ideas

Learning styles

/ Susan Hendrich / 1 Comment

Looking for information on learning style inventories?

After years of facilitating learning styles workshops, I offer you the following perspectives/ideas:
 1. The Learning Styles Online inventory is good. The “Learning and techniques” section that they provide as feedback for the quiz results is solid, and the detailed combinations of style results are powerful.
2. The Hay Group has developed the robust “Kolb Learning Style Inventory,” based on David Kolb’s ground-breaking thinking, doing, experiencing, reflecting. The inventory and detailed individual and group feedback reports cost $15.00 per participant. This inventory is empirically validated and is widely used among corporate training groups. Check out the PowerPoint pdf they have on their information page.

3. A free quiz offered by AES does a very nice job of targeting participants’ learning styles and offering concrete action steps to help optimize learning.

4. VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) is an often-used system that provides good feedback and tangible recommendations. A very detailed and more instructive feedback report is available for $28/participant. Whether you use VARK or not, the FAQ page (http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=faq) on the vark-learn site has some useful answers to common questions your participants may be asking.

One suggestion, regardless of the inventory you choose…

“Map out” participants’ results on a chart the whole class can see. People love to compare their own learning styles to that of their peers. This referential data provdes an answer to the eternal “how do I fit in to this human puzzle?” question. I have used PowerPoint slides to map out peoples scores as data points. You also can take a sheet of newsprint and draw a grid to map out scores using participants’ initials. It can be instructive for trainers to see any trends that a particular group might demonstrate.

I would be delighted to visit with you further about learning styles if you think it might be useful. Feel free to contact me at any time to discuss.

Take care, and happy learning!

Susan Hendrich 

 

 

 

Crowdsourcing

/ Susan Hendrich / 1 Comment

My 3 favorite crowdsourcing sites:

 

http://www.cambrianhouse.com/

http://www.crowdspring.com/

http://www.innocentive.com/

 

A fun and semi-related site: http://www.ask500people.com/. I enjoy flinging random questions out there and seeing how people respond.  Try one now!

Update:  How cool is this—I posted my 3 favorite crowdsourcing sites at 10:00 am. By 10:10, the co-founder of www.crowdspring.com adds his comment to this post.  That’s the world we live in…everyday is a New York minute!

Be decisive

/ Susan Hendrich / 2 Comments

The Best Decision

How important is it for leaders to be decisive?  Consider these words from Theodore Roosevelt: 

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Sometimes shooting from the hip, good leaders can make decisions quickly — often with incomplete data. And, yes, hasty decisions can cause problems. But making no decision at all can worsen an already-bad situation. I’ve decided I’m going to try to be more decisive in my day-to-day business as a leader and a team player.

 

What will you decide?

 

Susan Hendrich 
 
 
 

 

Visual storytelling

/ Susan Hendrich / 5 Comments

Connect Using Visual Storytelling

It’s time for another golden e-Learning design tip! Today we’ll focus on visual storytelling. 

We’ve heard over and again that the power of visual imagery is unbeatable in instructional design. Yet, we struggle to find and use images that accurately capture and evoke the kind of emotion that connects audiences with the story we are trying to tell.  Perhaps you’ve seen the famed YouTube video series, “In Plain English,” where the CommonCraft geniuses show us (rather than tell us) the essence of Web 2.0 technologies. It is this kind of visual storytelling that captures our attention and ignites our imagination.

So, how can you show, rather than tell, your story?

Now, here’s your homework:

Take a look at Veronica Rusnak‘s Article on “Visual Storytelling and Moments in the Human Condition.”

“Remember: story, not data. Rather than talk about your topic, find a way to show it.”

Looking forward to your ideas!

Susan Hendrich