How NOT to Build an Online Course – Part II

Letter to the Coures Editors – Part II: In my travels and dealings, I have seen thousands of online courses.  Some courses are brilliant, while others leave much to be desired.  Unfortunately, there is still a significant number of what I call, “Text Under Glass” – essentially courses that are all reading with little to no interactive content.  Likewise, there are courses where the instructor has no presence – no immediacy, no communication, no evaluation…no teaching!  I have also seen courses that aren’t really courses – they are incomplete from the traditional concept of a course.  So, for these last two blogs, I’d like to present my letters to course writers.  These letters are meant to both motivate and call out.  See what you think.

Dear course author –

I saw one of your courses the other day.  Whoops!  It’s hard to know where to start in trying to explain the numerous problems I saw, but I’ll try to take a stab at it. 

Let’s start with the pretty pictures…perhaps you might want to rethink grabbing any old photo from Google images and tacking it on a page.  It’s especially helpful if the picture actually has something (anything) to do with the content you are discussing!  But not to worry, there weren’t that many pictures anyway, so at least there won’t be many to fix.  (Although the different colors of your paragraphs seemed to match the pictures sometimes – how great for your class of ADHD students!)

Of course, not much in the way of images suggests that you had a lot of text.  That would be like saying the Titanic took in a lot of water.  Take some direction from our Instructional Design friends – less can be more!  The Word documents you converted to html pages were…well, they were probably exactly what you designed them to be – notes!  YOUR notes.  Not meaningful content or substantive comments, but notes to help guide your own understanding.  Do you know what good your notes are to me?  Let me try to help you.  Here are my notes from a lecture on Objectics:

Objects and Artifacts.  Function and aesthetics.  Presidential debates – going back to Kennedy / Nixon.  Colors = context culturally. 

I have several more lines, but I hope you get the idea.  This also translates to PowerPoint slides.  I finally get the saying: Death By PowerPoint.  This is because your slideshow had no power, nor did it have a point.  I’m guessing that’s because some were your notes, while others were publisher slideshows.  You do realize that the 200 slide presentation was designed for face to face consumption?  As well, it is probably best edited down to a manageable grouping.  Finally, the keywords your students see really need to be sentences as it generates a LOT more meaning.

Don’t get me wrong – the educational integrity was there!  You are obviously a master of your subject matter!  (Read: I would NOT want to play Trivial Pursuit against you in your degree area!)  As well, you took great care in providing feedback to your students on their final paper.  It’s a shame you had to mail the papers back to the students – there are ways to capture that information electronically!  But the rigor in your course was intense for sure.  Discussions, essays, tests, literature reviews, bibliographies, definitions pages, and other assignments would surely help students know more of the material by the end.  (That’s assuming they made it past week 3, right?)  But you had a lot of sources and resources to give a mosaic of content – albeit in only one or two formats.

That said, it might be time to rethink the amount of work and time your students are spending in the course materials.  Perhaps adding a few group assignments would be good.  After all, most workers find themselves in teams once they leave school.  If you believe the current literature, this happens more than ¾ of the time!  So perhaps it’s time to teach them skills they’ll need even if they aren’t specific to your discipline.  I know, I know, you aren’t a “small group” instructor.  (Unless you are a small group instructor – and in that case – good for you – you are salt of the Earth!)  But students need help tying the pieces of their education together just like humans need help tying together anything.  When someone becomes very sick, they may tie together diet, medicine, exercise, mental calm, environmental toxicity, and dozens of other pieces of life.  Why shouldn’t we teach them how to best live their lives once they’re out of school?  (Perhaps that’s why teachers always refer to graduation as going into the “real world” – hmmmm.)

