Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tip #244: Theatrical Aspects of Training

Many years ago, I realized that I could combine my love of teaching and my love of acting in a career as a trainer. As a result, I have a strong bias. I truly believe that all good trainers have a theatrical aspect that enhances and enriches the learning experience for their participants.

Let me be clear. I am not talking about presenters who charm audiences by acting out dramatic or humorous stories rather than providing useful learning. I think the best trainers incorporate credible subject knowledge, awareness of adult learning principles, and a sense of the dramatic into their training.

Please think about the good trainers that you have enjoyed. Although not all good trainers share these characteristics, these theatrical aspects certainly make learning a more vibrant and exciting experience:

  • Good trainers are frequently charismatic, with a special magnetic charm or appeal. They know how to captivate and work a crowd.

  • They have a flair for the dramatic, able to create intense or gripping excitement. The classroom is their stage. They know their lines and they know what is effective.

  • This is not to suggest that they are insincere or artificial. They simply know how to make an entrance, how to make an exit, and how to improvise a scene. Without missing a beat, they can easily segue into acting out scenarios, demonstrating interpersonal techniques, or interacting with the group.

  • They move with a natural grace and sense of purpose across the front of the room and among the seated participants. They know how to use the space available.

  • They are highly expressive, speaking clearly and projecting their voices throughout the room without the need for amplification.

  • They use their entire bodies to convey both thought and emotion.

  • Many of them are masters of vocal inflection and timing, knowing when to raise or lower their voices, and when to pause for dramatic effect.

  • As a result, good trainers are also spellbinding storytellers, engaging most of the listeners' senses with complete and compelling descriptions of people, places and events.

  • They are even striking in how they present themselves and what they wear, such as bold or vivid colors.

The next time you attend a training program, see if you notice the theatrical aspects that enhance your learning. My guess is that these aspects will be so naturally infused into the program, you will be unaware of them unless you consciously focus your attention. However, you will be engaged, enthralled, and energized!

Last week, we focused on the theatrical aspects of training.

Ralph Schwartz, the Training Director for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, responded:

Good morning, Deb. To add to this tip, several years ago in my research on career development, I discovered the work of Richard Nelson Bolles, "What Color is Your Parachute?" In his book he talks about transferrable skills. Teaching and training are both professions that have skill sets that are derived from the broader category of "Performing and Amusing":

"GETTING UP BEFORE A GROUP OF PEOPLE AND PERFORMING IN A MANNER THAT ILLUMINATES, GIVES PLEASURE, OR BOTH. Exhibiting showmanship, amusing, making people laugh, acting, dramatizing, modeling, singing, dancing, playing music, giving poetry readings, making oral presentations, exceptional speaking ability, thinking quickly on one's feet, writing with humor, fun and flair."

Training is to me a hybrid form of performing or presentation. If you have a special talent in this area, it will come natural to you. Thanks for sharing your Monday AM tips! Ralph

Susan Hubbard, the Training Manager for the University of Chicago Facilities Services, wrote:

I know I fit into this category and the most effective trainers I know do, too. I noticed years ago how a great trainer I knew wore bright colors and how that helped keep attention focused on her in the room.

Thanks for saying this is not to suggest that such people are insincere or superficial. It's surprising to learn how distrustful many introverted people are of a really outgoing personality. They don't think this person could possibly be that happy to see them. They don't realize that some of us may just naturally be upbeat and extraverted. Susan

Thank you both, Ralph and Susan!

On a totally different topic, we have a question about the use of PowerPoint for which we need suggestions.

Karen Phillips, the Training and Development Manager for Ultradent Products, Inc. wrote:

Hello Deb:

Thanks for a great training last week.

I would like to ask a question about not needing to dim the lights during your ppt portion of your lecture. I observed that you never needed to do so. Is that because you had colored background? I struggle with getting the lights off and on during my sessions. We do a fair amount of hands on with the products ( need the lights on) and a fair amount with ppt ( getting the facts straight). I will of course be using less after last week :) . But I am always having to turn the lights down when doing the ppt portionÉ..they complain they can't see it. Suggestions? I responded that: I really am not sure about why folks are able to see my PowerPoints. I always use the blue background, with the bright yellow print. Perhaps black and white fade to gray in the light. I hate dimming the lights- it makes ME want to go to sleep, so I avoid it every time. I do check to make sure the PPT is easy to read with the lights on- and sometimes need to pull blinds or curtains.
So, my suggestion would be to try the blue background with yellow print and see if that makes a difference.

