Most teachers and trainers use visuals to help emphasize specific information, to give "form" or make concrete abstract concepts or connections, and to provide visual references for lectures, among many other uses. What has been talked about less, are the ways visuals can and do benefit the instructor, and in the following example, how they […]
How many of you facilitators want to frisk your participants before a learning event so you can strip them of their iPhones (or Blackberries or Palm Pilots or . . . )? No more sneaking peaks at e-mail during the warm-up tasks, no checking the weather while another team is practice teaching, no calling in […]
I have the honor and privilege of preparing a new book for Jossey Bass Wiley. As usual, I was feeling daunted by the task, and shared my concern with Paula Berardinelli, GLP’s new COO. She offered this insight. “I think of an hourglass – you put into it the theory of many sages and out […]
It seems to me that DE offers a systems-approach to adult learning. This is different than a system for adult learning, although I think DE provides that too, to a point. But you decide! Often when we think of a system, we think of linked items, perhaps we might even imagine dominoes, or a one-step […]
Back in early June the Global Learning Partners team had our semi-annual retreat and I facilitated one of the sessions. During the session I wanted to make a point about how everyone in the group wears two decidedly different hats in their work with GLP. It was important to the conversation we were having that […]
For Trekies and casual viewers of Star Trek, the command "Engage!" brings memories of that point where the engine-power was unleashed, propelling the Enterprize into light-flash. As teachers we too hope to engage, to engage students most fully, that they too can take their learning wherever they choose to travel at "light-speed". Like many films, […]
One of my favorite movies of all time is Dead Poets Society. If you’ve not yet seen this movie, rush right out to get it! Robin Williams plays John Keating, a teacher of poetry at an all boys prep school, and it’s the classic theme of how an “alternative” teacher who’s more than a talking […]
I walk every morning early to beat the heat. My path is through a lovely forested area,with hills and valleys. I want to say how much I love downhill. At my time of life…with my history… downhill feels just fine. I am trying to make it a metaphor for other walks I take in my life: […]
Distance learning ranges from totally self-directed to totally instructor-centered. From specific attention to dialogue amongst the participants to little or no dialogue of any type. From synchronous to asynchronous to a combination of both. And from no interaction outside of the computer screen to hybrids (face to face class[es] in combination with online work). And, […]
Twice in the last week I heard stories about fewer agenda items leading to better learning and work. The first story was from Jeanette Romkema, GLP Partner. She and Clayton Rowe and Hugh Brewster of World Vision Canada together designed a two-day course on facilitation and they deliberately structured it to allow participants with ample […]