Oh, here’s another tip.  Directional text.  Your students don’t automatically know what to do or where to click next.  So, it’s probably a good idea to let them in on it, rather than making it some kind of secret club or game.  Speaking of games, why note embrace the full power of the online medium!  Gaming is powerful – it increases retention, comprehension, and engagement.  These things are well documented.  So, instead of transferring your face to face (F2F) lectures to digital lectures (or walls of text), perhaps transforming your content to fit the new medium is a good idea!  Instead of needing a test in every unit, perhaps a group exercise is called for.  Why not include a simulation, a game, or a real-world exercise and have the students simply reflect on it?  You don’t even have to make it up completely – there are thousands of free resources on the Internet that have pre-made learning assets.  So, if you aren’t feeling particularly inspired or creative, find someone else who was and who also put their content up on the web for anyone to use…free! 

Lastly, it’s time to figure out learning outcomes.  I don’t care what you call them – here’s how I view them.  Course objectives (specific tasks) suggest or “prove” course outcomes (standards in k-12).  Outcomes suggest mastery, proficiency, or competence of program goals.  Goals, ultimately can imply institutional values.  That’s it – four levels.  Objectives, outcomes, goals, and values – figure out how your content maps to those and you are well ahead of many of your colleagues (both online and F2F). 

So, my friends, I’m left wondering what to do next.  I don’t want to offend all of you with good intentions, but it’s time to get in the game!  I realize that most instructors are not taught principles of education – mapping to standards, how to create immediacy, PBL, what is authentic assessment, etc. – these are concepts that are foreign to most college level teachers and loosely understood at the k-12 level.   (By the way, I realize there is a contingent of you who are researchers and not teachers.  I realize you are teaching 1 or 2 classes per term because you have to, not because you want to.  This blog is not for you.  To you I beg – find a GREAT graduate assistant and force them to research education in addition to teaching your load…)  Learning styles mean little in terms of student understanding and even less in terms of curriculum creation.  And that is a shame.  (I’d call it more of a travesty really.)  My suggestion?  Go back to school.  Pick up an instructional design class.  Check out a teaching effectiveness conference.  (And actually go to the sessions – don’t just hang out by the pool or the bar….I’ve been to your conferences and I know how you are!)  Buy a book on teaching, instructional design, or curriculum mapping.  And for the sake of all that is holy, invite quality speakers to perform your inservices.  (If you need one, I happen to have a million dollar idea…)  But leave the committee chairs and community business leaders off the luncheon schedule for a while.  Promote good learning, effective teaching, and sound pedagogical strategy.  Hold teachers accountable to outcomes, problem based learning, effective use of Bloom’s taxonomy, etc.  In other words…promote quality education.

Want to hear more about building a better course?  Need some help finding a balance between standardization and effective teaching?  Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Innovation In Education

What is your favorite, dramatic, uplifting “school” movie?  Is it the one about the young teacher who goes into a group of underprivileged students and shows them how to learn in a way that’s meaningful to them?  Or maybe it’s the movie with the stranger who teaches students to use tools they didn’t know they had like dance, martial arts, or painting to find in-roads to learning.  Ok…so you probably realize that I just gave the basic plot for most every school-based drama in the past 100 years!

(Notice I said drama – while I enjoy the work of Belushi & Farley, those comedies are another blog – probably one about togas.  And movies about school sports don’t qualify this week either.  By the way, what’s the best school sports movie?  If you said Hoosiers, give yourself an A+)

So who is ready to fix education?  I know I am.  Unfortunately, I don’t get to waive my magic wand anytime soon.  But I strongly believe one road to fixing education is along the path of innovation.  Let’s start planting the seeds of creativity and innovation and see what springs up!

A Youth Movement: How many educators have been at it for more than 20 years?  Too many, right?  Whether it’s that high school biology teacher who taught you, your brother, AND your mom or the college professor who has had tenure longer than you’ve had a driver’s license, some teachers have been through enough changes to beat the fight out of anyone!  I’ll be the first to admit that MOST (not all) innovative ideas come out of youth.  You could argue it’s naivety, but often it’s that lack of “understanding” (read: cynicism) that is what propels someone forward down a path of originality. 

