Solutions Talk

Contagious Contagion

Today's Notable Quote:

In his blog entitled Contagious today, Seth Godin pointed out what each of us learn through the process of life--particularly we who are engaged in the simultaneously joyful, demanding, confusing and rewarding role of parenting...behaviors are contagious.

Fair question: For what type of contagion am I responsible today?

Social Networking Study...

Today's Notable Quote: "You're only as old as you feel." - Anonymous.

While surfing a number of news sites and weblogs today, I came across Charlene Li's post (an Executive Summary of a recently released study on Social Networking) in "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" blogsite. Thought I'd pass it along. "How Consumers Use Social Networking Sites" report now available . Be sure to notice the chart's description of Demographic groups (I thought "younger boomers" was an interesting term).

FFA: $22,000 Ham and Eggs?

Notable Quote: "The students learn so much about investment of money. It's teaching kids total responsibility." - Virgil Wilkins, Longtime FFA teacher who has worked with students at Hundred High School in Wetzel County, West Virginia for more than 40 years.

Great story about the FFA in West Virginia...W.V. Farm Auction Helps Students Shine

FFA students learning on the job?

What was that word again?

Another Notable Quote: "When I was young, I could remember anything...whether it happened or not." - Mark Twain.

Have you ever wondered where a word or bit of information went? Something you know--you know...but for whatever reason - just can't seem to recall? Or perhaps, why you suddenly recall some random bit of trivial information for no apparent reason?

If so, here's an interesting article on the sometimes odd workings of the brain...

Your Memory: Better Than You Think?

The Importance of Maintenance

Today's Notable Quote: "A flaw in the human character is that everyone wants to build and no one wants to do maintenance." - Kurt Vonnegut

Teaching adults is a challenging proposition. Unlike children, adults often come to the classroom or computer screen with formidable knowledge in their vocational field, and with strong skills--and on many occasions, even stronger opinions and biases. A teacher or trainer working with adults is well-served to keep these facts in mind.

When an adult is exposed to new knowledge, or given the opportunity to learn a new skill, they must choose whether to embrace and accept the opportunity...or to ignore/reject and continue on their current path. Whenever new information or skill is embraced, the adult must find a way to assimilate it/them into their outward actions, or conscious behaviors and communication. Over time, if practiced regularly, these new behaviors will be acted out unconsciously--and become part of the adult learners knowledge base and skill/competency set.

Skilled teachers and trainers understand that adults must be treated with respect, given opportunities to share from their previous learning/life experiences, and must be provided a level of autonomy for learning to occur. To the delight of some, and the chagrin of other teachers/trainers, much of the learning that takes place in the classroom comes from the discussion (both in class and during breaks) between the learners themselves.

Once the new knowledge and skills have been acquired, it is critical to their assimilation that they be regularly practiced. This practice should take place in the classroom, and ultimately in the workplace. A continuing challenge in assimilating new knowledge and skills is the lack of clearly defined "post-training" metrics, to which the worker is held accountable--back on the job. When such metrics are in place, the individual and collective team performance can be measured--and maintained.

Maintaining a culture of learning and growth requires nothing less!

To survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace, organizations must embrace training, development and the maintenance of clearly defined metrics that indicate the level of success of the teaching/training effort.

The results of teaching/training (or lack thereof) are not always this obvious!