals to find and resolve genuine problems they face.  He defines intelligence as a group of abilities that is somewhat autonomous from other human capacities, has a core set of information-processing operations, has a distinct history in the stages of development we each pass through, and has plausible roots in evolutionary history.  He identifies the seven (7) intelligences such as verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

Reflections and insights

Multiple intelligence has a great impact in education.  Traditional schooling heavily favors the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence.   According to his study, he suggested a more balanced curriculum that incorporates the arts, self-awareness, communication, and physical education.  The instructional method that he is advocating appeals to all the intelligence, including role playing, musical performance, cooperative learning, reflection, visualization, storytelling, and so on.  Thus, this calls for assessment of methodologies that take into account the diversity of intelligence, as well as self-assessment tools that help students understand their intelligence.

Individual differences are indeed an aspect that needs an emphasis in the learning process.   As an educator, you should diagnose and analyze the profile (interests, abilities, aptitude) of your learners.  In this way, you would know the best methodology to use in every learning situation.  Since they are our main focus, understanding their nature (strengths and weaknesses) and facilitating their needs are very essential to have an effective and efficient educative process.

Photo courtesy of  Uni.In.

Experiencing E-Learning

I gathered some opinions from people who already had an experience in e-learning.  This may help you to conceptualize the design of your e-learning program and further develop your courses to provide an engaging learning community to your target learners.

• According to Mark Felipe (Theorem Global employee), since his professor in Trace University used it during their thesis days, he concluded that this is a good environment to share information among students through uploading assignments, files, and other resource materials that can eventually help each member of their learning community to accomplish their projects.

• According to Marc Sy (Consultant and a self-paced learner), this self-managed learning is very much applicable to busy professionals who would like to gain additional knowledge despite of their limited time.  As he experienced it, he assumed that a learner should be very disciplined to study his course.  Thus, the provider should give an ample time and target deadline in studying the whole course which should apparently be reasonable and attainable.  E-learning can be presented in several ways; however, learners’ needs and nature of the course should be considered.

• According to John Erwin Magno (member of Microsoft Learning Community), it helped him to be more updated with new IT courses.  Through this, he realized that learning new knowledge can be accomplished anytime, anywhere.  He also enjoyed the “progress report” that the learning community has provided which aided him to assess his pacing in his course.  He also appreciated how interactive and dynamic the courses are because they uses well-developed course materials which caters different learning needs and preferences.

• According to German Laylo (IBM employee), he really enjoyed the self-paced learning because he was able to maximize his spare time to study bulk of modules.  He also added that he appreciated the flexibility it offers because this tool provided several methodologies and activities that may be utilized according to preferences of the students with different learning styles.  He was also challenged with the “thought-provoking questions” that every module has.  This way, he is more disciplined to study well so he can move forward to the next step and finish the whole course in a very limited time. Overall, this is very effective and efficient enough for a busy person like him.

You may establish an interactive and dynamic online learning community which offers several methodologies and activities that will cater diverse learning styles and needs while considering the nature of the course you may offer.  Further, since this is a self-paced learning, a progress report and evaluation are essential to assess the pacing of their own learning while providing greater collaboration to them.  Succinctly, e-learning is a helpful tool for our learners to achieve professional growth in a very convenient, portable, and flexible way.  This is an innovative learning means that offers limitless possibilities of learning.

Have you tried experiencing E-Learning?  You may try some open source course management  system like Moodle and Docebo for free.  You may also invest in some learning solutions (software tool) like Adobe E-Learning and Articulate.

E-Learning: An Overview

E-learning  or “electronic learning” refers to a wide range of applications and processes designed to deliver instruction through electronic means.  E-Learning is a fusion of education plus technology.  It’s an innovative approach for delivering electronically mediated, well-designed, learner-centered, and interactive learning environment to anyone, anyplace, anytime by utilizing the Internet and digital technologies in performance with instructional design principles.

It is the synergy of information-on-demand, multimedia communication, social collaboration, instruction, discovery and exploration that interactively engages the learner with great learning opportunity.  Further, this provides cost-savings, time-savings, convenience, more personal contact, and more direct experience of the subject matter.  The rapid adoption of e-learning that has occurred in corporate, school and government settings is based on the fact that these new tools powerfully leverage traditional education and training.