It’s hard for me to write this.  I’m not “young” anymore.  I stopped getting looks from teenage girls when I was still a teenager!  But I will admit as a new father, while I love the wisdom and security that comes with being an almost-40 dad, I sure would like a few less aches & pains and a bit more energy.  Our young teachers with ideas based on their RECENT experiences and new theories in educational thinking should be given a shot here.  Teachers who embrace technology, new ways of thinking about assessment, and who connect with students in a paradigm-breaking new way should be allowed to innovate within our educational walls. 

Old Dogs / New Tricks: But innovation isn’t just for the young.  While there may be less creativity and passion for change in seasoned veterans, that doesn’t mean we’re dead!  Some of the most innovative professors I meet are older than I am and loving the “revolution” (that’s what they call it) of technology based education.  They’re the ones who have longitudinal data to suggest ways to bridge major educational concepts like variance, curriculum integration, and collaboration. 

I will point out that much of this innovation can (and should) come from OUTSIDE the education community.  The ideas for new thought and creative process would often be best served by people who haven’t been indoctrinated already.  Disrupting Class is a great example here – some non-academics used business technology and assessment to identify areas of change and need in classrooms.  Brilliant.  Where else could education get a boost?  Imagine how scientists could change science curriculum to be more interesting and more practical?  What about a Chief Operations Officer teaching business process to Freshman?  (Andy…you know you should do this…)  Or what about professional speakers changing how communication is taught in public speaking classes? 

It’s time for a change.  This of course means it’s time to put our money where our mouth is.  Put out the call and have people compete for creative, innovative ideas with the goal being real money, real schools, and real kids.  And by all means don’t blow it with a judging committee of old school educators!  We’re talking about challenging the norms here!  We don’t need anyone with terminal PP (paradigm paralysis) clogging up the works.  While it will be important to monitor closely and I’m certainly not suggesting a blank check with no measures or objectives – but let’s not stop the process before it even starts.  Get a healthy mix of experts, radicals, conservatives, parents, students, and non-educator types to help pick a winner. 

Let’s jump start a new paradigm in teaching.  Can you imagine 1 of these programs per state?  Let’s say that 10% work (although I’d bet on more than that).  Now we have 5 strong models to look at for adoption in other areas.  If we had this contest every year, we’d eventually have a generation of learners having been touched by some form of innovation. 

And now that I have a 2 year old…I want her to get the results of that innovation.  Here’s to a world of change Addie girl.  I hope we can embrace it for you.

Want to hear more about online education?  Interested in real solutions to cheating and plagiarism?  Contact Jeff at jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Stupid Questions

It’s getting to be that time of year…classes are starting.  I have 60 speech comm students trying to figure out what kind of teacher I am, how they can try to get out of doing speeches, and how the heck you do public speaking online.  But, it also means I get some great questions to answer.  I know you’re not supposed to say that questions are stupid.  It’s a very “non-PC” thing for a teacher to say.  And I’ve heard the old phrase, “The only bad question is the unasked question.”  But I’m going to go out on a limb here and tell you, unequivocally, there are stupid questions. 

Come on, you’ve heard them!  How about the guy in front of you at KFC saying, “Hmmm…what am I going to order?”  I know!  I know!  CHICKEN!  How about the sports reporter asking Evil Kneivel what was going through his mind when he realized he wouldn’t make the canyon jump?  “I was thinking about puppies…”  Have you ever had a cop pull you over and ask, “Would you like to step out of the car?”  HECK NO!  I’m just fine right here!

And I’m not just talking about my favorite teacher questions – the ones that you can’t believe a student would actually speak out loud.  Like this:

• “Do I need to buy the book for this class?”
• “I’m going to be gone the first week of class.  Will I miss anything?”

Ah, oldies but goodies!  But when you infuse technology into the mix, things get even stranger.  You’ve heard some of the old standards for tech questions, right? 

