"They're learning from their failure here - without getting hepatitis"

I am very fond of Cathy Moore's ideas about instruction, e-learning, and learning in general. In fact, I would like to think that I have managed to follow some of them when creating instructional content. (For example, I injected these very basic "you're in such-and-such situation; what will you do next?" exercises/minigames all over a big-ass industrial safety course I helped to make.) So, I was very thrilled to find this video where she explains her stuff via a practice scenario in a group. As one viewer helpfully pointed out, "the audio starts at 1:20".

Some of my favourite points.

- 06:12-13:27. Getting a glimpse of an info dump: ""If we get the correct knowledge into people's brains they will do the right thing." But does knowledge always change behaviour?"... and taking a shot at the instructional fallacy that spawns those: "We have a subject to cover!"
The subject-centered approach has been my pet peeve even before I got involved in e-learning (for adults). In my teaching days I also worked on the curriculum for my school - the subject-centered info-dump was very much a norm there as well and the skill- or behaviour-centered goals were seen as something novel and special ("wow, this activity integrates information from different subjects! So revolutionary it makes me feel dirty!").

- 14:52-18:05. How to outline the goal with the client. (a.k.a. how to fulfil a purpose while constructively dealing with and averting the executive meddling)

- 23:52-25:44. Acknowledging that what the client cares about might necessarily be what the learner cares about. (The tricky part being, how to sift out a measurable goal that the client cares about and then let let that goal steer the design process.)

- 26:57-30:00. working with the Subject Matter Expert to pinpoint what are the common mistakes.

- 32:48. "make the learner make decisions they would in real world". Comparing two sets of simple multiple-choice questions, she sums up the difference between a "vague abstract piece of knowledge" and "a character facing a challenge". (I myself prefer the you-approach too.)

- 35:40. On putting the learner into a fallible position. "You identify the most common mistakes and you practically set it up for the learner to make that mistake - so they can learn from it."

- 36:23. On learner-choice feedback: "you are simply told what happens as a result. And you draw your conclusions."

- 49:09-05:12. On action and information - about setting the learner up to use the information. "If they ... pass the activities, they clearly know what to do. And that's really all we care about - are they doing what they need to do?"

The power of pimples (well explained).

TED-Ed delivers another good one.

My personal favourite is 1:53-2:06 showing one hormone triggering the next and so on. I wish I'd written that!

Sign me up: the Mid-Class Assessment

Copy-paste the context just in case...

So, I've been taking the Google' Power Searching course and I've been trying to record my thoughts while doing so. /.../ Furthermore, I set myself another sneaky condition - leave the test alone until I've had a good sleep.

Well, now I've had my nap, and a coffee, and it's evening so my brain is working without me having to force it, so I took the test. Here are the random thoughts from the process. 

Random thought #1. "Pay attention to what the question is! Even if the answer seems obvious, just check what they're actually asking!" Lesson learned from the in-lesson activities - I submitted a super-smartass answer ... only to see that it only covered half of the question. And thinking back, I've done exactly that in countless occasions. So I'm turning this course into a training for self-discipline as well. 

Random thought #2. "I really like how these questions are built! I wish I'd written these." The question type in question is where you place the learner into a hypothetical situation where she'd have to choose a course of action specific to that situation. A bunch of such related questions in the row, and I'm finding myself in a simulated scenario. This is one of those well-designed - and intuitive - learning situations that Kathy Moore discusses in her e-learning blog. (I'm planning a lot more future references to her materials - and what I've learned from there, but at the moment, let this mention serve as a mental note.) 

Random thought #3. "Hmm, before I submit the answers on "what would your query look like" type of questions, why not try these queries out in another window, just to be sure. Oh... This is exactly what you're implicitly encouraging us to do, isn't it. You crafty buggers :D" 

Random thought #4. In case of a digital environment like Google, the virtual/ imaginary world and its real counterpart are pretty much the same. Meaning, the option to "go and try it out for real" is always at my fingertips. I mean, how cool is that!

Random Thought #5. It's a really great ...er... feature(?) that you can try as much as you need to get the answers right and then submit your score. (I still get a special kind of satisfaction that I "got it" at the first try. And that I get to tell about it :D)


A pretty picture too.

No, this time I didn't search for "pretty picture" anymore. I searched for "circuit", then applied the green palette-filter, then picked one appealing result and used the "similar" function to hop further. The image leads to the source page as well - it seems that I've found a cool free image stock by accident!
[Sidenote: here's one rule that I'm setting for myself if this blogging thing should ever work out well: "Whenever I share something from an outside source, I'm telling. I SO am telling!"] So - Thank you, Alytre

guerilla learning, eh? Well, here comes heretic learning

For the past 5 years I have worked as an instructional designer. As cool as it sounds, I haven't actually been making stuff in Flash or even HTML myself - i have been describing what to make to other people. They say "copywriter" although my writing normally doesn't have much to do with advertising. Before that I worked as a teacher for a while. And before that I went to school myself. So, my works have always somehow got something to do with educat... I mean learning. (Some of it might actually run in the family.) And while doing my work, I have often discovered or developed interesting ideas about learning. Learning in general, e-learning, formal learning, you name it. Some of it might snugly fit into official theories, some of them might not. I really don't care. (Having gone through formal university training one-and-a-half times, I have learned that I kinda suck at academic writing.) Some of those ideas I have been able to apply in my work, some not. But I sure have a buttload of bookmarks stashed away for myself!

The shadow-of-an-idea that has fascinated me the most is how learning happens when you don't quite mean to. How you inadvertently learn or pick up something when all you meant to do was to have fun. Or do something else. Or have your thoughts process something. Or procrastinate. I have come to strongly believe that most learning happens regardless of actual teaching (or even despite it). And yesterday I came up with the idea that all this could be rounded up under the vague and elusive keyword of "guerilla learning". As in - hidden acts of learning and realization that sneak up on us, that hide in the bushes everywhere and when you least expect it, they stirke and "BOOM!" you suddenly have learned something. Figured something out. Come to an understanding. Mastered a skill. Reached new level of comprehension.
[Second edition edit: a few posts later, it turned out that "guerrilla learning" is already a real term, such a blog name was actually already taken, and that I had only been able to take the name for my blog because I had misspelled it. More on that later.]

So, to wrap up (I'm getting hungry), I shall be attempting to offer a base camp for those sneaky buggers here. I have never tried keeping a blog before. Some of this interface and the options I have been able to figure out. Some I have not. I'll be trying things out, tinkering, tweaking, and above all making mistakes. And naturally - learning in the process.


ED: here we go... I don't know why some of the text shows up as if it was highlighted. Weird. --> aha! Clearing formatting from the text altogether did the trick.

ED2: I also forgot to add a link to the most inspirational TED-talk ever. (Okay, there's actually a bunch of those. But still.)