Different Methods for Different Learners

People are different; at every age they have different responsibilities, goals, knowledge and skills, financial resources, and families. And that is to say nothing of all the other aspects of the human race that are different. I believe we are definitely heading in the right direction as we customize learning opportunities for the populations we serve. However, in some cases we are hampering learning. Some organizations want people to learn on their own time at home. Homes and home responsibilities are not the same and handicap some learners.

Public Schools in Massachusetts, where I live, are following the “common core” concept.

http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/

“The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade.”

This makes me worry. While there are good aspects to this practice there are likely as many bad results that will impact students both now, while they are in school and later, as they enter a world that doesn’t have a common training algorithm. I also know of many smart students who are getting bored and tuning out.

However, I’m hopeful that people who do the planning for students will recognize that different people learn differently. For example this Forbes post talks to the importance of focusing on the individual rather than the one-size concept.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/09/24/seven-learning-and-development-trends-to-adopt-in-2019/#547d336e104b

“Training in the past that focused solely on content was “one size fits all,” which made it difficult to engage with the learner. Today, we must zero in on the learner, including his or her experience, work environment, performance and technological fluency, to create a training program. Any effective training program is one developed for the individual and offers social activities to share their experiences.”

I think the key concept that will bring new and interesting results is the importance of meeting the needs of each individual. However, we need to be careful in how we implement our programs. If we aren’t careful, we could find that although we are getting good results, the financial impact could derail the good work.

Like with any other learning event, it is important to begin by identifying all the end results. End results are all of the things that any individual will need to be able to do on the job related to the training needed. Once you have listed all of the activities needed then, as with any other learning event, identify all the things they will need to know. It is very important to identify what they will need to do before you identify what they will need to know. The “doing” informs the knowing.

When customizing training for specific individuals, I recommend that you develop all the instruction in mini modules. All of the good practices that you have used to develop learning events apply here. The only difference is that you will be developing multiple mini (and perhaps micro) modules that are complete onto themselves so that they can be pulled together in a learning event customized for an individual.

Everything that has worked in full learning events applies here. Use whatever methodology you believe will be appropriate to deliver the learning experience to the individual. It may be that you want to use Gamification for some lessons and some learners. You may find that other techniques will work for other learners. The important concept is that one size does not fit all and you must customize to meet each learners needs. But, stay focused on the end results needed and what needs to be known to achieve those end results.

So yes, different people learn differently and if we want everyone to get as much out of our events as possible, we owe it to them to customize our output. While it can be challenging to constantly adapt and change a learning event to meet individual needs, I believe the resulting learning is well worth it.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

As I went about my business last week, all of a sudden I lost control of everything. Yep, it was the bug that has been going around, maybe the flu maybe not, don’t know. It was three days before I could get out of bed, but it seemed much longer.

The first day I slept for at least 40 hours. The second day I was able to have a little soup. I am in relatively good shape and general healthy, so I suspect I did better than some people. But boy, was I down for the count.

By the second day, I kept trying to find the door into freedom. I knew it began with getting into that that little cubicle that has water running from the ceiling, but somehow I couldn’t make it in.

Then there was that pesky little thermometer. Mine has lived for years in the medicine chest with no cause for it to come out and jump into my mouth. Yet here I was consulting it. I thought I felt fine, but it kept telling me that I had a fever and I really shouldn’t leave the house.

I thought I would feel better if I could take a shower. And I probably would have, if only my feet would do what I wanted them to do I could get into the cubicle and then I have my freedom to the outside world. Standing up can be very hard when your legs don’t work.

My family made me soup and encouraged me to eat it. But, I said put it into the refrigerator and I’ll go and get it when I get hungry. They kept saying drink water. I said sure I will don’t worry. They did and I didn’t. During the day when I was the only one home I was really sorry I sent the food back down to the refrigerator.

There was just no way I could make it down what seemed like 15 flights of stairs from my bedroom down to the kitchen where the beautiful soup was resting in a bowl in the refrigerator. But I kept trying and I did finally made it down all those flights of stairs and sure enough the bowl of soup was there waiting for me. I put it into the microwave. Then after two spoonfuls I realized I’d had enough.

But then I needed to climb those 15 flights back upstairs to get in bed. That wasn’t easy but I did it and then I went back to sleep for another 12 hours. After that, things looked a bit better. But, that mercurial gatekeeper still wasn’t ready to give me my freedom because the thin tube kept telling me that I couldn’t leave until it said 98.6. But as hard and as often as I tried, it just wasn’t ready to go down that low.

So back to bed I went. The next day I think the gatekeeper was really fed up with dealing with me and gave me my ticket to freedom. So here I am attempting to get back to normal life. I’m far from 100% but at least I’m no longer restricted to the house. I’m taking it easy and will return home early today.

But it sure is nice to have my freedom again. Hopefully my next post will be about real life again. I hope you are all healthy, happy, and free to move around outside.