• “I don’t have a cup small enough for this portable cup holder in my computer.  Where do I get one?”  (Yes, this is regarding the CD tray)
• “My computer says to press any key…where is the any key?”

So, let’s put the two together and see what we get.  I’m about to share two ACTUAL questions from students.  I’m NOT making these up.  This is just to illustrate how far we’ve come.  Check these out:

• “I won’t have a computer for three more weeks, how can I be successful in your online class until then?”
•  “I can’t look at a computer monitor for more than 5 minutes without having a seizure, as my online teacher, what do you recommend?”

COME ON!  Really?  What advisor suggested either of these students should take an online class?  And better yet, where did we miss the boat in terms of teaching them some critical thinking skills? 

As funny as the questions are, they are a bit sad too.  But I can’t focus on that…I’d go crazy.  So, to all the teachers out there who get questions like these day in and day out, I salute you.  So remember, when you’re in the midst of telling your students about the eclipse tonight and a student asks if it will be a solar eclipse…just grin.  It will all work out in the end…right?  They can’t be your student forever…

Looking for a humorist to talk with your group?  Want to hear a cacaphone of “stupid questions” as they relate to education, communication, or just society in general?  Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com right now!

Things every teacher should know…

There are some things that I think every teacher should know.  I realize that most professors were never given any educational training, the assumption being that if they know their subject matter well enough to get an M.A. or PhD, they can teach.  Unfortunately, that’s one of the big problems with higher ed (in my opinion).  One of my best friends is an amazing juggler.  There is NO way he could teach anyone how to do it – he’s start them with an axe, a saw, and a bowling ball.  It would go down hill from there!  Good teachers know teaching principles – they know learning theory, brain research, and they apply it.  The following 7 things are concepts that I hope every teacher knows.  Even if you don’t know the technical name – it’s important to know the concepts!!!

1.  Transformative Learning.  Mezirow (2000) suggests that all learning begins with a disorienting dilemma.  This perspective transformation can start with something as simple as a question or as serious as losing a job.  The catalyst is then reflected on, researched, discussed, and experimented with until a new paradigm is created.  Many researchers believe this should be called “Human Learning.”
2.  Curriculum Integration.  Curriculum integration is a philosophy of teaching in which content is drawn from several subject areas to focus on a particular topic or theme. Rather than studying math or social studies in isolation, for example, a class might study a unit called The Sea, using math to calculate pressure at certain depths and social studies to understand why coastal and inland populations have different livelihoods (McBrien and Brandt, 1997).
3.  Authentic Assessment.  According to Mueller (2003), authentic assessment is a form of measurement in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills.  Sometimes referred to as competency based instruction, student performance on a task is typically scored on a rubric to determine how successfully the student has met specific standards, outcomes, or objectives.
4.  Diversity.  Education in a multicultural society strives for equity of opportunity to learn, largely through the convergence of three practices: heterogeneous grouping, highly interactive instruction that appeals to a wide variety of learning styles, and inclusive curricula. A constructivist understanding of education, in which learners are active architects of meaning, permeates this collaborative vision of education (Shaw, 1993).
5.  Varied Learning.  “By definition, differentiation is wary of approaches to teaching and learning that standardize. Standard-issue students are rare, and educational approaches that ignore academic diversity in favor of standardization are likely to be counterproductive in reaching the full range of learners (Tomlinson, 2006).”  Regardless of prior knowledge, attention span, retention capacity, or comprehension ability, students have varied needs in terms of delivery, interaction, and assessment.
6.  Backward Design.  “Backward design begins with the end in mind: What enduring understandings do I want my students to develop (McTighe, 2001)?”  Essentially, the backward (sometimes called universal) design model applies three steps: 1) Identification of desired results; 2) Determination of acceptable evidence; and 3) Planning learning experiences / instruction.  Once you teach with the objectives in mind, the student paths to get there emerge!
7.  Collaborative Learning. Rothwell (2006) suggests that workers are in groups (teams) more than 70% of the time while students are in groups less than 7% of the time.  With the uprising of corporate universities, some private sector and governmental leaders suggest that education is not meeting the needs of today’s workforce, sending under-prepared and uninformed graduates into society.