Features of e-learning

It is not unlike any other form of education – and it is widely accepted that e-learning can be as rich and as valuable as the classroom experience or even more so. With its unique features, e-learning is an experience that leads to comprehension and mastery of new skills and knowledge, just like its traditional counterpart.

In closer view, the following features are available in e-learning:

• Learning is self-paced and gives students a chance to speed up or slow down as necessary
• Learning is self-directed, allowing students to choose content and tools appropriate to their differing interests, needs, and skill levels
• Accommodates multiple learning styles using a variety of delivery methods geared to different learners; more effective for certain learners
• Designed around the learner
• Geographical barriers are eliminated, opening up broader education options
• 24/7 accessibility makes scheduling easy and allows a greater number of people to attend classes
• On-demand access means learning can happen precisely when needed
• Overall student costs are frequently less (tuition, residence, food, child care)
• Potentially lower costs for companies needing training, and for the providers
• Fosters greater student interaction and collaboration
• Fosters greater student/instructor contact
• Enhances computer and Internet skills

E-learning process

1. Needs Analysis – this is to identify and analyze feasible courses according to target market’s needs.  This includes content analysis, format and presentation of the content and Learning and Management System (LMS) analysis.
2. Course Design and Development – this is to create effective and competitive courses that would cater the needs of the target learners.  The design defines “how to teach” or methodologies to use.  The aim for learners to learn authentically through development of associations between concepts and reflective meta-cognitive processes.
3. Course Delivery, Deployment and Implementation – this is to provide smooth delivery, deployment and implementation of the course.  Deliver, deploy and implement the designed and developed course for  the learners.  Thus, different parts are integrated to form a cohesive workable whole.
4. Logistics and Maintenance – this is to set well-maintained learning materials and technical support made available for learners.  Maintaining the LMS of the course is being done through providing technical support to students and managing user accounts and network security.  Thus, updating and monitoring the e-learning environment and progress of the learners are necessary.
5. Evaluation – this is to efficiently track and measure course results.  Was the course effective and efficient enough for the learners?  Did the learners achieve the instructional goals and objectives at the end of the course?

Learning is an active process of constructing knowledge. It is individual in nature. Various tools are employed to make the process of teaching and learning effective. In keeping with advancement of technology, the tools have undergone modifications in sophistication. From simple chalk and black board, they have come a long way to computers with multimedia and teletechniques.

Photo courtesy of  Braintrack.

Personality of an Educator

The teacher has to have the energy of the hottest volcano, the memory of an elephant, and the diplomacy of an ambassador – Jaime Escalante (The Best Teacher in America, 1988)

Personality of an educator is one of the most important factors that affects teaching and learning process.  The effectiveness and productivity of this process depend largely on his personality and methodologies.  In the same manner, educator’s characteristics are necessary to motivate learners in achieving instructional goals and objectives.  The teacher has to possess the love, concern, care, and genuine interest towards his students.  Thus, these have meaningful effects on learners’ performance and behavior, and the teacher could have a comfortable, secure attitude with himself as an instructor while having a good relationship with his learners.

Theoretical construct

Educators have different personalities who portrayed inside their respective classes, which are dependent on the kind of learning situation they may have.  According to Richard Ryckman’s Theories of Personality (2004), personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognition, motivations, and behaviors in various situations.  According to Carl Jung’s Psychological Theory of Personality, there are two types of behavior, introverted and extroverted.  Both attitudes are present in every person, in different degrees.  He said that no one is a pure extrovert or pure introvert, and majority of people is actually  a reasonably well-balanced mixture of these types, albeit with a preference for one or the other.

Reflections and insights

Educator‘s personality affects learners’ growth and achievement.  Some teachers are like a disciplinarian which is somewhat strict, others are like gardeners who plant the seeds of overwhelming learning experience and allow students to enrich them, while others are like guidance counselors who have  deep concerns toward their students.   Despite their differences, they all have the same mission:  to mold minds (knowledge), hands (skills), and hearts (values) of their learners.  Likewise, the rapport built between them can unlock the difficulties the students may have and diminish the barrier that may arise in the learning process.

Possessing good personality as an educator is indeed essential.  He is not only involved in solely teaching the subject matter but also someone who can be a mentor and an adviser.  Incorporating such go beyond what a true teacher really means, an educator who has a passion in his profession and puts not only his mind but also his heart towards his vocation.

Photo courtesy of  Woman’s Day.