If you like, I can also send out your message in the next Laurel Learning Tip, to see what people suggest. Folks are usually very helpful and responsive. Just say the word!

Karen said the word, so now we both ask if anyone can give us some useful suggestions about what colors work best so that PowerPoint can be seen without needing to dim the lights. Thank you in advance!!

This week, we start a new series of quick tips to make training more effective and enjoyable for you and your participants. We begin with a counter-intuitive tip for handling participants who consistently come late to class.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Tip #243: Bloom's Taxonomy Revised #3

There are three different ways to view the revised model, with thanks again to David A. Sousa in How The Brain Learns:

  1. Cognitive Processing:

    • The lower three levels (Knowledge, Comprehension and Application) describe a convergent thinking process in which the learner recalls and focuses what is known and understood to solve a problem through application.

    • The upper three levels (Analysis, Evaluation, and Creation) describe a divergent thinking process in which the learner's processing results in new insights and discoveries that were not part of the original information.

  2. Overlapping Levels:

    • The upper three levels, which constitute higher level thinking, are seen as fluid and overlapping. This differs from the original view of the Taxonomy, in which the levels were cumulative and distinct from each other.

  3. Skill Sets:

    • The first two levels (Knowledge and Comprehension) involve skills designed to acquire and understand information.

    • The second two levels (Application and Analysis) involve skills for applying and transforming information through deduction and inference.

    • The last two levels (Evaluation and Creation) involve skills to generate new information by appraising, critiquing, and imagining.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Tip #242: Bloom's Taxonomy Revised #2

In case you were wondering why we even care about Bloom's Taxonomy of Behavioral Learning Objectives- the primary reason is that once we know the desired target level of learning, we can select the most appropriate learning method to accomplish it. It also clearly identifies the limitations of some learning methods, particularly lecture, which alone can only accomplish knowledge and nothing further.

After I presented the revision in the last Tip, I sat with it for a while and made a decision for myself. I decided that I did not like the new labels for the different levels, but could see the value of interchanging the top two levels.

So, instead of discussing the important characteristics of the revised model in this Tip, I would like to present the compromise Taxonomy that I personally plan to use:

  1. Knowledge: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory.

  2. Comprehension: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

  3. Application: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.

  4. Analysis: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.

  5. Evaluation: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.

  6. Creation: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tip #241: Bloom's Taxonomy Revised

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues originally identified six progressive levels, or building blocks, of learning. These levels move from lowest complexity (1) to highest complexity (6).

1. Knowledge: Knowledge is the foundation for all higher thinking.

2. Comprehension: Information is not useful unless it is understood.

3. Application: Information and skills become useful when they can be applied to a new situation. Application is the launching pad for all higher level thinking.

4. Analysis: Creative thinking and problem solving begin with analytic thinking: mentally taking something apart to better understand the relationship of the parts to each other and to the whole. To analyze, one must be able to think categorically: that is to organize and reorganize information into categories.

5. Synthesis: Synthesis is invention: the creation of something which is new to its creator.

6. Evaluation: Making judgments, or evaluating, when there is no one answer which is right for everyone, is one of the most complex levels of learning because it is based on all the other levels. Evaluation, or judgment, is essential for all rational decision making.

In 2001, the Taxonomy was revised to reflect more recent understanding about learning. This revision retains the six levels but changes the labels to verb form, renames three levels, and interchanges the top two levels.

The following description of the revision is drawn from How the Brain Learns, by David A. Sousa: Knowledge became Remember because it more accurately describes the recall process that occurs at this level.

Comprehension became Understand, Application became Apply, Analysis became Analyze, and Evaluation became Evaluate.
Synthesis changed places with Evaluation and was renamed Create. This exchange was made because recent studies in cognitive neuroscience suggest that generating, planning, and producing an original product demands more complex thinking than making judgments based on accepted criteria.

The revised Taxonomy or building blocks of learning looks like this. These levels also move from lowest complexity (1) to highest complexity (6).