There is some overlap in and among these principles.  And of course there are more than 7 things – but 7 seems like a nice number for this kind of list 🙂  Like any complex system, an educational model has independent and interdependent components.  Some educators think of these elements as a safety net or a puzzle.  I like to think of them as inter-locking bricks of a foundation to an educational pyramid.  The top elements of teaching, student services, curriculum, program quality, etc., are supported by this foundation to make the educational experience effective at all levels: student, teacher, and administrator.  Student understanding can be the mortar that holds these pieces in place, allowing schools to deliver effective, timely, and differentiated instruction. 

Looking for a faculty inservice speaker?  Need someone to talk education in both a theoretical AND (more importantly) practical sense at your conference? Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Accessing Technology

Accessing Technology: I had the opportunity to speak with a “think tank” guy this week. He’s out “there” (wherever that may be) going to conferences, examining new online tools, listening to podcasts of innovators and creators, etc. We spent several hours talking about where education and technology have crossed, are combined, and will intersect in the future. It was a pretty good time!

But this future thinker informed me of a longitudinal study from England where “they” (I hate having no referent, don’t you?) surveyed students to see how they access eLearning. While many vendors were disappointed by the findings, this turned out to be a study that could filed under the category “duh” by anyone who knows a teenager. Students access educational elements using…well, just about everything possible. They use cell phones, computers, and PDA’s. They use social networking sites, LMS sites, email, instant messenger, and on and on.

The problem? No two students seem to access digital content the same way. It seems dependent on dozens of variables. Finances, micro-culture, disposition, learning style preference, and availability are just a few of the reasons students choose one method over another as they access digital content and information. Again, I’m not sure why this surprised people (think of how YOU access digital content…I’m guessing it’s even different than your spouse, kids, roommates, etc.) although I do see why it concerned vendors. When students choose not to use one modality, it makes it hard to sell a solution around that modality!

So just like learning styles that people have, digital content modalities are varied and extensive. We know that people learn in different / unique ways, right? Visual, audio, kinesthetic, verbal, active, sequential, reflective, sensing, global, intuitive, based on personality type, based on cognitive function, and many more learning style types exist! Do these learning preferences correlate to digital modality preference? Makes sense to me…hmmm, maybe a doctoral study is in there somewhere?

But the key takeaway for me here is around the idea of digital content or eLearning. See, learning takes place for almost every human being, almost every day. And at this point in our technological evolution, digital learning takes place for most people too. Dozens of future thinkers are salivating at the potential to use cell phone technology to teach, train, and otherwise educate peoples who until recently had been almost unreachable. Just about everyone these days uses technology to create meaning, to access information, or to share ideas. This is true in all educational settings. Formal (school or training), informal (professional development or continuing education), and non-formal (watching tv or talking with your co-worker) are all types of learning. And technology can (and should) play a role in all of them.

So what does this mean for you? Diversity is king! Creating content, learning objects, digital assets, trainings, curriculum, etc., needs to be done using a broad brush-stroke. Students (of all ages) need varied modalities just like they need varied teaching and learning options. Keep in mind that when we talk about students of all ages, we are talking about more than Gen X or Gen Y! We are also talking about the Boomers and the Busters.

EVERYONE has preferences. For some that digital content needs to be printed off onto that stuff…you know the material…what’s it called? Oh yeah, paper. A pretty tried and true medium for a couple thousand years is a great solution for specific people and in specific contexts. Other people will find much more value in wiki material or by shortening it to Twitter length. For some, a web page, bookmarked by the company is a great way to ingest information while some people would rather see a Camtasia tutorial.

