Shamu, Virtual Classrooms and Wiki-madness

From Amy Sutherland, author of, What Shamu Taught me About Life Love and Marriage, boiled down one key message that was, "what you get is what you reinforce". Meaning that if there is behavior that you do not want from a person, animal, or what-have-you, you should ignore (to the extent possible) the behavior altogether. Conversely, don't let behavior that you do want go unnoticed or unrecognized. So, basically reinforce what you do want and ignore the behavior you don't want.

From a veteran of virtual classrooms, Randah McKinnie, had the following tips.

1. Prequalify your audience with pre-tests and reinforcement of that during the live virtual classroom.
2. Find your own virtual style and pace. You may find it's different than your in-person style and pace.
3. Anecdotes are very powerful learning tools but *only* if it contextually appropriate and contributes to the learning.
4. Practice, practice, practice.
5. Disclose lapses in communication. Like silence on the radio, it can be a killer so don't leave your audience hanging.
6. Be specific with your questions. For example, if you think that's true, display a green check mark and if you disagree, choose a red x.
7. Create a sense of expectations, by letting the students know you will call on them directly for input, and then follow up by doing so.

Sue Gardner, new Executive Director of Wikimedia Foundation described the remarkable reality of the Wiki sensation. The free, open, online encyclopedia is the results of harvested knowledge from the people of planet earth (my words, not hers). It is a remarkable, personal and self-driven collection of facts and trivia. Our assignment by Elliot is to edit at least one wiki page before the end of next week.

What is Learning 2008?

Learning 2008 is an ongoing yearly conference where technology educators come together to share knowledge and connect with others in the field.

Held at the Coronado Springs Resort in Disneyworld, it's a great setting for socializing, learning and getting inspired. Elliot Masie (seen in the yellow jacket to the right) hosts this event and always manages to ask compelling questions from his guests.

In the morning General session that kicked off the weeks events, Elliots asked Arch Lustberg, "what is the most important thing to remember to be an effective presenter?"

He said, "Don't try to be someone you're not. It comes off as bad acting. Don't be a bad actor, be a good performer. Speaking from the heart is the most powerful way to communicate."

More pearls of knowledge (as my college guitar teacher used to say) later...

Educating Adults

I've been educating adult learners in the IT field for many years now. The thing I find most interesting is what motivates people to learn. With adults they have to know it will benefit them in someway before they feel it's worth their time. Learning for the sake of learning is pretty rare, especially in the business world where I teach.

Even for myself, although I find a great deal of things fascinating and interesting to learn, I'm not motivated to attend a class unless I see clear benefit to someway in which I intend to apply it.

What motivates you to learn new things?