In Vancouver BC For Northern Voice
I’m in Vancouver for the Northern Voice conference, a collection of bloggers and social media freaks. It’s probably the best show that I go to each year. It’s fun to see such a collection of people who really get the idea of social media, and I don’t have to dress up and try to look “professional”. I’m in the lobby right now, and there are probably fifty people with laptops (lots of Apples) waiting for Moose Camp to start. It’s a wide open day with the inmates deciding on what we talk about.
I really enjoy coming to Vancouver because:
- They have a newspaper for heterosexuals called “The Straight“
- Their green lights blink all the time — which causes me to slam on my brakes when they turn yellow
- I have no idea where I’m going, and keep getting to see new places
- The food choices are amazing — in every block. I’m not sure how many cultures are here, but for a guy who grew up in Minnesota it’s overwhelming
- I’m staying at the Sylvia that’s right on the beach — built in the 1930’s, it was the toast of the town and the coolest place in town
- I get hassled by the border dudes going up, and hassled by the border dudes going back. Why are those guys so cranky, anyway? I’ve never gotten that treatment in Australia, Japan, Europe, etc. Must be the weather.
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UPDATE:
Someone commented that “The Straight” isn’t for us heteros. Hard to believe. If I’m that gullible, how about these other things I noticed:
7. I’m allowed to drive 110 on the freeways.
8. Gas is only $1.33
I posted the information from my session on Mobile Learning at the Moose Camp.
Ignite Seattle 2008 — Bad PowerPoint! Bad! Bad!
Here’s a link to a presentation I prepared for Ignite Seattle. The premise was that we had to come up with exactly 20 slides (no more, no less) that would be presented for exactly 15 seconds each. So I came up with a 12-step process to help us all prepare better PowerPoint presentations.
Based on the AA model, it begins with admitting that we are powerless. It then proceeded through the rest of the 12 step model. The punch line? I didn’t manage to get there to present it! So here’s your only chance to see it.
Help! Help! I’m Learning As Fast As I Can!
I’m looking at some trade shows to attend this year. One of the themes that I see is speed — rapid learning development, just-in-time learning, learning at light speed, peer-to-peer learning, telepathic learning. (Well, ok, I haven’t seen that last one — yet.)
I’ve built a lot of learning over the years. Some fast, some half-fast. But we may be losing sight of one of the key principles of learning. It’s not how fast you shovel it into the sack, but how neatly it’s packed.
Malcolm Knowles certainly said it more elegantly, but just throwing a bunch of information into somebody’s head is pretty pointless unless they can process it, relate it to what’s already in there, and be able to apply it in future situations. I spent twelve years in school having various things pushed into my little skull of mush (fractions, capitols, chemical formulas) that I couldn’t apply at all today. They tell me I was “learning to learn” when I complain about those wasted years.
In the 1980’s, one of the most popular corporate learning experiences was a “Ropes Course“. A bunch of suits were taken into the forest and required to climb up into a web of ropes between trees, passing each other back and forth to learn teamwork. (Regrettably, few took the opportunity to drop vice-presidents on their pointy little heads.) Not a lot of research was done on why (or if) this was effective as a learning model, but it was very effective in moving money from corporations to people who tied ropes to trees.
When actual research was done, it turned out that the learning happened almost entirely during the “processing” part of the experience, done on the ground after the dangling and passing. People were led through a discussion of how decisions were made, what they learned about using different skills, how they’d apply this to their work environment, etc. An experienced facilitator could really provide a great outcome that ended up giving a team some very useful experiences.
But the funny thing was that you could get this same result by doing all sorts of other things — passing eggs in spoons, tossing hamsters, or relay-slinky competitions in tall buildings. (Ok, I’m being silly. Sue me.) Turns out that the actual experience wasn’t all that important, but the processing of the experience was the key.
So we proudly trumpet that we’re shortening the learning process and being more and more efficient. We only give people the nugget of information they need at the moment they need it. Knowledge comes from a peer, with no filter or validation. We’re letting the learners decide whether they even need the learning.
It worries me. We’re not really allowing any time for processing, here. I’m getting on (yet another) airplane in a couple of days. Which of these two pilots do I want at the controls:
#1 Completed all training faster than any student in the history of aviation
#2 Has been flying for fifty years, has made some mistakes, and had to crash land once when the engines failed
Are you learning too fast? Do you need to toss a few more hamsters?