Look, trainers, teachers, and marketers really need to know two things: how people learn and how people might access technology. Of course, this intersects with the best delivery method(s) for any learning asset. There are times that a paper-based flyer is all it is going to take! But, there are other times that training should be multi-modal to speak to different individuals appropriately. To ignore this is to purposely block access from various people who don’t contextualize the world as you do. And if we’re all life-long learners, shouldn’t everyone strive to make both learning and access as easy as possible?

 

Want to hear more about how to meet different learners with different technology needs? Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Narrative

For much of its history, the United States of America has not been so united. For instance, for a number of centuries, American society was racially segregated. From schools to buses, public restrooms to drinking fountains, restaurants to churches, the country was divided into black and white.

Hospitals were among the last institutions to desegregate. One reason for this is that people were afraid they might get the “wrong blood” during a transfusion. They feared that if they received blood from a person of another color or ethnicity, they might actually develop the characteristics of that race.

But all of that changed when Dr. Charles Drew came along. In the 1930s, Dr. Drew created the process we now use to make plasma. Plasma comes from blood, but it is not type-specific, which means it can be used to treat bleeding patients without the need for ‘whole’ blood.

Dr. Drew’s discovery was so noteworthy that he was asked to head the Blood for Britain campaign during World War II. After the war, Drew founded the American Blood Bank, which is still in operation today.

Ironically, Dr. Charles Drew died in 1950 at the age of 46 because he did not receive a blood transfusion or blood plasma in time.

Dr. Drew was injured in an automobile accident and taken to a hospital that was still segregated—a hospital that would not admit black people.

And since Dr. Drew was a black man, he bled to death.

 

---

 

As an educator, I feel that it is my responsibility to be a storyteller. I’m constantly scribbling down narratives and examples on napkins, paper sandwich bags, or whatever is available! Stories are the glue that hold together many of the important theories and philosophies I teach in the classroom. And often, I use the same story in multiple classes, while simply adjusting the meaning or message. For example, in the above story of Dr. Charles Drew, think of how many topics could be covered. Ethics, blood, chemistry, international relations, leadership, vision, research, racism, history, culture, and the list goes on.   (For the record – this story is likely an urban legend of his death.  See the link for more information.)

However, a problem arises when we apply storytelling to our classes. Time. Storytelling requires a lot of preparation, thought, and possibly data entry (for online) and can seem overwhelming. As teachers, we create and translate all kinds of lecture material–PowerPoint presentations, exams, and even discussions, but as I view hundreds of courses each year, I rarely see one translated story or illustration.

As teachers, we often leave out what is so easy (and important) for students: Context. How can we achieve context? Story. I am a huge history buff because I had good history teachers who told me the stories surrounding battles, discoveries, and triumphs. I learned and retained more about the atom in two minutes from a television sitcom where an ex-teacher (is there such a thing?) illustrated the atom by using a gang/neighborhood metaphor. (See: http://science.csustan.edu/stkrm/MISC/Atom-by-Venus.htm for the WKRP transcript.) Simply put, the best teachers I have had–whether in elementary, high school, college, or post graduate–were good storytellers.

Narrative helps us make sense of our world and the information presented to us in classrooms. Illustrations help us remember facts and figures. Examples bring us closer to our instructors as we find connections and associations to hold on to. Metaphors give us insight and analogies bring understanding to our minds. Plain and simple: stories teach. And, depending on your point of view, the time it takes to illustrate a lesson point might be less if you do it in your lecture. For example:

I recently spoke with an online instructor who has been teaching online for about four years. He found that he was having to spend a lot of time answering specific questions about his journalism lectures and readings through emails, discussion boards, or chats. These were on top of his prepared classroom activities and lectures. He soon realized that he was relaying the examples and stories he used in his face-to-face class for these “extra” materials and sessions. So, the following semester he began adding links to HTML pages, special text boxes, and distinctive colored text to his typical lecture items. These new “special” sections contained only stories, examples, and illustrations. He relayed that a few students ignored the new information, but he estimated that 80-90% of his students did not. He also noticed that his course questions were nearly eliminated. Students understood the material better and they even infused his stories into their discussions (“remember Professor Smith’s story about…”). Test scores increased, as did his teaching evaluation scores. He expressed to me that he had learned a valuable lesson.