1. Remember [knowledge]. Remember refers to the mere rote recall and recognition of previously learned material, from specific facts to a definition or a complete theory. There is no presumption that the learner understands what is being recalled. [Verbs include: define, label, recall, and recognize].

2. Understand [comprehension]. This level describes the ability to make sense of the material. [Verbs include: summarize, discuss, explain, and outline].

3. Apply [application]. This level refers to the ability to use learned material in new situations with minimal direction. It includes the application of such things as rules, concepts, methods, and theories to solve problems. Practice is essential at this level. [Verbs include: practice, calculate, apply, and execute].

4. Analyze [analysis]. This is the ability to break material down into its component parts so that its structure may be understood. It includes identifying parts, examining the relationships of the parts to each other and to the whole, and recognizing the organizational principles involved. [Verbs include: analyze, contrast, distinguish, and deduce].

5. Evaluate [evaluation]. This level deals with the ability to judge the value of material based on specific criteria and standards. The learner may determine the criteria or be given them. Activities at this level almost always have multiple and equally acceptable solutions. [Verbs include: appraise, assess, judge, and critique].

6. Create [synthesis]. This refers to the ability to put parts together to form a plan that is new to the learner. This level stresses creativity, with a major emphasis on forming new patterns or structures. [Verbs include: imagine, compose, design, and infer].

What do you think about this revision?
Does it make sense to you that Create is more complex than Evaluate?

I personally question the choice of "Understand"as the new label for Comprehension, since understand is too vague to be specific, observable or measurable and actually used in a learning objective.

I also, by the way, continue to object to "define"as a verb appropriate for the Knowledge or Remember level. If someone can define something, then they are able to put it into their own words. That, by definition (!), indicates that they Understand what it means.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Tip #240: Impact of Room Arrangements: Sunburst

Two weeks ago, Nancy from Hennepin County, Minnesota wrote in response to my less than complimentary description of the classroom style room arrangement:

"Hi, Deborah--me again. . .I couldn't agree with you more. We use "clusters" of two tables, angled in the room so that no one has their back to the instructor. The instructor can stand at the front OR the back, or walk down the aisle between the clusters of tables, which we have three on each side of the room. The configuration is a 'herringbone' or chevron shape, if that makes sense.

That way participants have table groups to work with (3-5 people) and we can mix people up or have them move to different tables by various sorting methods.

We use this configuration for all classrooms, even when we go off site. However. . . it does mean that I move a lot of tables and chairs, which isn't the best for my back ;-)"

Nancy, thanks for your description of a my much preferred room arrangement. I absolutely agree!

My favorite room set up has participants seated at rectangular tables. Each table has one end slanted toward the middle front of the room, with four participants seated around the two sides of each table and one at the far end of the table facing the front of the room. The screen at the front of the room is the focal point, with the tables creating a sunburst effect.

It is a variation of the herringbone or chevron shape in that all participants are facing toward the front of the room, as Nancy has described. The classic herringbone arrangement ends up with half of the participants facing toward the front of the room and half facing the back of the room, which makes absolutely no sense to me- although the participants' chiropractors must have a field day!

Pros:

  • It naturally creates small work groups. á

  • It is most conducive to small group interaction. á

  • It is most conducive for placing shared training materials, candy, and/or kinesthetic objects within reach of all table participants. á

  • It is easy for table participants to see and hear each other. á

  • All participants can see each other easily. á

  • All participants can see the trainer at the front of the room. á

  • ll participants have a writing surface. á

  • It is easy for participants to come and go from this seating arrangement. á

  • It is easy for the trainer to move around the tables to interact or to dipstick during individual or small group activities.

Cons:

  • Since many training rooms are not set up in this fashion, the trainer often needs to move a lot of tables and chairs into the sunburst configuration. á

  • It requires a room big enough to accommodate angled tables and chairs. á

  • The legs of the table can get in the way of comfortable seating for the participants, particularly the person seated at the far end of the table facing toward the front of the room. á

  • The arrangement requires careful placement of tables and chairs to ensure that all participants can see those seated at other tables. á

  • It requires a good eye to ensure that tables are not so close to each other that participants have trouble sitting down without bumping each other's chairs.

How's that for an even-handed look?

This concludes our discussion of room arrangements. Next week, we'll look at a relatively recent revision of Bloom's Taxonomy- or, for those of you who have taken my classes, the building blocks of learning!