Isn’t that the beauty of story? Learning a lesson without having to experience it ourselves. So… have you learned anything today? What’s your story? Your students would love to know…
Want to tell better stories?  Interested in finding creative storytelling techniques? Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Learning

Learning: How many lessons have you learned in your lifetime? 1,000? 1,000,000? I guess we have to start with what our definition of “lesson” is. Let’s take a broad-sweeping approach. For example, my daughter just learned the lesson that walking on the dog will likely cause you to fall when he moves. (Dog 1, Addie 0) But, if we learn little lessons like that every day, in addition to the formal learning that takes place in schools…wow.

Now, how many lessons have we forgotten in our lifetime? Would you guess more or less than we’ve learned? Common sense suggests that more is not only likely, it’s almost impossible to deny by anyone, even the smartest genius. So how do we remember better? That’s what educators have been trying to tackle for years. We research, we study, we come up with theory upon theory…and we make predictions.

What are the theories that we hold to today? As an Education doctoral student, I hear the current theories first hand from researchers and experts. If we want students to learn and remember, we must give them context. We must give them practical application. And we should never, ever use rote memorization, right? It must be true when education scholars and Wikipedia agree! Here is part of the definition from Wikipedia on the topic of rote learning: “Rote learning, by definition, eschews comprehension, however, and consequently, it is an ineffective tool in mastering any complex subject at an advanced level.”

However, psychological research would suggest something very different. Rote memorization as we know it today is ineffective. This is hard to dispute. However, there is a significantly better way to use it, which actually helps the process of both learning and retention. It’s called the Spacing Effect and it works. (If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who works for Rosetta Stone. They have based their multimillion dollar product sales on it.)

The Spacing Effect was identified by Hermann Ebbinghaus in the late 1800’s. He proved that it was possible to significantly improve learning by effectively “spacing” practice sessions. This is more than just telling students about the ineffective nature of cramming. From its inception, psychological researchers have pleaded with educators to use this effect to accelerate our ability to learn. In fact, in the late 1980’s, Dempster published an article in American Psychologist called: “The Spacing Effect: A Case Study In The Failure To Apply Psychological Research.” He expresses that this concept is one of the most remarkable breakthroughs in human cognition. Yet how many teachers do you know who have ever even heard of it?

Piotr Wozniak took this concept and ran with it. He is the creator of Super Memo (www.supermemo.com) and he believes he can help you remember 95% of everything you learn. It’s all based on when you try to remember it. Try too soon and it ends up in short term memory, only to dissipate and wane later. Try too late, and you will have forgotten what you had to remember in the first place. So, there is a sweet spot. And Wozniak found a way to let computers create an algorithm that tells you exactly when that time is. (Hint: it’s different for everyone.)

I go to 20 conferences a year. I would guess that 19 out of 20 have at least one speaker who talks of the evils of repetition and practice in terms of rote learning. Even though we all do it foundationally (who learned to read without first learning the alphabet?). The key is not just the concept of rote memorization for foundational concepts. The key is how we teach and how our students practice these concepts. Of course context is important. I’m as big a proponent of application as any educator alive. But I’m also a lifelong learner. And I’ve learned something about learning recently. Holistic learning is much more than any one theory. Retention is deeper than practicality in assessment. Authentic tasks are only one side of the educational dice. There is much more to learning most of us realize. And by understanding one more piece of the learning puzzle…I’m a better learner today than I was yesterday.

(Thanks to Gary Wolf and Wired magazine for this amazing article on Piotr Wozniak that inspired this blog. As I write in the Cool Links section – you have GOT to get this magazine!)

 

(Need a speaker to talk with your organization about learning?  Learning styles, generational learning, and modern practices in learning are just a few of the topics Jeff can present.  Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!)